Saratoga News

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Mike Johnson, a waiter at the Chart House in Los Gatos, carries a platter of Callahan prime rib and tiger shrimp and scallop scampi up the stairs.

Local Chart House often sets the pace for chain

By Suzanne Cristallo

When Joey Cabell rode the curl of the big ones at Hawaii's windward beaches, a championship surfing title was on his mind. When he met fellow surfer Buzzy Bent from San Diego, running a restaurant together was on both their minds. In 1960, they started the Chart House, put aloha shirts and dresses on their staff and cultivated a casual island atmosphere, building their reputation on steaks, prime rib and seafood.

Today in Los Gatos, the Chart House, which occupies an 1890s Victorian mansion on N. Santa Cruz Avenue, is one of 64 restaurants in a chain owned by Chart House Enterprises Inc., which covers "Hawaii to Manhattan and the Rockies to the Caribbean."

General Manager Bryant Coleman, 42, joined the Chart House chain after a career which started in Hawaii. In his first job, he was a bouncer in a bar, then switched to politics, which left him disillusioned. From politics, he moved on to the food business. He held every job from banquet captain up to manager with four hotel chains in five states, finally settling with Chart House some six years ago.

Coleman is proud of the fact that Los Gatos served as a test restaurant for the whole company, dictating for a year and a half what dishes would be introduced to the rest of the chain. Los Gatos was chosen because "the area is trendy and the Silicon Valley is on the upswing," he says.

"Our customers told us our menu needed pastas," Coleman explains, "so we instituted dishes like skewered shrimp and cherry tomatoes, filet mignon strips marinated with ginger, garlic and cilantro sauce, and seafood--all over pasta."

Soon, one in four of his customers was ordering a pasta dish, and the new menu spread east through the rest of the chain.

The restaurant's mainstay dishes continue to be upgraded, with five or six menu items changing every six months. Six fresh fish dishes have been added, along with salsas such as cucumber and pepper and mango and kiwi. Prices for pastas run $14.95 up to $24.95 for steaks.

A chef at the corporate office in Solano Beach in Southern California designs the menus with explicit instructions on how each item is to be prepared. "That's how we maintain consistency," Coleman says, noting 80 percent of his customers in Los Gatos are returns.

An added feature in the restaurant is the lounge with a full-service bar. Patrons may order appetizers there and desserts such as the Chart House signature dish, Mud Pie.

The Chart House, 115 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Open for dinner Mon.-Fri., 5:30-10 p.m., Sat. and Sun., 5-10 p.m. Lunches on special holidays. 354-1737.

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