“Real friends are the kind where you pick up where you left off whether it be a week…or two years since you’d seen each other. —Jojo Moyes
It was so nice to reunite with our friends and neighbors, Susan and Nelson Bye whom we hadn’t seen for several months and who recently returned from one of their overseas adventure travels.
They invited us to join them for dinner at the Dry Creek Grill in San Jose, California, not too far from where Cecile and I founded the Park Avenue Foot Clinic at the start of my career in 1975 after moving from Chicago. The Nelson’s had seen a Metro Silicon Valley restaurant Guide that rated it as one of the top restaurants in San Jose. It didn’t disappoint.
The owners of Dry Creek Grill, Holly and John Smith, were inspired by the vision of creating an upscale, yet laid back steakhouse, that offers great steaks, burgers, and barbecue. But, they also offer specialty dishes like pasta and risotto.
We began by ordering some handcrafted cocktails the restaurant is known for and enjoyed them while seated around a warm glow of a fire pit strategically placed on the front patio to the left of the entrance. When our table was ready we were escorted to a comfortable booth. The spacious and inviting interior offered an aesthetically warm and inviting ambiance for what turned out to be a fine dining experience. Located in the Moose Lodge building that has been in San Jose since 1965, the location has been transformed using recycled materials throughout. One of the most notable features is the massive elongated redwood bar made from the heart of a curly redwood tree that had fallen naturally in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
For starters, we enjoyed fresh-baked cornbread with white cheddar cheese Jalapeño and honey butter.
For our entrees we had a Greek seasoned lamb patty, feta cheese, tomato, red onion, roasted red bell peppers, cucumber, and tzatziki sauce; a Texas-Style wood smoked beef brisket, with BBQ sauce with coleslaw, and baked beans; Pappardelle pasta with wild mushrooms and Risotto with wild mushrooms. This was followed by a trio of tasty assorted Gelato for the table.
