Java Haus’s new owner Kobi Gomez and exiting owner James White stand outside its front door Sunday, April 9.
SNOHOMISH — The new owner of Java Haus is no stranger to its menu.
Kobi Gomez, a lifelong Snohomian, ate here many, many mornings. Now she’s taken over as of April 1.
Retiring owner James White, 58 of Fobes Hill, said he’s putting it in the right hands since Gomez has restaurant experience.
He’s stepping back to relax after a 44-year career in foodservice, most of this time as a trained chef.
Gomez, 23, said the name and menu will stay the same. Her mom, Snohomish McDonald’s owner Alefa Eserjose, is her business mentor.
They stated their interest after he put Java Haus up for sale briefly then took it down.
Operating all the functions of a restaurant is new territory for Gomez, but she said it’s rewarding and hard work.
When White got it about 20 years ago, he grew the menu into a full breakfast-lunch slate. Breakfast is because he likes eggs, he said.
Before buying the barn-style stand at Second and Maple, James and Christine* White started a stand in Monroe in 1997 outside the Reptile Zoo, and went on to build two more stands in Clearview and in Sultan by the Dutch Cup Motel.
The spot in Snohomish was once Brenda’s Espresso, run by Bob McDaniel’s daughter.
The popular Mack Daddy meat-trio egg sandwich came to be from a mailman’s son who asked for meats piled onto a sandwich. The guy returned the next day and exclaimed it “was the mack daddy,” White said.
The restaurant uses all fresh ingredients to prepare food on-site. “Nothing’s pulled out of a package,” he said.
He also ran a catering business out of Java Haus for a few years.
* - CORRECTION April 12: The intial version of this story misstated Christine White's name as a different first name. The Tribune regrets the error.
