Photograph by Paul Myers

Marcos Olvera works the oven at the Los Gatos Brewing Company.




New chef and menu bring new tastes to Los Gatos Brewing Co.

By Suzanne Cristallo

Diners seeking the "best table" at Los Gatos Brewing Company can find a wider selection these days. The restaurant, which has been known for nearly a decade in Los Gatos as a place to find mini brews and comfort food, has added more seating after undergoing a renovation.

Other improvements include new lighting, which casts a softer look. The bar has been expanded to full service with a variety of cocktails beyond the house-made beers and wines. And there's a new chef--Philippe Renaud--who likes to experiment with new dishes, and is inspired by his new working atmosphere and the town of Los Gatos.

"We've had nine great years here," says part-owner Andy Pavicich III. He says the Brewing Company fills a special, welcoming niche that he wants to retain--a place where jean-clad patrons can order a salad or pizza. But it's also a place where patrons seeking a more formal atmosphere can sink into one of 16 newly done booths, surrounded by soft bronze tones, and order a four-course dinner.

Pavicich, known to a generation of locals who went to Los Gatos High School with him, and his brother and working partner, Paul, own the restaurant and brewery with their parents, Helen and Andy II. "It's time to give something back to the restaurant," he says.

The Pavicich family has expanded the kitchen to better accommodate the up to 450 dinners served on a typical weekend night when the restaurant is packed with families, dating couples and boisterous groups. Renaud is assisted by a line of seven cooks, each encouraged to create new things. "It's very important that people keep learning," Renaud says in an accent unmistakably French.

By his own description, the 38-year-old is a "quiet chef," except for those times when a job is not done correctly. "Then I sometimes get a little bit crazy," he says with a faint smile. His intent is to stress the perfection he expects that he first learned in a small cooking school in France. Renaud cooked his way throughout Europe, including France, Germany and England, and finally came to San Jose as a sous chef in 1998 to open A.P. Stump's in San Jose, another Pavicich restaurant the family owns with their executive chef, Jim Stump.

Renaud likes preparing fish, marinating them in their own juices, with bass being his favorite, pan-fried or grilled with lots of fresh vegetables in the "American style."

The French influence is evident in his dinner entree of crepinette of pork: a small, flattened sausage cooked in a coating of melted butter and bread crumbs, garnished with truffle--the prized French mushroom--and served in a cannellini bean casserole with prawns and scallops for $19.50.

For lunch, an Asian influence can be experienced in a seafood burger of shrimp, salmon and halibut garnished with wasabi (Japanese horseradish), capers and aioli (garlic mayonnaise). It's accompanied by spinach salad with pickled ginger soy dressing for $9.

Brunch features the Brewing Company fusilli with spit-roasted chicken, Italian squash, prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese in a white wine cream sauce for $12, or the good old standby of ham and fried eggs with home fried potatoes for $6.50.

"Philippe has free rein," Pavicich says of the dishes of many influences. On the other hand, comfort foods are still stressed, like the hearty pastas, specialty pizzas and salads. A hamburger, washed down with a golden, house-made ale still ranks among the favorites.

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Los Gatos Brewing Company, 130-G N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. Open for lunch Monday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m. Pub menu begins at 3 p.m. Dinner, Sunday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 5-11 p.m. Sunday brunch, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Call 408.395.9929 for more information.

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