Sunday, December 29, 2013

Paradise Beach Grille

THE BUZZ ON PARADISE BEACH GRILLE

Hours: Monday - Friday  4-6pm, all night Monday

$3.00 draft beers, $4.00 well drinks, $4.50 house wine. $1.00 more for bloody marys and margaritas.

1/2 price selected appetizers and burgers.

Paradise Beach Grille Website
________________________________________________________


Jo’s Review


Paradise Beach Grille is located on the esplanade in beautiful Capitola-by-the-Sea. This lovely seaside grille has lots to offer. The inside is set up with an open air feel to it. The bar area has high tables and chairs and the dining area has some cozy booths along with tables in a slightly dark, romantic atmosphere.



Off the bar is a patio that sits on the rivers end that flows into the bay. It was a cool crisp evening with all the holiday lights just shining as Capitola always does at this time of year. It’s always fun to come down and see all the Christmas lights in the village, which is what the locals call it.


Julie and I have been on a bit of a hiatus with our happy hours lately. I think it was starting to get to our waistlines so we had to do a little more exercising before diving in again, well maybe just me. But time is a wasting and we have many happy hours to visit. Julie gets there before me and along for the fun is our friend Lara. The first great thing of the evening, free parking for the holidays, yay, always makes for a more enjoyable evening. We get a great table so we can see the bar and outside to the patio. Our handsome waiter Kyle comes right up and immediately we start grilling him about happy hour and what they have to offer, and deciding on our first drink. Julie goes for a rum and coke, Lara decides on a vodka cranberry and I go with beer for the evening. 

 
Happy hour consists of $3.00 draft beers, $4.00 well drinks and $4.50 house wines. For food they have ½ off appetizers and burgers and if you’re really feeling hungry on Monday nights, which is the night we chose because happy hour is all night that night, you can get a full rack of Gary’s ribs for the price of ½ a rack. Otherwise happy hour is Monday through Friday 4-6pm.



Well the drinks arrive as we peruse the food menu trying to decide what to get first.

Well chicken wings are a no brainer for us, doesn’t matter how they are made and these wings are bbq’ed sweet and spicy. But the burgers seem to be calling my name tonight. The description was what drew me in “Your choice of flame kissed Braveheart Angus ground beef, ground turkey or "Garden Burger"patty on a Kaiser roll”, flame kissed, oh yes I want one. I went with a bacon burger.  Julie and Lara also chose the burger but they decided on turkey burgers, Julie had the peeling curl which has Applewood smoked bacon and Gorgonzola cheese, Lara had swiss and sautéed mushrooms. 



The chicken wings arrive and we dig in.  They are a little small but very tasty, with a light blanket of cheese melted over them. The sauce is tangy and sweet with a nice spicy taste to it. We have no problem finishing them off. Onward Julie and Lara decide on a bloody Mary next which they add $1.00 more on to the drink but it sure looked worth it.  It was taller, full of lots of garnish and looking very spicy. We are laughing and eating and the happy is starting to set in.

And now for the burgers, they arrive on a platter with the cutest wire basket of fries on the side which I wasn’t expecting so that was a nice surprise.  All the necessary garnish, lettuce, tomato, onion is there to build my burger.  The meat is juicy and yummy and the bacon on mine is piled high, 3 or 4 thick strips. The fries are crispy with a lovely coating on them giving them lots of flavor as well.  We are all very happy about our burgers and it gets very quiet at the table for a big while we munch away. 

 
Julie asked our waiter if the fries were actually cooked in the baskets and he proceeds with “oh yes we have 10 little fryers and we can fry up to 10 baskets at a time”.  We are all amazed until he’s like, “no I’m just kidding you.  We got a good laugh out of that one.
So a great time was had by all at the Paradise Beach Bar & Grill. The food was very tasty, the atmosphere was warm and inviting and the service was top rate. We had a wonderful time for happy hour and I’m sure will be frequenting this establishment more often.

Jo’s rating: 4.5 shots

_____________________________________________________
 
Julie’s Review
Several friends and happy hour aficionados had recommended that J & J needed to take a trip to Capitola Village to check out the Paradise Beach Grille’s happy hour. The fact that my best friend Lora was visiting from out of town made it the perfect occasion.



Jo and I had tried to make it a few times before without success. Their happy hour is Mon-Fri 4-6, with Monday nights all night (tied to Monday night football I believe). Unfortunately they have no weekend happy hours and trying to get to Capitola Village before 6:00 p.m. is a real problem. We knew our only option was to shoot for a Monday night.
Now that I live up in the mountains, I don’t get down to Capitola Village as often as when I lived closer, but I have always loved the Village at Christmas time. I try to get down there at least once during the holiday season. 

