Beer-licious Steins offers great comfort food
There is no such thing as too many beer halls, especially when they’re modeled after the classic German biergarten, with endless beer runners, house-made sausages and fancy macaroni and cheese.
Earlier this summer, restaurateur Ted Kim opened his second edition of Steins Beer Garden & Restaurant. The first Steins opened four years ago in Mountain View and continues to draw beer enthusiasts and regulars from Google. Judging from the crowds on a recent weeknight, the new Steins, located on the ground floor of an apartment complex in Cupertino, is already a mainstay for local families and the Apple crowd.
They’re only eight miles apart, but in these densely populated parts, you need as many reliable options close to home as you can get.
Executive chef Colby M. Reade’s menu of modern comfort food is certainly reliable — more gastropub than traditional beer hall. Dinner consists of entrees ($21-$27), salads and sandwiches ($13-$15) and appetizers ($4-$17). You’ll find the rich, three-cheese Mac & Cheese ($13) under the appetizers, but topped with those buttery bread crumbs and any one of the housemade proteins (additional $3-$5 for pork belly, BBQ brisket or grilled sausage), it is a meal.
Diners tend to freak out over another appetizer: Chicken strips ($14). While they’re certainly tasty and pack a crunch — cornmealbattered, cage-free Petaluma fried chicken will do that — I suspect it is the accompanying house-made hot sauces (nine total, including Beta Breaker and Chupacabra’s Revenge) that generate the excitement and pair well with the impressive selection of beer. To be exact: 31 draft and import beers, 20 year-round staples and 10 rotating seasonal and rare brews.
Equally intriguing: Discovering a stand-out salad at a beer hall. Quinoa and Roasted Butternut Squash Salad ($15) is a colorful and generous serving of Napa cabbage, jicama, cilantro, avocado relish and pumpkin seeds in a chile lime vinaigrette. If you ask nicely, I bet the kitchen would throw a chicken strip or BBQ brisket on top.
House-made sausages pop up once on the menu, as an appetizer plate ($16) meant for sharing. You get two: A smoked beef and cheddar sausage (we didn’t detect any cheddar) and a spicy pork sausage. They’re served with a whole-grain mustard potato salad and thin slices of grilled white country bread. Another great meal, especially if you ask for a side of the superthick pub cheese to slather on the bread.
With all of these great options around $16, it’s hard to justify a $20-plus entree, but, if you need a recommendation, we liked the Smoked Chicken ($21). The poultry is juicy and comes on a bed of Swiss chard with caramelized onions and garlic mashed potatoes in a white wine reduction.
Overall, the Cupertino Steins isn’t as large as Mountain View’s (about 8,000 square feet versus 12,000) and it certainly feels more intimate, with gastropub-style copper accents and design intended to bring the outdoors inside. Even on busy and loud nights, the high ceilings and massive living wall give the restaurant a strangely peaceful vibe, a good spot for locals to kick back with a craft beer and a hearty appetizer.