Fresh and Flavorful

Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: July 2024 | Photograph By: Mary Gilian

Tanya and John Saporito

They wake early and work late into the afternoon – rising before dawn to work the long hours of mom-and-pop restaurant owners. Six days a week John and Tanya Saporito open the doors of their Cashiers’ Restaurant, Zookeeper Bistro, at 5:45 A.M.

As she’s done for 15 years, Tanya, is in the dining room getting ready for the breakfast service – welcoming by name her regular guests, ensuring that servers are close at hand and observant and that everyone is seated at their favorite table. In the kitchen John commands the culinary crew – his daughter Carly and her husband Howard at his side – the trio keeping a watchful eye over the cooks as they gently poach the eggs for the benedict and griddle pancakes to the perfect stage of fluffiness.

Zookeeper Bistro opened 18 years ago anchoring the far end of a row of wood-framed shops on Slabtown Road in Cashiers. In 2009, the Saporito’s bought the restaurant – keeping the name and retaining the décor but overhauling the menu. They had spent their previous years in Orlando, accumulating experience at a Hilton resort on Disney property – 15 years for Tanya and 18 for John.

When they decided it was time to leave, they searched Western, North Carolina, visiting Brevard, Black Mountain and Asheville, for the perfect place to live and work.

When they found Cashiers, they stopped looking.

“We love it here, we love the community, it’s a great place to live, it’s a wonderful laid-back area,” said Tanya.

Now in its second decade, Zookeeper continues to turn heads and attract lines for the flavorful, destination-worthy dishes served mornings and afternoons.

Breakfast is fun and energetic and worth waking up for! John has filled the menu with everyone’s favorites – omelets and French toast and 2-egg plates, then tweaks the offerings creatively – adding Belgian waffles and avocado toast and breakfast bowls and wraps. Decadent eggs benedict is the star of the menu at brunch and offered in four renditions – crab, California, garden and classic.

Comforting lunch dishes feel fresh and flavorful, reminding diners that the menu continues to evolve – like the classic BLT served California style with avocado.

And it’s hard to imagine that anything could be better than the Philly Cheesesteak – a sandwich of sautéed rib eye, crisp-edged onions and oozy provolone cheese. Vibrant substantial salads highlight the flavors and sweetness of fresh fruits and vegetables and celebrate the beauty of the seasons, while burgers are appropriately unctuous meaty and juicy.

Twice over the years the Saporitos have updated and refreshed the interior, added an outdoor patio with colorful umbrellas, and though the customer favorites will always remain, they continue to fine tune the menu to accommodate changing tastes.

Although they no longer serve dinner, they regularly host private events in the evenings.

And though as Tanya says “it’s no longer the small town it was when we arrived, people still want to be here. There’s no place we’d rather be.”

Zookeeper is open 7:30 A.M. to 2:00 P.M., Six days a week during season, and five days a week otherwise.