 
The Victorians up on Depot Hill are outlined with Christmas lights and with a special full moon shining behind them it was lovely. The trees in the village are lit with miniature Christmas lights as well. It is all very charming.
One of the down sides to Capitola Village is that parking is always a problem. Josephine had told me that they had converted to a pay machine similar to the one downtown. Lora pulled in and we prayed to the parking gods who smiled down upon us and found us a spot not too far from the restaurant.

When we went to put money in the machine, it wouldn’t take it. We confirmed with someone else waiting, that the parking was free for the holidays!! Now that is the holiday spirit – ho ho ho!!!
We saw the moonlight shining on the ocean and the moon high in the sky as we walked down to the Grille. I donned my reindeer antlers and we were ready to go. Josephine was still looking for parking as Lora and I snagged the last remaining table in the bar area which was necessary since the happy hour prices are only good in the bar and cocktail area.

 
The ambience is very pleasant at Paradise Beach – they had a great upside down Christmas tree, a cute line of “Santa” ducks above the bar and the torches on the deck overlooking the ocean are reflected in the water below. There is a great view of the Venetian hotel across the way. It was cold enough outside, however, that we decided to sit inside.

Savannah, a cute young blonde woman, quickly brought us water and a menu. She told us they have live music on Tuesday and Thursdays from 6-9 and on Saturday and Sunday from 3-6 and various other specials the other nights of the weeks.



 
Kyle, our waiter came over and explained the happy hour specials. Paradise Beach Grille offers $4 wells, $4.50 wine and $3.00 drafts. The appetizers and burgers are half price during happy hour – the usual price range is $8-13, so you that’s a good savings. I asked about a bloody mary with well and he said it would be $1 extra. I ordered my standard rum and coke, Lora ordered a gin and tonic and Jo had a beer. I was quite pleased when the drinks arrived, because you could actually taste the rum in it! We like a stiff happy hour drink and the Grille did not disappoint (though our business card with our motto “Show us what you got, we’ll give you a shot” probably helped as well).

We decided to share a plate of the Paradise Chicken Wings – “sweet and spicy chicken wings tossed in homemade sauce”. I ordered the Peeling Curl Burger, “topped with Applewood smoked bacon and gorgonzola cheese”. Jo ordered the Sandy Beach Burger “topped with sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and Swiss cheese” and Lora ordered a burger of her own creation that they were willing to make for her.
While waiting for the food, we checked out the deck, peeked around the corner at the restaurant and took a closer look at the Christmas tree. Josephine reminded me that this was the old “Edgewater” a place we used to come dancing at in the 80s. They have really updated the place – it looks great. 
The manager, Karen, came over and talked with us as well, answering any questions and asking about the blog. Paradise Beach Grille has been at this location since 1998 which was pretty shocking to me, amazing how time flies!
The chicken wings arrived and were quite artistically arranged in a star formation, smothered in sauce and sprinkled with cheese. They were the mini wings and were quite tasty, though I knew Jo was not such a fan of sweet wings. We polished them off in no time.


I decided to splurge the extra buck and try a bloody mary. It arrived with a plethora of lovely garnishes, nice and tall and spicy. Yum! It was followed shortly by our hamburgers which were all served with a little “fryer basket” of fries. I asked Kyle if they were fried in the basket and he talked about the elaborate deep fryer set up they had in the kitchen, until I realized he was pulling my leg. I had bought it hook, line and sinker – he has such an honest face, but the devilish smile should have given him away.


The burgers were delicious and although I am not a fry person per se, these were quite tasty and I polished off half my basket. The burger was big enough that I brought half home along with the fries to Bill! When do you take leftovers home from a happy hour? We were all feeling the holiday spirit by this time.
So in sum, the Paradise Beach Grille is a sweet little happy hour spot. It has great ambience with an ocean view; good burgers and drinks with a kick; attentive, friendly service; reasonable prices and an all-night happy hour on Monday. If they could just throw in a Sunday afternoon happy hour, I would make it down here more often. In the meantime – check them out, have a burger enjoy the view and tell them Julie sent you!

