forbes mill steakhouse - 206 north santa cruz avenue los gatos california (do you really need the phone number?)

i had a chance to sample steak on the other side of the pacific recently. the forbes mill steakhouse is located in a 'nice part of town' which immediately had me thinking of camberwell and the other silver-haired suburbs of melbourne. sure enough, they still had their christmas lights up on the street and it was just lovely. in a scary kind of way.

the first night i went looking for forbes it was superbowl sunday (what the hell do i know about us football?) and almost everywhere was closed. people had apparently been drinking all day and watching the game. while drinking all day is to be commended, it didn't help my case so i had to make the perilous trek a second day. did i mention that i had never driven in the us before...or on the right side of the road? no? well, i didn't kill anyone but it was close a number of times.

i have to say, they do know how to serve cow with a nice wine. i was most impressed with a local red. the natural tendency in the us is to say yes to everything offered with your meal and that's where you have to be careful. sure, the steak was more than a decent size and with a side salad, more than enough for someone hungry. but, you have to watch the offer of veggies, potato, salad, bread all with an assortment of fattifying (my new word along with the fatolator - toco1234 knows what i'm talking about) sauces and butters. just say no, people. your arteries will thank you.

highly recommend forbes if you happen to find yourself in los gatos (it's near san jose and san francisco, k?) with an evening to kill.