Get ready for mouth-watering new eats and a lively atmosphere in
downtown Gilroy as the Walton brothers get set to open a tapas
restaurant in Gilroy’s Grand Ol’ Dame, beautiful Old City Hall. If
you need a job, they’re hiring and if you need a great new place to
go, it won’t be long. Lizarran will feature flamenco dancing
entertainment (if the police department doesn’t object to dancing
downtown). Toothpick tapas will be passed in the bar area for
quick, inexpensive bites and the full-range menu will have mucho
options from a machengo-laden cheese plate to bacalao a la vizcaina
(codfish and clams sauteed with pepper and onions. BTW, it’s
pronounced leez\er\ran)
…
Get ready for mouth-watering new eats and a lively atmosphere in downtown Gilroy as the Walton brothers get set to open a tapas restaurant in Gilroy’s Grand Ol’ Dame, beautiful Old City Hall. If you need a job, they’re hiring and if you need a great new place to go, it won’t be long. Lizarran will feature flamenco dancing entertainment (if the police department doesn’t object to dancing downtown). Toothpick tapas will be passed in the bar area for quick, inexpensive bites and the full-range menu will have mucho options from a machengo-laden cheese plate to bacalao a la vizcaina (codfish and clams sauteed with pepper and onions. BTW, it’s pronounced leez\er\ran) …
Pronounced “champ/i/on” is our own Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero who beat South African Malcolm Klassen in a dogfight Saturday night in Houston to take the International Boxing Federation junior lightweight title. Guerrero’s grittiest performance to date really bodes well for his boxing stardom future. Gilroy’s southpaw definitely took it to the next level and, after training in Big Bear with Sugar Shane Mosely, has a real sense of what it’s going to take to climb to the top of the “Rocky Balboa” stairs in the fight game.
Games just up the 101 road for Elise Ogle, daughter of Sandra and “Coach” Chuck, who heard from the folks down on “The Farm” Wednesday afternoon that she made the field hockey team and the grade for early admission into Stanford University. Wow! Congrats to her, her family and her coaches, Adam and Erin Gemar. What an amazing opportunity … and family and friends will get to follow the games. If we listen closely on game days, we’ll probably be able to hear Coach Ogle bellowing encouragement from the sidelines all the way from Palo Alto …
PA tidbit, could be wrong, but I think the last Gilroy High athlete to make it to Stanford was Derek Bruton, the 6-10 basketball center with a heart of gold who played for Coach Tracy Carpenter in the ’80s. Carpenter has come full circle and is coaching the Haybalers in Holly-lister this season.
If all the sports items have your muscles tightening up, here’s a great deal – one that should be especially appealing for the ladies. The Wang family has opened the Golden Angel foot reflexology massage center in the Chestnut Street shopping center by the DMV. Pretty simple, take off your shoes, shell out a $20 (with the coupon in this newspaper) and enjoy. Recommended for after work or even at lunch. The family is quite friendly, the atmosphere is pleasant and there’s not a lot of fuss and muss …
Fuss and muss … not sure where that comes from but in the 1500s apparently … “Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, ‘bring home the bacon.’ They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.” Hmmm …
It’s a “fat” idea with the public – developing a top-notch career and technical education program within the school district. In our Web poll, a powerful 91% said that it should be a strong program offered in high school. Every student doesn’t need or want to go to college. It’s OK. With a 33% state drop-out rate, it’s time to get real and keep students in school with a variety of educational opportunities. A colleague made a great suggestion – ask the students. Where’s that survey?
Survey on the Council’s latest closed session nonsense: Give Gilroy residents a break. The “justification” for the latest “behind-closed- doors, it’s-a-big-secret-and-don’t-say-a-word-to-the-taxpayers” folly came when the Council voted to authorize MayorAl to give 5% raises to City Administrator Tom Haglund and City Clerk Shawna Freels. So, the mayor thinks it’s a good idea, apparently, to hand out secret raises to city employees. The mayor should not be flying solo on this anyway, it’s the entire City Council’s responsibility to review, authorize a raise and report the action to the public. This notion of the mayor “meeting and conferring?” with Tom and Shawna is pure, well, bull-looney. “Let’s talk about your 5% raise …” Give me a friggin’ break. Won’t somebody on this City Council raise some Cain and stop this nonsense?
Nonsense, Mark Zappa’s bee-in-your-bonnet comment about MayorAl’s villa in the Azores … it’s more like a castle according to a Gilroy Police Officer’s Association press release comparing the cost of Castello de Gilmayjorca to the new $30-something-million police digs. The GPOA spokesperson said he could not comment further because the GPOA voted on issuing the press release behind closed mansion doors …
Opening the doors soon next month will be the new Morgan Hill Cigar Co. Under new ownership and the old friendly stewardship of Steve Boyce, the downtown staple is getting a facelift and a new air filtration system. The “Cheers” atmosphere will, Steve promises, be retained. Cheers to that!