Julie’s rating: 4.5 shots!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Cilantro's

THE BUZZ ON CILANTRO'S THE BAR AREA IS CALLED JOSE'S CANTINA

HAPPY HOUR IN THE BAR ONLY

Monday - Friday 4-6pm, hours extend on different days

Different specials every weekday

Specials on Saturdays and Sundays



Cilantro's Website
_______________________________________________________________
Julie's Review

Cilantro’s
Jose’s Cantina
Watsonville, CA



Happy Hours:
Mon 4-9 pm 50 cent wings
Tue 4-7:30 KPIG Happy Hour – beef tacos
Wed 4-7:30 Hippo Happy Hour – sliders and garlic fries
Thu 4-9 Carnitas tacos
Fri 4-6 Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Skewers
Sat – Drink Specials
Sun – all day

I sometimes listen to the Hippo radio stations at 104.3.  On Wednesdays they have the Hippo Happy Hour at Cilantro’s Restaurant in Watsonville.  DJs are on hand and they give away prizes.  I thought the J&J Happy Hour Buzz should take a road trip to our sister city to the south and investigate. 

When we found out our friend and former colleague, Fred, would be visiting from Portland,  we decided to plan a reunion and rendezvous with the old Science Library gang at Jose’s Cantina.

  
I found out as we were driving there, that they have a KPIG Happy Hour on Tuesday nights.   Since my husband loves KPIG, and I listen to that station sometimes, that would have been fun, too.  Turns out there are a lot of activities going on at Cilantro’s- most of them centered on sports.  There is no denying that Jose’s Cantina is a sports bar.




It just so happened that the night we arrived the World Series was also on.  Surrounded.   Baseball on one screen, basketball on another.

The radio station said Happy Hour was from 5:30 to 7:30, but when we arrived the Happy Hour menu said 4-6 pm.   For happy hour the drink specials are $4 wells and well margaritas, $2 Bud, Bud Lite, and Coors Lite draft and $3 Select Import Pints. They also had a drink special for $6 Specialty Mojitos.

The happy hour food menu was $4 quesadilla, chicken or beef taquitos, jalapeno poppers and $5 nachos.  Then every night there is a food special – Wednesday night was 3 sliders with garlic fries.  Both Jo and I wished we had come on Monday for 50 cent wing night.  Tuesday was beef tacos (Steve pointed out it should have be pork since it’s KPIG happy hour), Thursday is Carnitas tacos and Friday is Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Skewers.


 
It was the most elaborate and confusing happy hour yet.  We were ready for a drink so we ordered a pitcher of margaritas ($15) and our friend Steve arrived in time to grab a glass and join us.  Fred had a beer.   We ordered each of the appetizers and Jo had the sliders.  There was still no sign of the DJ, but our waitress, Lisa explained he was giving tickets for the raffle.



By this time Teresa had arrived sporting a stylish Oktoberfest hat from a work event and bearing belated birthday gifts (pumpkin and wine).  She ordered the Mojito special.  The music  started and the DJ – I believe his name was Casey came around.  He was all business, trying to fill out raffle tickets, but we gave him a card and told him about the Buzz.





Our waitress, Lisa was busy, but  helpful and patient trying to explain the confusing details – happy hour is 4 to 6, but since it’s the Hippo Happy hour from 5;30 to 7:30 the drink specials go on.  I’m still not sure I understand.  We got our food order in before six and she told us happy hour continued until 7:30 so we were happy.

The Hippo has a raffle every half hour and they had some good prizes.  The bar was filled and you could tell this was a regular activity for a lot of the folks.  The DJ knew many of them by name.  I won the first raffle drawing and got a Hippo t-shirt.  With all those great prizes coming up, it was disappointing to be out of the running, especially since I am not a t-shirt person.  My husband, Bill is t-shirt guy, though and the shirt looks great on him.  A little large for me.  Still – I won something, so who am I to complain?


The next prize was for Monterey Bay Aquarium tickets and who should win, but Teresa – who ironically works for a marine facility.  Still another winner from our table.  I must say they did have some good prizes – Bridge Concert tickets, Moody Blue tickets, tickets to local shows, the Corn Maze and lots of t-shirts.  In the next raffle, Steve won a t-shirt.  That was three winners from our table!

Then the food arrived.  The portions were generous.  I liked the poppers, my quesadilla was tasty.  Teresa liked her taquitos, though I thought they were a bit on the dry side.  We all agreed the garlic fries were good and I’m not a fry girl (or a fly girl – lol). Josephine thought her sliders had too much bun  (she’s not a bread gal).  The food was all starchy – yes, I know it’s a Mexican place, but it would have been nice to have ceviche or fish taco as a regular happy hour choice.





Still, we all munched and gabbed and caught up with friends we don’t get to see very often.  Fred explained to me in detail how basketball players have amazing brain power, that makes nuclear physics, quantum physics and art, music seem like tiny little parts of the brain.  We have a video of this discourse, which I hope we can load.  It is classic Fred and classic happy hour debate.    Not being a sports person, I was reminded to keep a more open mind and that it is all a matter of taste.  I believe that is true.

