[Woodside, CA] The Village Pub

My first time at The Village Pub. Grabbed the pub burger at the bar.

Came with tomatoes, lettuce, sliced pickles, pickled red onions. The tomatoes were surprisingly ripe in December. I guess having their own farm mattered. Ordered the burger with cheddar, but blue cheese was available. And they had truffles available to shave on if desired. I passed. Flavorful and mellow tasting beef. The pickled red onions were more sweet than tart and tasted bright. Believed the patty was grass fed. Good burger.

Fries were spot on. Crispy on the outside. Still scorching hot when it landed on the counter.

The house bread (not pictured) from the sister restaurant Mayfield Bakery in Palo Alto was pretty nice. Robertson-style. I was surprised, since the bread at a recent meal at Portola Kitchen was pretty crappy. Years ago Portola used Mayfield for their bread, not sure if they still do. If they do, the bread from PK and VP were night and day. Came with a rich 86% French cultured butter.

Service was excellent. Dining room was moneyed old-school.

Lunch menu:

The Village Pub is from the same group of restaurants that also includes Spruce, The Saratoga and Pizza Antica.

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That bun looks good–can you describe it?

Seems like a form of fairly light English muffins, with the bottom griddled with I believe a bunch of corn meal. So its quite messy to eat because everytime I picked up the burger, my hands were all cornmeal. Soon enough though, the juice and sauce soaked through the buns, and with the repeated pressing they became a bit mushed and flat.

I thought it looked like an English muffin. I do like burgers on English muffins–too bad that it didn’t quite work out this time.

Is it possible though, that the bun hold its shape unless its a pretty hard one?

I only remember them from Mom’s cooking decades ago, when she served up her thick and juicy-rare burgers on the muffins. I don’t recall whether they fell apart (but maybe I was eating them too quickly, they were so good, seasoned with oregano and garlic).

Ah. I didn’t finish the burger as quickly as I should, just because the fries were good. The buns didn’t distract though. I thought the components were more on the center stage.

Did you recall if she let the dough rise overnight?

Those were store-bought English muffins, Thomas’s of course.

Ah I misunderstood. I though the oregano and garlic were worked into the dough. Griddling or seasoning the muffin with them seems like a great idea. I guess a little bit like the Acme herb loaf with garlic but in round shape.

Sorry, I meant that the burgers themselves were seasoned with oregano and garlic (powder), not the muffins. I make no excuses for the garlic powder; I use it myself on steaks and roasts.

Duck confit. Nice crispy skin. Though the duck was a little dry. Probably should have just instructed them to cook it more rare though they didn’t ask about doneness. Duck sat on a bed of pearl barley, soaking in a reduced and intense duck sauce.

Pub burger again. This time I noticed the very good pickled onion. The onion was pickled with red wine and champagne vinegars, fennel and anise. Fennel added a very complex flavor.

They have now changed their bread to Acme’s instead of their affiliate Mayfield Bakery’s.

Mojito

Their grill, visible from the dining room.

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