Los Gatos Bar & Grill Has It All

Singles come to Los Gatos Bar & Grill for drinks, dancing, and late-night dining.

Sports fans come for the excellent bar food and state-of-the-art TV screens (13 plasmas and 2 HD projection screens). And parents know LGBG is a place where they and the kids can enjoy a great meal, whether it’s for lunch or dinner, indoors or on the patio.

“We consider Los Gatos Bar & Grill to be what we refer to as the ‘chameleon,’ ” said managing partner Dave Powell. “With how fickle the economy has become, my partners and I are firm believers that you should never pigeon hole yourself into one specific type of entity. We have always set our businesses up to be as versatile as possible.”

Powell said he and his partner Tony Beers achieve that versatility by “going after any possible business permit,” such as those for staying open after midnight, entertainment and outdoor and late-night dining.

“In doing so our businesses are able to be many different things all at once,” Powell said. “Such as a restaurant, a sports bar, a nightclub, a lounge, a corporate events venue, and much more. We always look at it as we are paying rent for every square foot of our venues 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so why not maximize every square foot at every hour possible.”

And after 16 years in the restaurant and bar business, that strategy has paid off for Powell and Beers who have built up an impressive list of successful South Bay establishments, which include the Voo Doo Lounge, San Jose Bar & Grill and Tres Gringos Baja Cantina in downtown San Jose and at the San Jose Airport.

They opened LGBG, their latest venture, in November 2010. After acquiring the old 180 Restaurant & Lounge second-floor space in downtown Los Gatos in July 2010, they spent the next four months doing a major renovation, including the outdoor patio that takes advantage of views of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Powell said the inspiration for LGBG was “most likely due to our love of sports and all of the sports bars and restaurants we frequented growing up.” But the food was definitely not a highlight.

“We always laughed at how lame [the restaurants] were with all of their frozen and pre-packaged foods. It was rare back then to catch a game somewhere without ending up with a really bad basket of frozen cheese sticks and canned mozzarella sauce.”

Powell handles all the menu creation and design for LGBG. He said they wanted to keep the food simple, concentrating on American classics with a “strong California and Coastal Baja flavor” influenced by their “love of Baja California and Cabo San Lucas and the many surfing road trips we took in college.”

He said their vision has always been to give their customers the highest quality foods, using fresh, local ingredients as well as organic whenever possible. As for those “frozen cheese sticks” from Powell’s past, at LGBG they’re made from scratch with whole milk mozzarella and a custom breading mix.

Chef Narcisco Morales is in charge of executing Powell's menus.

"He does an amazing job of making the sauces and making the ingredients work in exactly the way I draw them up," Powell said.

And though neither he nor Morales have had formal training, Powell said they “take pride in the fact that we kind of fly by the seat of our pants. We never know what we are gonna come up with next. It makes it pretty fun.”

The menu is large and eclectic—each choice sounding so mouth-watering good that it’s difficult to decide what to order. Appetizers include crab tots, ceviche cocktail, wings prepared four ways, loaded potato skins and about 12 other items. Salads, sandwiches and panini on fresh-baked ciabatta, burgers, a host of sliders, tacos, chicken, steak, fish and pasta entrees—wow, the list goes on. And then there’s the late-night, kids and specialty drinks menus.

“We like to believe we just understand what people like to have when they go out to eat,” Powell said.

Part of that experience is great customer service, and entertaining people is what Powell loves most about owning a restaurant.

“No matter what bad things have happened in someone’s day, I get the opportunity daily to make it all better,” he said. “[People] work hard, and they need to be pampered once in a while. That is what we are here for.”

Powell said he particularly likes Los Gatos'  “close-knit, supportive community. The local businesses and residents alike have just accepted us with open arms and have been so supportive of us it has been incredible.

“I absolutely love what I do,” Powell continued. “I will never do anything else as long as I live. I am convinced my sons will some day follow in my footsteps if they wish, into the family business, and continue to grow our fledgling empire.”

We’re lucky to have Los Gatos Bar & Grill as a part of that empire!

Buon appetito, amici!