Photograph by Paul Myers
Javier Villavicencio waits on Florence Ross at the Los Gatos Lodge.
Los Gatos Lodge introduces a new chef and new dishes
By Suzanne Cristallo
There are new versions of some favorite desserts at the Los Gatos Lodge. Sous chef Greg Barns recently moved over from the Capitol Club in San Jose to put his touch on soups, sauces and pastries at the Los Gatos resort, which has been undergoing lots of changes in the past five years.
"This young guy is so talented!" says Lodge general manager Ron Nelson. "He just gets in there and does it."
The Lodge has been in operation as a resort since 1958. It offers all of the amenities both private and corporate groups seek: 128 rooms on 10 acres, a putting green, pool and hot tub, a bocce ball court and soon, a weight room, which is under construction. Guests may use the high school track for running by just easing through the fence in back. Couples who want an outdoor setting for their marriage find the wedding garden and outdoor dance floor the answer.
But it's also about food. Under the direction of Executive Chef Vern Buege, a veteran of 25 years with the Lodge, great quantities of fresh fish--salmon, petrale and corvina, lots of Cobb and seafood salads, pastas and fruit plates are consumed daily. "It's California cuisine," notes Nelson, "and we have a solid Los Gatos crowd that likes the fresh, lighter fare."
Among the appetizers that can be particularly appealing on a warm summer day is chilled gazpacho soup: a combination of tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, onions, celery, cucumber, bread crumbs, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and hard-cooked eggs.
Entrees include the Hunter's Plate--an array of pheasant sausage and rabbit loin with pheasant ravioli in chasseur (hunter) sauce, a brown sauce of mushrooms, shallots and white wine. There are also salmon filets, chicken sauté sec, fettuccine del mar in cream sauce and prawns bordelaise. Steaks run from New York to petite filet mignon. Entrees include soup or salad and run from $8.95 to $16.
Among Barns' desserts are chocolate silk cake, tiramisu and strawberry and blackberry cheese cakes, ranging from $3 to $5.
Nelson has been managing the Lodge since 1996, when Half Moon Bay hotelier Keith Nerhan bought the property. During that time, there were total renovations of the rooms along with a new bar, lobby and "saloon" where on weekends live bands play Top 40 and swing music for dancing. This Friday, native Los Gatan Donnie Olivet and his 18-piece big band will play for the 22nd Los Gatos High School reunion. Saturday, it will be the Touch of Class band.
Born on a ranch in Shandon, 20 miles east of Paso Robles, Nelson says he has been in the hotel/restaurant business for 44 years. He started as a "pearl diver," or pots and pans washer, in the old Continental Wayside Inn his father owned in Paso Robles. He worked up to restaurant manager and later opened the first Motel 6.
His career took off as he was hired to manage Holiday Inns and numerous hotel renovations, among them an earlier remodeling of the Los Gatos Lodge in 1989, and the Toll House in 1991. Eventually he caught the eye of Nerhan, who hired him to run the Lodge in 1996. Renovations are also a part of Nelson's after-hours life--he lives in an old Los Gatos Victorian which he has gradually rebuilt.
Los Gatos Lodge, 50 Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, Los Gatos. Open Mon.-Sat. for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Sun. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. 408.354.3300.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
