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Politics & Government

Expansion Approved for Two Local Restaurants

The Town Council unanimously approved proposals to expand Main Street Burgers and Gardino's restaurant, Monday evening.

The Los Gatos town council unanimously approved two separate proposals on Monday night, allowing Main Street Burgers and restaurants to expand into neighboring lots, which were each recently vacated.

Main Street Burgers, located on the corner of Main Street and North Santa Cruz Avenue, was given permission on May 11th to expand into the lot previously occupied by Cold Stone Creamery. As they expand into the adjacent property, the plan is to maintain the maximum number of seats of 70, and to increase their closing-operating hours ( 8:30 p.m., Monday-Friday and 9:30 pm., Saturday-Sunday) to 11:00 p.m. daily.

Main Street Burgers was also awarded the privilege of serving alcoholic beverages past 10 p.m., in accordance to the town's alcoholic-beverage policy, which gives restaurants “discretionary privilege” to serve beer and wine past the evening hours on a case-by-case basis, according to the town's website.

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Resident Jonathan Knowles says that keeping Main Street Burgers in town would mean more than just delicious burgers, but that it would also keep people in town that are active in the community.

“[Ed Rathman] just stops you usually in the middle of a sentence and says, 'tell me what you need, I'm ready to help,'” Knowles said in reference to the Main Stree Burger co-owner.

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Italian restaurant, Gardino's, is a mom-and-pop restaurant born and raised in Los Gatos by Pete Jillo.

Jillo's restaurant is in a more dire situation: expand their current 16-seat restaurant or leave. This is Jillo's second attempt of securing council approval to expand restaurant seating, after his original proposal was turned down on May 2nd.

Jillo's original proposal had the kitchen expanding into the new space, which was retail space for the store Baby and Tot Boutique. Building a kitchen there would prevent the space from reverting to retail in the future, council members reasoned.

In compromise, Jillo agreed to make the expansion for seating only and was supported by a friend who rose to his defense.

“Gardino's continued viability depends on this additional space. It's become evident in today's market condition, which includes continued rent increases, that Gardino's will not be able to maintain it's viability without this additional seating,” said Peter Carter, who is close friends with the owner of his favorite restaurant.

After scanning over the crowd, Mayor Pirzynski determined that losing the restaurant would be a great loss to the community, and motioned to accept Jillo's request for expansion.

“Will all those in favor of the expansion please stand up,” Mayor Pirzynski asked the audience, as nearly the entire room stood.  Pirznyski then asked "Will those against the expansion, pleast stand up," and not one person did.

Now that the proposal has been changed, the only obstacle to discuss was the size of the counter for patrons to sit at the bar, which has been reduced to 7 seats from the original proposal's 10. The seating capacity would still be 45.

“As you can see I love Italian food,” said resident Bill Lonsdale, using his weight as an example of how much he loves Gardino's. “Occasionally I go there by myself and I feel awkward when I sit at a table and take up that space from others, [but] with the addition of counter space, that problem would be resolved.”

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