Eureka was born six years ago in Redlands and has since expanded to 14 locations throughout southern and northern California, with the only Bay Area outpost in Berkeley.
"During the recession, we wanted to focus on a place that was a get-away for guests, to not only enjoy good, reasonably priced food that was high quality but also 'eater-tainment,'" said Alexia Penna, Eureka's public relations and marketing manager.
"Eater-tainment" comes in the form of regular live music and curated playlists for the restaurant that draw from local artists as well as half-off wine deals, daily Happy Hour and events like one called "Steal the Glass" during which local breweries provide glassware that participating imbibers can take home. There will be all of the above at the Mountain View outpost at 191 Castro St., the former home of 191 Restaurant and Bar. Penna said they're hoping to open in October.
Let's talk about the burgers. The patties are hand-packed and made from 100-percent vegetarian-fed, hormone and antibiotic-free, all-natural beef, according to the company's website. Buns are baked fresh and fries are hand cut. Produce is sourced locally when possible.
The "original" Eureka burger comes with iceberg lettuce, pickles, red onion, tomato, "special sauce" and fries for $9.50. Other burgers range in price from $10.50 to $16.50 and have toppings like pesto aioli, pancetta, bacon-infused jalapeno jam, house-made beer barbeque sauce and fig marmalade. The $16.50 price tag goes to the bone marrow burger, which comes with bone marrow porcini butter, charbroiled onion, mustard aioli, oven-roasted tomato and fries. There's also a veggie burger ($11) made from a red beet and kidney bean patty. They're friendly to substitutes, double patties and typical burger add-ons.
Behold: Eureka's "cowboy" burger with shoestring onion rings, bacon, cheddar and housemade beer barbeque sauce. Photo courtesy of Eureka Restaurant Group.
Eureka also serves up numerous bar-bite starters ? steamed clams, chicken and fish tacos, bruschetta, mac and cheese, wings, nachos, shishito peppers ? as well as salads, sandwiches, an all-day breakfast burrito and $20 flat iron steak.
Check out the full menu here.
Eureka is all about featuring craft beer and artisan whiskey, drawing on the local market to develop the drink menu. Local beers in Mountain View will include Heretic Brewing Company (Fairfield), Drake's Brewing Company (San Leandro), 21st Amendment Brewery (San Francisco) and Bison Brewing (Berkeley), Penna said.
Coffee also always come from a local company, Penna said.
The name of the restaurant draws from the definition of "eureka" as "an exclamation of triumph at a discovery" ? in this case, "the enlightening burger experience, accompanied by fresh ingredients, artisan recipes, craft beer, classic cocktails and rock n' roll."
