Bites Nearby: Garlic City Cafe

Garlic City Café has made a name for itself as a lunch spot, but chef and owner Socrates Diego really shows what he can do with his dinner menu.

Even something simple–the green salad that starts the meal–shows a sure hand. The square plate holds a variety of lettuces, each leaf crisp and beautiful. The salad is lightly dressed and topped with fresh-grated carrot and house-made garlic croutons. The plating and balance of flavors is spot on, just the right start for dinner.

The other option as a starter is Diego’s signature soup, cream of garlic, rich and garlicky yet still mellow. Every dinner entree includes the diner’s choice of soup or salad.

The entrees range from chicken piccata ($13.95) to a bacon-wrapped filet mignon with a spicy roasted garlic and maple butter sauce ($23.95). The perfectly cooked chicken piccata had a light, velvety sauce of butter, white wine, lemon juice and capers. Diego’s plating was perfect, the chicken accompanied by roasted potato wedges, tender asparagus spears and carrot slices. One of the specials for the evening, osso bucco ($18.95) featured lamb shanks that fell apart at the touch of a fork, resting on a bed of flavorful risotto. Clearly, the chef knows how to do risotto, because each grain of rice was tender yet distinct.

Pasta dishes include the rigatoni a la Siciliana ($11.95), grilled and sautéed eggplant, peppers, red onions, kalamata olives and pine nuts. The seafood fettucine ($16.95) has scallops, calamari, prawns and salmon in a lobster cream sauce.

As good as he is behind the stove, Diego and his wife, Margarita Velasquez, opened Garlic City Cafe in 2008 because both wanted to interact with their customers. After years as executive chef at the Golden Oak in Morgan Hill, Diego wanted to see the people for whom he was cooking. He prefers working in a small restaurant with an open kitchen, where he can make sure that his customers are happy with what he cooks.

Anne Greenan and her husband, Brian Kjellesvig, were definitely happy with Diego's cooking. "I've had osso bucco before and not liked it, but Margarita told me I should try Diego's. She was right. The lamb was tender and the risotto ... so good," she said. "We'll be back."

Garlic City Cafe. 7461 Monterey St. Downtown Gilroy. 408-840-2416.