Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Bonnie Birk, assistant general manager of the Toll House Hotel in Los Gatos, sits in the dining room of the hotel's restaurant, which is being remodeled. The work is expected to be completed in September.
Lounge, gourmet restaurant are part of Toll House Hotel
By Suzanne Cristallo
If the idea of a hotel restaurant conjures up images of stuffy and expensive, Bonnie Birk invites diners to try the Toll House Restaurant in Los Gatos. It's one of the few places around that offers early bird dinners, a Sunday champagne brunch and what Birk describes as "a chef with no clue as to what a small portion is."
Birk has been assistant general manager for four years at the hotel and restaurant, built in 1984, that has been enduring an expansion for more than a year. By September, construction should be complete on the 17-room addition of suites, which will sport fireplaces and jacuzzis. While the south end of Santa Cruz Avenue has its share of chain link fences, trucks and cones heralding the various phases of construction, inside the hotel it's business as usual.
"The bar is cozy," Birk says of the full-service lounge connected to the restaurant. "It has a home library feel to it." She says patrons perched on bar stools or in the booths by the fireplace end up eating everything from appetizers to full dinners.
Early bird dinners run from 5 to 7 p.m. daily. Entree selections at $9.95 each include halibut, lamb chop, pork medallions, filet of sole and stuffed chicken breast. For $2 more, there's prime rib up to a pound in weight with the bone, Birk says. "People end up taking half of it home."
On the regular menu described as "continental with a California twist," Chef Jeff Lippold features a garlic custard appetizer served with toasted crostini and a red wine reduction sauce. Crab and shrimp cocktails and fondues also are available.
The new house salad is a half-head of butter lettuce with blue-veined goat cheese from Sonoma, topped with crunchy caramelized pecans and sherry vinaigrette at $5.95.
Entrees range from $15 to $24 and include thinly sliced and broiled duck breast over Asian slaw with lemon vinaigrette. "It's the combination of the cool and crispy slaw with the warmed duck that's heavenly," Birk says. Steaks run the gamut from New York to petite filet mignon.
A new pièce de résistance is the chocolate caprice dessert--a mousse wrapped in white and dark chocolate ribbon and served with fresh raspberries and blueberries, then drizzled with raspberry coulis, a thick sauce.
Adding her observation of trends in eating, Birk notes that the so-called return to meat-eating and richer foods is merely a continuation. "People always talk lean, but eat fat," she says with a smile.
A Florida native, Birk says she was born into the hotel-restaurant trade. Her mother, a gifted cook, was coaxed into moving to Maine when Birk was 11 to cook at a friend's resort. Birk grew up waiting tables, pulling lobsters out of crates, cooking tongue, salami and corned beef.
"That did it for me," she says, referring to her lifelong love of the business, which included a stint at Napa Valley's Auberge du Soleil where she was food and beverage director.
Sunday brunch features champagne, a huge fresh fruit display, two meats on the carving board, special order egg dishes, pancakes and waffles, bakery goods, beverages and desserts at $23.95 for adults, $12.95 for children.
Toll House Restaurant, 140 S. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Open for dinner 5-9 p.m. daily. Sunday Brunch 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. 408.395.7070.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
