Bill Lee’s eighth restaurant is his most promising.

Bill Lee’s local restaurant career has covered 44 years in the industry, seemingly dozens of new (and often landmark) eateries, three separate stints at the Sardine Factory (373-3775) and 1 or 2 billion employees hired, give or take.

“Every gray hair is a tribute to an employee,” he says. “And I have a full head of gray hair.”

He was 16 when he got his start, walking into long-gone Lovers Point Inn on a busy Friday night to ask the owner at the front if he needed a dishwasher.

An eight-hour shift later, the hulking chef demanded he come back and, as Lee says, “that started my restaurant clock.”

The journey Lee has taken from sudsing plates to his latest venture – in a surprisingly blue-collar place – is both winding and locally legendary.

In 1973 he waited tables at Ted Balestreri and Bert Cutino’s Willie Lum’s China Row (now the Chart House), advanced to GM, then transferred to Sardine Factory to run the show just as the iconic conservatory room and wine cellar were taking shape.

In 1982, when he started his first restaurant, Billy Quon’s – where the Rio Grill (625-5436) now sits – the first CD player had just been released. Many more Lee eateries – Bahama Billy’s, The Point at Heritage Harbor and Volcano Grill (now Plaza Linda) among them – came along after. Some have gone, as have cash registers and check-writing. Scheduling and credit-card systems, meanwhile, have evolved wildly. A country has gone foodie.

So putting it all in perspective can be hard. But in advance of the opening of Lee’s latest project, his eighth restaurant, I found someone who could: Bill Lee.

“Service, good food and value haven’t changed,” he says. “No matter how much computerization, that’s still the way.”

He will wrap up at Sardine Factory next month to concentrate on Lucky’s Roadside in Seaside’s old City Diner.

“On the Sardine Factory walls, I look at notes I Dymo-label-maker made in the ’70s, then notices I posted using my Mac Classic in the ’90s, and now laser-sharp notices with color pictures of happy guests that dined the night before, pulled from the cloud,” he says. “My hostess looks at me like I have four heads when I say, ‘Did you see Tony Bennett on table 104?’ or ‘You know in PulpFiction, where John Travolta… ’ and she says, ‘Who’s that?’ Starts to make you realize you are not as young as you think. My new venture will keep this in mind, both in its appeal to the public, and how I look at it.”

The idea was unleashed as many good ones are: while walking the dog.

Erasmo Aiello, owner of Palermo Bakery (394-8212), joined him after they dropped their kids at school. Aiello’s vacant property at LaSalle and Fremont in Seaside came up, as did another factor: how the employees and owners of all the Auto Center car lots would migrate to Ryan Ranch for his Billy Quon’s grub and full-service lunch. “Now they can take a quick, energizing, five-minute walk [to Lucky’s],” Lee says.

Other priorities, direct from Lee’s notes: a broad range of hours, full menu, lively ambiance, ample parking, friendly and well-trained staff, prices that allow for multiple visits in a week, no reservations or pretentiousness.

“Many restaurant employees live close by, as well as an abundance of other businesses, CSUMB, and it’s off Highway 1,” he says. “I am always looking for this kind of place when out at Costco. It is the best location of any restaurant I have owned.”

The vibe he’s hoping for is city-like, with what he calls a “shabby chic” style informed by the eye of local interior designer Rudy Riate, who also consulted on Lee’s Ryan Ranch and Volcano Grill restaurants: crystal chandeliers in rusted globes, barn wood, galvanized metal touches and solid wood tables set off by a large exhibition of a wood-fired oven.

Mark Jones of Tasty Solutions Catering (277-2576), a longtime local toque who has cheffed Stonepine, Pono Hawaiian Grill and Pebble Beach Company, will do things like gourmet pizzas, crispy duck, chicken under a brick, roasted veggies and a local berry cobbler, all out of the wood-fired oven – a cast-iron chicken enchilada sounds promising – plus unique sandwiches, several pastas, clever cheese melts, some seafood, a big steak, and standard Lee-style appetizer options to go with craft beers on tap, approachable wines and wacky cocktails.

The oven has Jones fired up.

“You walk in there and get the smell,” he says. “You can bake off the residual energy for hours – which will be great for breads in the morning. And the steaks in the oven can get up to 1,500 [degrees]. Caramelizes it immediately, and the juices can’t escape. Best steak you’ll have.”

Bill’s 11-year-old son, Kai Lee, will scheme the kids menu, as he has since Bahama Billy’s. A morning espresso bar, breakfast from the oven and WiFi will target Auto Center clientele and beyond.

It’s a tasty vision. The old diner space is a mess at the moment, but much of that (namely, the big orange containers) is PG&E equipment dedicated to clearing gas lines. Sweeping out the remains of the past tenant – including the counter and booths – starts in earnest this week.

Pressed for a conservative timeline, Lee cites the Sept. 11 use permit hearings with the city of Seaside and hopes to open by late November. I’d bet on December at the earliest.

Then he adds the most important piece of perspective: “Suddenly I’m back to doing what I love the most!”

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QUICKBITES

• Come 2014, Carmel Belle (624-1600) is expanding into two adjoining spaces, adding tables, a nice nook, organic juices and smoothies and a very simple dinner menu. And that rules.

• Next to Monte Vista Market, new spot Original Sarita’s (350-0555) – which is selling chile rellenos at an obscene pace, including 200 its first week – is not run by the owners of the other three (in Seaside, Prunedale and Marina), but by the namesake, Sarita herself, who actually helped run the other spots after her parents sold to the current owners. If that’s confusing, the simple excellence of the fresh chips, enchiladas and house salsas is not. Chilaquiles up next.

• The Saturday Oldtown Salinas Farmers Market at Gabilan and Main, 9am-2pm Saturdays, still enjoys Shark Tank applicant Cowboy Sausage and Baker’s Bacon. A notable newbie: Beefy Boys Jerky Co. (888-669-2010). The reserve has a big, full aftertaste – like a good Cab – and fittingly includes red wine in the treatment. The original is for purists. Nice kick on the hot peppered too.

• Lawmakers approved bill AB 647 by Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata) Aug. 26. Unanimously. Now consumers can use their refillable growler jugs to purchase craft beer from any microbrewery, regardless of where they bought it. Cheers to that. Now we need more folks than Peter B’s Brewpub (649-2699) and Monterey Coast Brewing Company (758-2337) to offer them.

• Ecological planning and design firm Arkin-Tilt Architects has just been selected to renovate the iconic Esalen lodge (620-0185) and rebuild staff housing at its South Coast staff village.

• The latest Indy Marketplace pop-up ($25, 750-9579) celebrates homesteaders and the harvest Thursday, Sept. 5 – pumpkin beer from Post No Bills, last year’s Henry Miller Memorial Library Short Film winners screen, grilled albacore from Local Catch Monterey Bay, tomato-pepper soup from Wild Plum Cafe, heirloom tomato salad from Happy Girl, sourdough from Companion Bakeshop, sweet grilled corn on the cob, music from Valley Soul. Great value.

• “Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go,” Nido Qubein said. “They merely determine where you start.”