Sunnyvale's hamburger heaven at St. John's Bar & Grill Sunnyvale's hamburger heaven at St. John's Bar & Grill (February 02, 2001)

Customers can depend on the beer being cold, the beef being juicy, and the fries being plentiful at St. John's Bar & Grill in Sunnyvale.

@vcredit:Josh Keithley

By Jim Harrington

Sunnyvale may be the culinary surprise of the South Bay. Thanks to places like Tarragon and Il Postale, this once-sleepy dining town is now a force to be reckoned with.

So, congratulations and all that. Still, despite the climb up the culinary ladder, the most beloved restaurant in the city is still probably St. John's Bar & Grill. Sunnyvalers love their burgers at least as much as they love their grilled-swordfish-and-baked-brie dinner salads. And that makes me extremely happy.

Located in a tiny, nondescript shopping center on Lawrence Expressway, near Highway 101, St. John's has obviously benefited from the heavy concentration of workers in the area. The lunch lines range from monstrous to obscene. It is not uncommon to wait 30 minutes or more for a burger. But, when the alternative is a fast-food place like In-N-Out Burger, it's well worth the wait.

St. John's has the feel of a neighborhood pub -- the real "Cheers" of Sunnyvale, if you will -- but it draws from a pretty big neighborhood. Softball teams, co-workers, families, couples, and sports fans come to the burger joint to watch baseball, football, hockey, and basketball games, munch on fried goodies, and drink ice-cold brews.

On a sunny afternoon, take advantage of the large patio area in the front of the restaurant. It's equally comfortable inside -- all dark woods, tall booths and ceiling fans. Familiar sports figures on the walls watch as you try to manage the big burgers and salty fries.

At the bar, the mixologists will gladly concoct you a Mai Tai or Margarita. But this is really beer country, and the 13 handles offer a number of local favorites such as the great ESB from Sunnyvale's own Stoddard's microbrewery. Bring friends and order a pitcher.

If you are visiting St. John's in the evening, the first thing to do is check out the excellent, money-saving nightly specials. For example, on Mondays, from 4 to 9:30 p.m., all cheesesteaks are half price. On Thursdays, from 4 to 8 p.m., pitchers of Bud, Miller, or Coors Light are just $2.99. My favorite time to visit is from 4 to 9:30 p.m., Fridays, when all the appetizers, including fried zucchini and chicken strips, are half price. In an ideal world, Thursday and Friday would fall on the same day.

The burgers are 1/3-pound beauties made of fresh ground chuck. You can substitute the beef for a turkey patty or meatless gardenburger. You can, but I sure wouldn't.

Let's start with the St. John's Deluxe ($4.75), where the juicy burger is topped with Jack cheese and fresh-roasted chili pepper and served on an onion roll. The blue bacon burger ($5.50) is a beauty with real crumbles of blue cheese and two thick-sliced strips of bacon. The cajun burger ($4.75) is blackened with a flavorful, slightly spicy seasoning, served with melted Jack cheese. The hickory burger ($4.75) delivers grilled onions, barbecue sauce, and Jack cheese.

As unlikely as it might seem, just about everything else meets the high standard set by the burgers. Although I wouldn't admit it in front of my bowling buddies, I like the char-broiled chicken sandwiches as much as the burgers. The bacon Swiss chicken sandwich ($5.95) serves up a thick boneless breast topped with Swiss cheese and two strips of thick bacon. Try the green chili and cheese chicken sandwich ($5.75) and the mushroom chicken number ($5.95).

I won't, however, go so far as substitute the beef with poultry on my cheesesteak sandwiches. I like the thin-sliced steak with the sauteed fresh bell peppers and mushrooms. One of my favorites is the hickory steak ($6.50), where barbecue sauce is added to your basic cheesesteak. Occasionally, I'll go for the pastrami sandwich ($6.50), where the thin-sliced pastrami is grilled with onions and topped with melted Swiss and American cheese.

One bite of that delicious pastrami cheesesteak and I know why St. John's is still the best-loved restaurant in Sunnyvale.

St. John's Bar & Grill, 510 Lawrence Expressway, Sunnyvale; Phone: (408) 738-8515. Hours: Mon., 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sat., 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Credit cards are accepted.