The restaurant is hosting a media dinner and soft openings this weekend before opening its doors to the public at 191 Castro St. at 11 a.m. on Monday.
Eureka! is opening at the corner of Castro and Villa streets in downtown Mountain View. Photo by Elena Kadvany.
The first Eureka! opened several years ago in Redlands, and there are now more than a dozen locations throughout southern and northern California, including in Berkeley and a brand-new outpost in Cupertino. The restaurants serve burgers with hand-packed patties 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 jalapeño jam, house-made beer barbecue 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. Eureka! is friendly to substitutes, double patties and typical burger add-ons.
Above: Eureka's "cowboy" burger with shoestring onion rings, bacon, cheddar and housemade beer barbecue sauce. Photo courtesy of Eureka Restaurant Group.
Beyond the burgers, there are starters like bruschetta, Brussel sprouts, mac and cheese, wings, nachos and shishito peppers plus salads, sandwiches and other entrees. View the full menu here.
Drinks-wise, Eureka! is focused on craft beer and small-batch whiskey, and draws on the local market to develop each outpost’s booze offerings, according to Alexia Penna, Eureka's public relations and marketing manager. Each restaurant serves 40 American craft beers on tap and more than 50 whiskeys.
A rotating selection of beers at the Mountain View location will highlight Bay Area breweries like Heretic Brewing Company in Fairfield), Drake's Brewing Company in San Leandro, 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco and Bison Brewing in Berkeley, Penna said.
Signature cocktails include the "Holy Smokes!," a Buffalo Trace bourbon cocktail infused with hickory smoke made with maple syrup, cherry liqueur and aztec chocolate bitters; and "Some Like it Hot," with Ascendent American Star vodka, cucumber, lime and firewater tincture (whatever that is).
There will also be regular live music every Thursday, half-off wine every Tuesday and a ”Steal the Glass" every Wednesday (local breweries provide glassware that participating imbibers can take home with them).
Eureka! also serves brunch on the weekends from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The restaurant group has remodeled the 110-year-old building at the corner of Castro and Villa streets with a "steampunk theme" featuring classic red brick walls, hex-tile floors, tufted booths and reclaimed wood throughout the entire space, according to a Eureka! press release.
The interior of Eureka!'s new Mountain View location. Photo courtesy Eureka Restaurant Group.
