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For Freddy Lopez, it was a short leap from his job at Aramark, pitching their fresh linen delivery service to restaurants, to owning a place of his own. But Aromas Grill owner Sal Alvarez inadvertently paved the way eight years ago when he asked Lopez if he knew of anyone interested in buying his business.
“This was one of the first accounts I signed,” Lopez said. “I got to be good friends with Sal and would come here every so often and have dinner with the family. One night we got to talking and that’s how it happened.”
Alvarez and his brother Mario opened the grill in 2013, with Chef Marvin Romero. Lopez was attracted to the place by the “small hometown vibe,” befitting a restaurant that has almost as many social media followers as there are residents of Aromas. He loved the long bar made from Coralitos redwood. He enjoyed seeing how comfortable it made the locals who frequented it.
“When you come in,” he said, “you see it has something special. That’s what I liked about it. Everyone is talking with everybody, and they all know each other.”
Larry Willis of Willis Construction has been a regular at the restaurant since its opening. He was lunching (“in a moment of weakness,” Willis said) on one of the Grill’s huge Aromas Burgers made with charbroiled Angus Beef, a change from his usual order.
“I like to make up my own,” he said. “I get chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli. It’s not listed, but they will make it for me. But it’s a great menu, the service is always good, and I can walk here from my house.”
Many menu items dating back to Romero’s tenure still feature on the menu, but Lopez, who had no prior experience in the business, drew on another aspect of his Aramark career to expand it into new directions. He picked up ideas while dining at restaurants he serviced from King City to San Francisco.
“I ate at so many places,” he said, “and each restaurant has its little niche. I probably gained 35 pounds, but I tried to incorporate things that I liked. Then we tested them here in the kitchen ’til we perfected them.”
Many of the immediate changes Lopez made reflected the needs of the small community and accommodated his customers’ schedules. While the Grill was previously closed on Mondays, he decided to keep it open seven days a week. There had been separate lunch and dinner menus, which he consolidated into one, offering dishes that could be ordered at any time. He also added breakfast items, available until 2 p.m.
“A lot of the people in town don’t work in the area,” he said. “If they came in late and wanted to have a chicken bacon ranch sandwich for dinner, they couldn’t because it was on the lunch menu. When I opened up the menu, business exploded.”
The current menu is extensive—omelettes, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches, a line of fish dishes, including Blackened Red Snapper, and a range of dinner items that show remarkable variation.
The options for chicken, for example, are impressive: Chicken Marsala, Chicken Scallopini, Chicken Teriyaki, Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, and Chicken Parmesan, to name a few. And they have Chicken Fingers as well, which will please any finicky young gourmet at the table.
However, there are still more items being added to a new menu that Lopez is perfecting. One he is particularly proud of, Fantastic Pancakes, is made with three pancakes folded like a taco shell with different fillings: scrambled eggs and sausage, Nutella and strawberries, and scrambled eggs and bacon.
The rest? We will keep under wraps, for the moment…
Breakfast, lunch and dinner at Aromas Grill
Strawberry Cheesecake Pancakes – “I highly recommend these if you are really hungry,” Lopez said, “or if you want something to share.” The name gives it away: a cheesecake is diced up and added to the batter, and the finished pancakes are topped with a scoop of butter and fresh-sliced Driscoll’s strawberries. Considering the heft that the cheesecake could add, the pancakes remain fluffy but with a creamy texture that can be immediately identified as coming from the cream cheese. There is a raspberry version as well, and, doctor’s orders aside, they are irresistible, coming closer to a dessert than a breakfast. Add some bacon to get the full spectrum of decadent deliciousness, but these are a must-try.
Aromas Grill Burger – This is the grill’s house burger and the most popular entree on the menu, for good reason. It’s a third of a pound of Certified Angus Beef, seasoned and charbroiled, topped with Monterey Jack and served with grilled mushrooms and onions on a toasted bun. There are variations—the Quarry Burger is served without cheese, the Baja Burger features Cajun spices and pepperjack cheese, and the Cali Burger is topped with bacon and avocado. Regardless of which one you order, it’s a substantial lunch. If you are feeling ambitious, you can try the Double Double, which I had on a recent visit. It’s a lot of food, and I have to admit I was pretty much overwhelmed, but I loved every bite.
It comes with a side, and Lopez recommends the house fries, which have a coating of flour to make them extra crispy. “They are very unique and more expensive,” he said, “but our customers love them. If we get the wrong ones from the vendors, they notice right away.”
Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwich – The most popular sandwich and the dish that inspired the all-day menu, when customers kept wanting to order this lunch item for dinner. “It’s chicken with bacon and ranch on sourdough,” Lopez said, “so you get a little bit of variety and really good flavor in each bite.” The charbroiled chicken breast and applewood-smoked bacon have a nicely seasoned spiciness that complements the fresh local produce exceptionally well. The ranch dressing binds everything together without overpowering the more subtle flavors.
Other sandwiches include a Blackened New York Steak, Hot Pastrami, Pesto Tri-Tip and the Carpenteria, homemade chicken julienne sautéed with garlic, onions, and mushrooms and topped with melted Swiss cheese.
Meat Lovers Pizza – This is a classic thin-crust pizza topped with spicy sausage, bacon, ham, pepperoni, and Mozzarella cheese with marinara sauce. One of my pet peeves with restaurants is advertising a dish as having spicy sausage and then serving a bland, Americanized version that lacks any bite or kick. That is not the case here: Lopez helped himself to a slice of the one I tried and quickly ran off to get an ice-cold beer. He says he likes a light crust because “you won’t feel guilty eating our pizza,” and it remains light and crunchy, regardless of the copious amount of meat and sauce piled on top.
There are other pizzas on the menu, of course, including Chicken Alfredo, Artichoke Heart, Greek Pizza, with sausage, kalamata olives and feta cheese, and even a Shepherd’s Pie version with a thin layer of garlic mashed potatoes topped with spicy sausage, bacon, ham, pepperoni and Mozzarella cheese. But the Meat Lovers is a knockout pizza, reminiscent of the great San Francisco pizzerias that thrived before gentrification. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Aromas Grill
304 Carpenteria Rd, Aromas, CA 95004
Phone: (831) 726-9999
Hours:
Monday – Friday: 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Saturday – Sunday: 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Aromas Grill online – Instagram, Facebook and Chow.Now.
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