Main story: New Tempo shows downtown Gilroy dining is evolving

Restaurant offers a high-end menu and a stylish bar offering a variety of creative cocktails

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By Marty Cheek

Gilroy residents are making time for Tempo. Opened two months ago, the Tempo Kitchen and Bar is fast becoming the go-to place for American cuisine and hand-crafted cocktails.

The new restaurant is located in the former Golden State Brewery site in the heart of downtown Gilroy. The ambiance suggests a casual, high-end eatery and hangout bar that could easily fit into the arty Soho district of London. The menu offers diners a diverse range of lunch and dinner options created by the New York City-trained executive chef Oscar Monroy. These include a New York Strip Steak accented with jalapeno avocado relish and a cioppino shellfish stew made with a special tomato broth that pulls out the flavors of the local catch, squid, mussels, clams and shrimp.

The 35-year-old, Venezuelan-born Monroy grew up in the Big Apple. As a 10th-grade high schooler, he got his start in a culinary career doing the grunt work in a Harlem rib joint. The experience inspires his culinary decisions in his use of woods in smoking meats such as prime rib and tri-tip.

“They had a really, good, unique way of smoking their meats with dry rub and apple wood and hickory mesquite blended together,” he said. “I’m trying almond wood with our ribs and, oh, my God, the flavor is mouthwatering.”

After going through a two-year culinary program in a New York City academy, Monroy found work at the city’s prestigious BLT Steak, a destination restaurant combining bistro ambiance with steakhouse fare. He later stepped into the kitchen of Hyatt’s Andaz Fifth Avenue restaurant in midtown Manhattan. As his chef skills evolved, he crossed the country to work in Monterey when Hyatt transferred him to its Carmel Highland hotel. He moved on to the Monterey Peninsula Country Club at Pebble Beach before coming to Tempo.

Monroy sees the South Valley’s newest restaurant bringing a wide choice of zesty cookery to the region.

“I like spicy food like Cajun, North African, and Latin mixed into everything with French techniques,” he said. “We try to make sure our flavors are unique. Sometimes I use southwestern flavors but not too much. I like Cajun and North African flavors with a lot of coriander, hot chilies — and, of course, garlic. I love cooking with beer and wine — poaching and braising with beer.”

Tempo owner Dan Nelson described how the concept of Tempo evolved. He signed a deal with the owner of the building shortly before the pandemic in early 2020 with the idea of creating a tap room for downtown.

“Then we found there were a lot of tap rooms opening in downtown, so we wanted to be different and unique,” he said. “People are always looking for a unique place to eat. So we decided to do something new and different.”

The idea emerged to create a restaurant with a high-end menu and a stylish bar offering a variety of creative cocktails as well as first-rate beer and wine choices. He spent $1.2 million renovating the site to bring to life a fine dining restaurant and bar. “We want a place with a fun flair to it. We didn’t want it to be too formal.”

The design provides a music-themed ambiance with classic records accenting the walls. The name “Tempo” comes from the musical term for “time.” In keeping with the theme, live music is played on a small stage.

For private events, Tempo offers a banquet room that can seat about 50 people. It’s also used for a winemaker’s dinner on the second Tuesday of the month. For $125, patrons can sample cuisine made in the best of gastronomic arts paired with fine wine while learning about the featured winery.

Since its opening, Tempo has received rave reviews from Gilroy patrons, Nelson said. Many of them comment how the restaurant brings a little more eloquence to downtown.

“Our goal was to create something really spectacular,” he said. “We wanted to have super quality food. We wanted to serve the best food we could. Definitely going into Gilroy, people said we were taking a risk because they didn’t feel the kind of food we’re serving was something we could get good crowds from. We’re doing really well and people keep coming back to try out more choices from our menu.”

Tempo’s reputation, as it grows, will tempt visitors to visit Gilroy and check out the rising culinary reputation of the downtown, said Jane Howard, executive director of Visit Gilroy.

“I am incredibly excited about this new venue that invested in downtown as a destination for residents and visitors,” she said. “”I am looking forward to watching Tempo thrive in the years to come.”

The Gilroy Downtown Business Association is also excited about the new restaurant, said the group’s president Gary Walton. Tempo brings a unique variety of food and flavors in a large and artfully decorated space.

“Since its opening Oct 3, it has been a massive success — as evidenced by the crowds — in no part to the vision of Dan Nelson and the culinary expertise of chef Oscar Monroy,” he said. “I’ve never been disappointed in the food or drink. I like that the menu continues to evolve and change, and regular live music is being introduced — all good reasons to visit Tempo.

Tempo is an excellent addition to the several other well-loved restaurants downtown, Walton said.

“We hope Tempo’s continuing success will encourage others to consider opening their restaurants downtown, thereby adding to our diverse food and entertainment culture downtown.”