Dining Out With Friends
And So It Begins …
Not long ago, we were driving down Sixth Street in Gilroy
and happened upon Janet and Mike Thompson heading
towards The Milias Restaurant with some friends. It just
so happened that this was on a Monday and The Milias
isn’t open on Mondays. In a quick conversation, we in our
car, them on the street, we suggested they try Old City
Hall Restaurant just across the street.
We ran into Janet and Mike a short time after that
encounter at a community event in Morgan Hill and
asked them how their evening went. They thanked us for
the suggestion and told us that they really liked the food,
service and atmosphere. Well, J. Chris and I — being the
foodies that we are, and enjoying the company of friends
— thought, what a great idea —
Dining Out With Friends.
It was only right that we invite Janet and Mike to join
us at Old City Hall for our first article.
We plan to share our Dining Out With Friends
experiences in each issue of
TODAY .
Let us know if you have a favorite restaurant
experience that you think would be fun to share.
gmh
Written By Larry J. Mickartz
90
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
W
e arrived at Old City Hall at 6 pm on a windy
Tuesday evening. We discussed dining outside, but
felt the wind might be a distraction. We were pleased
to fi nd that they carried wines from a local winery, Fortino
Winery. We started with a bottle of 2013 Carignon and enjoyed
the intermingling plum, raspberry and creamy blackberry fruits.
They also carry Fortino Chardonnay, Reisling and Maribella
and have a full bar; for those who prefer a cocktail.
Old City Hall has a wide variety of appetizers to select from
so we had a bit of a challenge in deciding which ones to begin
with. We settled on the Lobster Corn Dogs (chunks of lobster
in a corn batter served with mustard and a light, fresh cole slaw
… “really good”); Jalapeno Poppers (spicy but not over the top,
made the wine take on a cherry flavor that made both taste…
“yummy”); and the Wisconsin Cheese Curds (lightly breaded
Wisconsin white cheddar cheese curds deep fried to perfection
served with Chimichurri sauce… “a little chewy, in a good way
and a little salty but delicious”). We all agreed that we were
definitely up for a do-over on our next visit to Old City Hall.
As we solved the problems of the world and most of the local
issues, our salads and soup arrived accompanied by a nice bas-
ket of very fresh out of the oven rolls and butter. J. Chris had the
“City Hall” Tomato Bisque soup (a Gilroy favorite, topped with
croutons and parmesan cheese). She couldn’t find the parmesan
but we asked our waitress, Kim, and she cleared up the mystery.
It was under the large herbed crouton that was floating on top of
the soup. J. Chris enjoyed the full, rich flavor — and the
parmesan accompaniment.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016
gmhtoday.com