  
Lisa confirmed it was still happy hour, so I decided to sample their Bloody Mary.  Tasty with a rim of salt.  Jo moved to beer. The raffle continued, but though Casey put a shout out to the Santa Cruz Happy Hour Buzz, no more prizes were awarded to our table.

  
I noticed a dj was setting up in the corner.  His name is DJ Will B Smooth.  He plays music Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night – with no cover charge.  They clear the tables out so there is a good sized dance floor.  On the weekends he does a video mix, the videos for the songs play on the screens.  Sounds like a fun time.  Lisa works on Saturday night, so if you come down, tell her J & J sent ya.  Will B put on some Michael Jackson, so Jo and I did a little a dancing.  It was a fun night reminiscing, laughing, eating and drinking.

So Jose’s Cantina has some good things going for it -   a chance to win some pretty good prizes, generous portions and happy hour almost every night  of the week.  The service was good, even when it is hoppin’ inside.  On the down side – it’s hard to keep the hours and specials straight, it’s a long drive to Watsonville and the happy hour food choices could be a bit more varied.  I’d definitely go back, if it was just a tad bit closer to home.

  
Julie’s rating: 3.5 shots

_______________________________________________________
Jo's Review



Cilantro’s is a Mexican restaurant located off the main drag in Watsonville.  It has a sister restaurant in Santa Cruz called El Palomar.  Julie heard about the Hippo Happy Hour (Hippo is one of the local classic rock radio stations 104.3) and just had to go. This is our first review outside of Santa Cruz, but it won’t be our last for sure.  Some many happy hours! The bar area for the restaurant is called Jose’s Cantina and happy hour only takes place in the bar area.  Luckily it’s a large area with a long bar and a long bar  parallel to it for extra seating to watch the large screen TV’s with sports playing. This is definitely a sports bar.

 

They have large screen TV’s all over the area with different sports playing on all of them.  A nice size seating area next to the bar also gives way to a large patio area with heaters and umbrellas.  This place can handle a crowd for sure. We quickly spot out an area and claim our seats.

 
We have special guests with us this evening.  My dear friend Fred is visiting from Portland and he was very excited to be part of our outing today. Along with Fred we have our dear friend Steve too and of course Teresa. I enjoy having friends join us on these outings, one because the more the merrier they say and two we get to order more food!!!!!!



 
So the waitress Lisa comes up and Julie dives in with the questions about happy hour.  I started listening and writing down information and it’s starting to get complicated.  So much information and so many different things going on.  Happy hour M-F 4-6 but different specials every night so some night’s happy hour goes to 9pm and some nights 7:30pm and I missed what goes on Sundays but something does.   


Also different drink specials and food specials on different nights so it keeps you guessing.  On Wednesday it’s Hippo night so we have the regular happy hour food nachos, quesadillas, taquitos, and jalapeno poppers. $5.00 sliders with fries and $6.00 Mojitos along with raffle prizes given out every half hour or so. The Hippo part of happy hour is 5:30-7:30. So we get a pitcher of margaritas for me, Julie and Steve, Fred goes for beer while Teresa decided on a mojito. As far as food goes, well, we ordered everything I just listed.





Its fun catching up with Fred and Steve. I worked with both of these guys and we get together with Steve at least once a year.  They’re both such good, kind people.  Fred’s always opinionated and once you get a few in him, he’s darn right quotable.  He keeps us laughing. Teresa had her party hat on and we thought it was for us but alas she had her Oktoberfest party at work that day. Next thing I know some guy is asking our names and I’m like, who are you? The DJ I believe from the Hippo taking names for raffle tickets. After he leaves the food arrives. 

 
Everything looks great. The taquitos we get both beef and chicken and I get garlic fries with my sliders. I can’t really rave much about the food though it was good, not great.  My sliders were mostly bread but maybe their always that way but the garlic fries were good and very garlicky. The taquitos were a bit dry and the nachos were a little boring.  The jalapeno poppers were tasty.


During this the first raffle gets under way and who is the first name they call on, Julie.  She ends up with a Hippo t-shirt. A few more names are called and bam Teresa is called.  She ends up with 2 tickets to the Monterey Bay aquarium. We are on fire.  The DJ mentions our happy hour blog which immediately give them a ½ shot up and it almost seemed that we were getting special treatment but it was not the case.  We were just on fire. As were munching away another drawing comes up and bam Steve gets called for another Hippo t-shirt. Steve was the last winner at our table but we did clean up with 3 wins. 


So visiting with old friends, having food and drinks, and winning a few prizes to boot made for a very successful happy hour.  I must admit though that the highlight was visiting with old friends. Since I’m a big wings fan I will have to come back for their Tuesday wing night and see how that goes.


Jo’s rating: 3.5 shots!