Restaurant offers ‘refined bar food’ with a twist
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
Dustin Evanger works in the kitchen at the newly opened The Hill Bar & Grill in downtown Morgan Hill.
Dustin Evanger wants The Hill Bar & Grill in downtown to mirror the spirit of Morgan Hill — starting with the name of the newly-opened downtown eatery. Taking over the former Champs restaurant March 1, The Hill’s chef/owner and his crew spent a month putting in sweat equity to make upgrades to the bar and grill restaurant located in the original Granada Theater movie house built in 1928.
“The building is a wonderful building and we decided to highlight various parts of it,” Evanger said. “Because it’s such a big building, we definitely darkened it up to make it feel a bit more cozy.”
Adding to the coziness is the restaurant’s intimate upstairs lounge area offering customers couches and an angel’s-eye view of what is happening in the bar and dining area below. The lounge is becoming so popular that people are renting it out for the night for events.
“It really wasn’t an intention of mine, but I wanted to give customers something a bit different than what we have downstairs, so it’s really turning into a wonderful place,” Evanger said. “The other thing we did was work with the (Morgan Hill) Historical Society and bring in a bunch of their photos. We have a big mural on the wall that is showcasing old Morgan Hill. And we’re also displaying those photos on our tables as well. What we’re really trying to do is make this place about Morgan Hill.”
The Hill offers American cuisine that Evanger describes as “refined bar food… with fun little playful twists.” For example, the jalapeño poppers are stuffed with house-ground chorizo to give it a spicy blast to the tongue.
“The way that we’re doing things here, we’re going to be changing our menu monthly,” the chef said. “We like to mix things up and keep people guessing. We’re also getting to be known for our flat breads — they’re like pizzas. We make a house-made pizza dough, put it on the grill and grill it and get some char marks on it and put our fresh sauce and toppings on it.”
Customers line up along the 18-foot classic bar for appetizers and drinks. All the wine and the beers on tap are made in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some bottled beers come from other locales.
“The other drinks that I’ve noticed are starting to get popular are our slurries,” Evanger said. “Those are a basic lemon and lime mixture that we then add real fruit purees with alcohol (vodka and tequila) fill. They’re kind of like an adult slushie. We’re getting really known for them.”
On Friday and Saturday nights, live bands entertain customers from a small stage area. Most of the music is classic rock and roll, but some nights bring in country, jazz and blues performers.
“I’m trying to pick out music that feels indicative of Morgan Hill,” Evanger said. “We’re really definitely heavy on the classic rock, but we’re including some other types of music in there.”
Evanger studied at the San Diego Culinary Institute, then went to Sacramento where he worked at a country club. As he built his cooking skills, he started a job for a San Francisco-based catering kitchen making lunch and catering for corporations. Following that stint, in 2007 he went on tour with country music star Kenny Chesney as a touring chef. The next year, he went on tour with Cirque du Soleil and cooked for that acrobatic company for two years.
During the two months it has been opened, The Hill Bar & Grill has grown a reputation for food and fun.
“We’ve had a lot of great responses from the community,” Evanger said. “We’re not just getting people to come in for drinks they’re actually coming in and requesting the food. As a chef, that’s something you want to see.”
The Hill Bar & Grill
Location: 17330 Monterey St.
Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday 2 p.m. to midnight, Thursday to Saturday 2 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., Sunday 2 to 10 p.m.
Contact: (408) 778-9300 or www.thehillbarandgrill.org
