Dry Creek Grill
Dry Creek Grill
Local, grilled, and gourmet Written by Michelle Runde Photography by Daniel Garcia Food images provided by Dry creek grill
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ooking for a restaurant that serves gourmet burgers, premium steaks, slow-smoked BBQ, amazing seafood, organic salads? Look no further than Dry Creek Grill, in Willow Glen. With fire pits blazing outside and a bustling open kitchen inside, Dry Creek Grill is intimate, exquisite, and quintessentially Californian. Owners Holly and John Smith had a vision for an upscale, laid-back steakhouse, the kind they’d like to dine in themselves and, in 2012, they brought that vision to life. The Smiths have been in the pizza business ever since turning a franchise pizzeria into their very own restaurant, Tomato Thyme, in 2003. This casual pizza spot took off, thanks to the support of the local community. “Willow Glen has been amazing to us, it’s like family here,” says Holly. “Tomato Thyme is family-oriented, sports on big TV and crayons on the table. We wanted to add a place that catered to a more adult crowd.
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And we thought Willow Glen needed a nicer place to eat.” The building Dry Creek Grill occupies is the historic Moose Lodge No. 1811, built in 1965. When the space became available, Holly and John knew they had the perfect location for their next project. The centerpiece of Dry Creek is the bar, boasting a redwood-top counter that stretches 40 feet long, all from a single tree that fell naturally in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Smiths had always admired natural wood furniture, so the redwood was a perfect fit. The selection of drinks too fit with the grill’s cuisine and patrons. Only craft beer from California is served, with twelve varieties on draft at all times, rotated seasonally. The wine is all Californian as well, with eight whites and eight reds available on tap: the wine goes straight from barrel to glass, which prevents oxidation and evaporation, keeping it fresher than bottled wine.
What’s on the plate is as local as what accompanies it. Everything is sourced as locally as possible, with very few items acquired from outside California. “We’re in the salad bowl of America, it’s all right here,” says Holly. And it all is. The ahi tuna with forbidden rice is not to be missed, nor is the lamb burger: the meat is ground in-house and the buns are baked from scratch. Whether it’s date night, a business dinner, or just a drink with friends, Dry Creek Grill is the place to be.
drycreekgrill.com 1580 Hamilton Ave San Jose, CA 95125 408.264.2011 social media: drycreekgrill
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Local, grilled, and gourmet Written by Michelle Runde Photography by Daniel Garcia Food images provided by Dry creek grill
L
ooking for a restaurant that serves gourmet burgers, premium steaks, slow-smoked BBQ, amazing seafood, organic salads? Look no further than Dry Creek Grill, in Willow Glen. With fire pits blazing outside and a bustling open kitchen inside, Dry Creek Grill is intimate, exquisite, and quintessentially Californian. Owners Holly and John Smith had a vision for an upscale, laid-back steakhouse, the kind they’d like to dine in themselves and, in 2012, they brought that vision to life. The Smiths have been in the pizza business ever since turning a franchise pizzeria into their very own restaurant, Tomato Thyme, in 2003. This casual pizza spot took off, thanks to the support of the local community. “Willow Glen has been amazing to us, it’s like family here,” says Holly. “Tomato Thyme is family-oriented, sports on big TV and crayons on the table. We wanted to add a place that catered to a more adult crowd.
61
And we thought Willow Glen needed a nicer place to eat.” The building Dry Creek Grill occupies is the historic Moose Lodge No. 1811, built in 1965. When the space became available, Holly and John knew they had the perfect location for their next project. The centerpiece of Dry Creek is the bar, boasting a redwood-top counter that stretches 40 feet long, all from a single tree that fell naturally in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Smiths had always admired natural wood furniture, so the redwood was a perfect fit. The selection of drinks too fit with the grill’s cuisine and patrons. Only craft beer from California is served, with twelve varieties on draft at all times, rotated seasonally. The wine is all Californian as well, with eight whites and eight reds available on tap: the wine goes straight from barrel to glass, which prevents oxidation and evaporation, keeping it fresher than bottled wine.
What’s on the plate is as local as what accompanies it. Everything is sourced as locally as possible, with very few items acquired from outside California. “We’re in the salad bowl of America, it’s all right here,” says Holly. And it all is. The ahi tuna with forbidden rice is not to be missed, nor is the lamb burger: the meat is ground in-house and the buns are baked from scratch. Whether it’s date night, a business dinner, or just a drink with friends, Dry Creek Grill is the place to be.
drycreekgrill.com 1580 Hamilton Ave San Jose, CA 95125 408.264.2011 social media: drycreekgrill
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