'Local boy' creates a gourmet menu at Los Gatos Bar & Grill
By Suzanne Cristallo
Los Gatos Bar & Grill is definitely not "just a bar." Chef Jeff Bunocorsi can attest to that.
Bunocorsi spends half his day in the kitchen--most of that after 4 p.m.--cooking up "American bistro" food, such as seared ahi salads and stuffed flank steaks, for the early evening groups that come before 9 p.m. and dine under chandeliers and a ceiling painted to look like a night sky.
"Then there are the late-night groups," he says with a grin, referring to the ones who want their cheeseburgers, pizza, calamari and hummus with pita bread until midnight. "We just started the late snack menu a month ago, and people are starting to recognize it," he says.
The Los Gatos Bar & Grill is upstairs in the old La Cañada building on N. Santa Cruz Avenue, right across the hall from Mountain Charley's. From late evening Thursdays on through the weekend, it's a jumping place where the 20s and 30s set come to listen and dance to rock-and-roll at one end and eat and play pool at the other. "We welcome them," Bunocorsi says. On those nights, four bartenders keep busy at the full-service bar.
The restaurant and bar is decidedly locally run. Bunocorsi, 33, grew up in Los Gatos, graduating from Los Gatos High School in 1987. The eatery's owners--Shawn Brassfield, Casey Connolly and Jason Farwell, all in their early 30s--hail from Los Gatos, and all remain residents in town.
"I've known Jason since we were 5," Bunocorsi notes.
While night life is encouraged, the bigger emphasis these days is on the cuisine, according to Bunocorsi. The restaurant can accommodate 75 guests inside, and, with the warmer weather, more can be served outside on a deck that spans the rear of the building.
Catering to groups--which can be given a reserved space for up to 25 people--is Bunocorsi's delight. "Then I can have fun being creative," he says, referring to his hors d'oeuvres, which include Mediterranean quesadillas and bacon-wrapped prawns with barbecue sauce.
Bunocorsi grew up in an Italian family in which both parents cooked. His interest in the good things that came from their kitchen eventually led him to the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, and then to a job as chef for 40 priests at Santa Clara University.
He was allowed to experiment with the menu. "I roasted a pig one time, and my cookies were famous on campus," he says with a laugh.
The chocolate chip, oatmeal-raisin and sugar cookies were some of the things he brought with him to Los Gatos Bar & Grill when he started there last January. They're listed on the menu as simply "Homemade Cookies and Milk."
Entrees average $12 and include Bunocorsi's special: a butterflied flank steak--stuffed with prosciutto, basil, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and garlic--rolled, tied and grilled, sliced and served with almond sauce and sweet potatoes.
The seared ahi salad is served on baby spinach with citrus vinaigrette and goat cheese. "That was a one-night-at-home invention," he notes. For an appetizer, he suggests the grilled prawns marinated in pesto.
"This is the first time I've created a whole menu," he says. "It's simpler, more home-style and down to earth--not your sautéed, pureed and strained sort of thing. And it's all made by me."
Los Gatos Bar & Grill, 15 1/2 N. Santa Cruz Ave., is open Tuesday through Sunday at 5 p.m.; the late-night menu begins at 9 p.m. The restaurant is closed Mondays. For more information, call 408.399.5424.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
