Dining Out with Friends
Written By Larry J. Mickartz
Appetizers
W
WH Crab Cakes
Poki
Salads
Spicy Asian Mambo
e chose Morgan Hill's
newest restaurant,
Willard Hicks, and a
nice quiet Tuesday evening, to take
our good friends and long-time Gilroy
residents, Tom and Susan Valenta
to dinner. Willard Hicks has a great
cosmopolitan vibe, with an inviting
front patio that just shouts cocktails
with friends. Its interior is reminiscent
of an upscale San Francisco restaurant
with high ceilings, large windows and
understated modern furnishings.
Willard Hicks is the first of four
food venues that will occupy the
south-east corner of Third and
Monterey Road. Coming soon to this
location are Opa!, Authentic Greek
Cuisine; Tac-Oh!, Mexican Comfort
Food; and Mo’s, a Breakfast + Burger
Joint. A quick look at each restaurant's
website will give you a feel for just
how impressive this line up is.
Once seated, in a cozy booth by
the window positioned just behind
the check-in desk, we ordered drinks.
Susan ordered one of the Craft
Libations on the menu, a Market
Delight (Casamigos Blanco, Aperol,
fresh lime juice, strawberries, orange
bitters) Tom, a Ginger Beer; J.Chris, a
glass of Champagne; and I ordered my
usual, a tall Gin and Tonic. Our drinks
arrived quickly and tasted great. Susan
described hers as “refreshing, with a
nice fru ity taste.” We all marveled at
the huge ice cube in her drink, that by
itself filled the glass and managed to
survive from her first sip to the end.
Tom’s Ginger Beer had a refreshing
ginger twist with a bit of a kick at the
end. As we finished our cocktails, we
took a quick look at the WH (Willard
Hicks) menu and knew we were in for
a treat. In addition to some of the items
that were familiar, they had a number
of proprietary items designated with
their WH signature that included an
array of unusually paired ingredients.
For appetizers, we agreed to share
the WH Crab Cakes (fresh lump crab,
fire roasted sweet peppers, cilantro,
chives on a bed of baby arugula,
drizzled with poblano aioli) and Poke
(tuna, wasabi, ginger, green onion,
cilantro, avocado, mango, sweet
peppers, sriracha vinaigrette). Then I
remembered people raving about the
WH Iron Skillet Poblano Cornbread
(roasted poblano peppers, sweet
creamed corn come together to make
our killer cornbread, drizzled with a
jalapeño honey butter. Yum). So, we
ordered a serving of that as well.
The first thing we all noticed as
our order was delivered to the table,
Entrees
WH Sticky Chicken
Southern Wedge
102
Grilled Swordfi sh
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018
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