Community Corner

Steins Beer Garden Opens End of March in Mountain View

The much-awaited new beer pub starts filling steins on March. 28.

Originally published March 13, 2013. 

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Beer, and not just tech companies, might be another reason people come to Mountain View.

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On March 28, the much-awaited Steins Beer Garden opens its 12,000-square-foot restaurant, bar and garden at 895 Villa St., the former site of the Villa 8 Chinese restaurant. At first of concern to neighbors, restaurant owner Ted Kim—who's made close to a $2 million investment in the property—feels that a lot of compromises have been reached, and beer-lovers and foodies will benefit from the variety of food and brews not common on Castro Street.

"This is a full-service restaurant with no entertainment license," he said noting the beer garden's exterior walls come up to six and a half feet. "We won't be open past midnight."

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But he does hope to make all customers—the space can accommodate 300 seated guests—feel welcome. Watch the video of Patch's tour from a few weeks back attached to this article!

Designed in the style of a European beer hall with 42 feet high cavernous ceilings and communal tables, Steins will serve seasonal, gourmet American comfort cuisine crafted by Executive Chef Colby M. Reade. A San Francisco native with over 15 years of experience, Reade will also bake breads, pretzels and other goods in-house and feature a delicatessen-like charcuterie program.

"There will be no small plates and no white table cloths," Kim said.

Steins, of course, will also serve high quality craft beers on tap from around the world. They won't offer bottled beer—at least not yet.

"You can always try our beer and go down to Jane's Beer Store and by a bottle," Kim said.

For Kim, narrowing down the beer selection proved to be a difficult task, since "beer is going to be such a huge part of our business," he said.

However, Kim finally got the selection down to the 30 beers he wanted to offer and keep in Steins keg cooler. These include: Arrogant Bastard (Stone Brewery); Urban People’s Common Lager (Linden Street Brewery); Old Rasputin (North Coast Brewery); Cerne Dark (Krusovice Brewery); Hefeweissbier (Weihenstephaner Brewery); Hitachino Nest White Ale (Kiuichi Brewery); Avant Garde (Lost Abbey Brewery); Rampant (New Belgium Brewery); Chocolate Porter (Hangar 24 (Brewery); and Fruli Strawberry Beer (Brouwerij Huyghe Brewery).

"We want to give people what they want, but also take them out of their comfort zone," Reade said, and added that Kim will work on a revolving seasonal beer program that will match the food. "If we only get one keg or something we'll tweet it. It will be here, then it will be gone."

"We are not going to tie ourselves down to these 30 beers for the next 10 years," he said. "That's not our philosophy." In addition to beer, Steins will have cocktails and wine.

Steins interior has a second kitchen and private meeting space, which can serve as restaurant overflow, fully equipped with its own audio-visual system. And they "struck gold with a patio that is 4,000 sq. feet," Kim said.

The design aesthetics of space lean toward the earth tones—reclaimed wood, stone, rustic colors. A much different look than that of Villa 8.

"What was once a tired, worn-down building has been transformed into a top facility by an award-winning architect, which improves the overall aesthetics of the area and better serves the surrounding community," said Randol Mackley, senior vice president with SRS Real Estate Partners, who represented Steins’ corporate parent, Probst LLC, in the transaction.

Even though Kim—a native of Sunnyvale and resident of San Jose—and his partners have made a substantial investment in Steins, it's a dream he's had since 2008 and they've supported.

"I've wanted a place with a great beer program and great food," he said, about the beer tasting and food pairing they hope to implement. "A great beer program is hard to find; but it was hard to find this kind of place."

And with such a large space, he's taken his time with the details.

"First impressions are important," Kim said.

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  • Office Building Sells for $17.75 million in Mountain View

 

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