Glen N.
Yelp
I finally went to Forbes Mill, albeit just for a $17 drink to check out the new bar. The spicy paloma is an insane drink, likely the best in the area outside of swirls and slushes. Sweet, spicy, and strong, it was like a fancy drink but it was served in a big goblet as opposed to dinky doll furniture glasses.
I had always been interested to check out their "stylish and comfortable environment". Maybe I went on a bad day (heat advisory) at a bad time (late afternoon) because it didn't have the dark swanky lounge feel I had hoped for. The service was outstanding, but, plastic surgery trophy wife in genie clothes aside, the people were kinda schlub unswanked it up, with old men in shorts (myself included, though I called ahead of time to see if my impromptu visit was ok), ladies in matching hot pink Chanel-branded straw hats, and a little well-fed girl who did a fortnite dance floor show, her mom ignoring our "ahem" looks.
The restaurant, ranked #7 of 90 on a website that adviser trips, is named after Forbes Mill, the first name of the town of Los Gatos.
The rest is the history of Forbes, so if you want to know about their rib-eye, read someone else's review.
Born in Scotland in 1804, James Alexander Forbes moved to Argentina as a teen where he was educated by Jesuits (a crucial fact) and worked for his uncle in shipping.
During the Cisplantine War, he turned one his uncle's ship into a man of war and he fought for Argentina. The war was essentially Argentina versus Brazil without the football. This armed conflict led to Uruguay's independence, making it a buffer state. This is similar to the Riverlands in Game of Thrones, which separate the North from the South; the Outer Rim Territories in Star Wars, which separate the Galactic Empire from the wild frontier; and the Shire in The Lord of the Rings, which is culturally insulated and geographically isolated.
He took a whale ship to California in 1831, and three years later married the daughter of the head honcho of Mission Santa Clara just 5 miles from where the 49ers would play, even though the 49ers at that time were only 31ers.
While working for Hudson Bay's Company (1836-1846), he advocated British rule over California as consul, but could not dissuade us from annexing.
In 1844, the Forbes family (12 kids) received a Mexican land grant of 1939 acres (Rancho Potrero). They sold it three years later to future senator Robert F. Stockton, a commodore often credited for modernizing our navy, capturing California from Mexico, even colonizing Liberia. (His daddy signed the Declaration of Independence)
In 1851, Forbes persuaded John Nobili and the Jesuits to establish a school at Mission Santa Clara, where he would provide land and legal defense in exchange for the erection of a mansion for himself and free tuition for his nine sons, which lent credibility to the college that would become Santa Clara University, the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California.
A year earlier, he purchased about 2000 acres of Rancho Rinconada de Los Gatos along the creek with the intent of building Forbes Mill to produce flour locally that was otherwise a Chilean import. After four years of red tape and construction issues, he built the mill. The town that grew around it was first called Forbes Mill, then Forbestown, and finally Los Gatos.
SO, remember that, next time you try to eat your Portobello Mushroom & Garlic Tart in the bar as a nine-year-old does the Electro Shuffle.
