Gordon Biersch in Palo Alto - the long flagship - has been off my radar for years due to the now-average quality of GB beer, the Sysco-ish food ( except the pizzas last time I stopped by ), and overall cave-like atmosphere.
Dan Gordon, the Gordon in GB, has apparently taken the location and updated. I like it.
I detest downtown palo alto more and more every day, with only a few places I enjoy remaining. High rents are putting the squeeze on restaurants, causing simplified reduced menus in many cases. Weāre left with restaurants that I would call tourist traps if Palo Alto was a tourist town - like Samās, Opa!, Umami. Chains - small chains - all. At least we have Delfina ( small chain again ) and Steam and maybe the burmese places.
Not high hopes for an āelevated BBQā place. And yet - the visit was good.
We got a āmeat boardā sampler, which as an app would have satisfied us for the entire meal, and gives both the brisket and the pulled pork. Sandwitches are reasonably priced. We also found something vaguely not meat in the ācold green beansā with a large side dish at $4.
The BBQ is quite good. As BBQ has become popular, Iāve done a little bit of BBQ eating nationally - north carolina, kansas city, texas, and many of the places that have been cropping up. I still like Smoking Pig quite a bit, but Danās is a cut above. Smoke level is good but not overwhelming. Brisket is moist ( get the fatty ). Sauce is not required but welcome. Links were only average.
I had the czech-style pilzner, from the āDan Gordon styleā beer list, and pronounce it tasty. It has that freshness that you get within the city limits of pilzen, and I havenāt tasted for a long, long time. Itās a far step up from GBās beers, which are probably using the same recipies from 25 years ago ( and were quite good then, the world has just moved on ). There are hipster touches like whiskey on tap, wine on tap, and a very large selection of american whiskey.
More importantly, the atmosphere is airy and inviting, with a very large number of tables. High, low, communal, outdoors. There are a lot of tables, so your chances of going and having to wait seem low. It even seems child friendly. Itās going to be another long warm summer, and if youāre in Palo Alto thinking of a burger and a beer, you could do worse than elbowing up to the bar here.
Even better - we were stuffed ( wanting to try as much as the menu as possible ) for a total of $25/pp, with one large beer shared and a togo box. We could have easily eaten well for $20, which currently passes for a bargain in Palo Alto.
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other local notes:
BBC in MPās construction has been continuing. Starting to think about being habitable, maybe? Still issues like the elevator to the new roof garden is not complete, so Iām thinking they wonāt hit a summer opening.
Tokyo Subwayās location is getting built out with a good-looking japanese place.
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