By Clyde Noel

Town Crier Correspondent

Family atmosphere remains intact, but addition helps business

You won’t find Sam, Norm, Diane or Carla hanging around the bar, but stop at Maltby’s in Los Altos and you’ll find that’s where friends are likely to be.

When the empty store space next to Maltby’s Restaurant became available, owner Jim Maltby took advantage of it and expanded the restaurant by adding six tables and a bar with 14 stools surrounding it.

It’s a friendly bar. Maltby added appetizers for the bar patrons and a couple of new entrees for the restaurant crowd. During cocktail hour, you can find people enjoying fried martini olives stuffed with parmesan cheese.

Maltby’s family restaurant has been in operation nearly four years. The former manager of the British Bankers Club in Menlo Park wanted a place of his own. He purchased the Fourth Street Library Grill from Tom and Mary Tripiano, fulfilling his desire to run a family restaurant in Los Altos.

With the expansion, some BBC atmosphere is evident as Maltby’s becomes a neighborhood bar and restaurant.

“We appeal to families at night, business people for lunch and retired people who come in for the fish and chips,” Maltby said. “The customers are similar, but we are more of a family restaurant than the BBC.”

Maltby’s wife Katy provides a good balance to the restaurant/tavern. She isn’t there full time because she stays home taking care of Everett, 6, and Felicity, 4.

“All the decor was Katy’s idea. She did the painting and worked closely with Paul Bosman, the architect,” Jim Maltby said. “Part of our success is the input that Katy has on the menu. Her contributions are the salads which are popular with the customers.”

The number one request around the bar is mussel stew. On the restaurant menu, the most requested items are steak salad, meat loaf and liver and onions for the old-timers.

Maltby’s makes their own desserts and soups. With the colder weather approaching, the most common telephone call is “What’s your soup today?” Business people buy it and take it back to the office.

“James is the killer soup guy,” Katy said. “They are all his own recipes. He takes them and tweaks them for more flavor. Then he gives little samples to the customers.”

Jim is from the old bartender school and is right at home in the new bar. Order martinis, side-cars, whisky macs, or piña coladas and daiquiris and Jim can satisfy your drinker’s thirst. Beer drinkers can order from eight different beers on tap.

“We are not a sports bar where the sound of the TV drowns out conversations and hurts your ears,” Jim said. “We are a family type bar and restaurant that closes at 9 p.m.”

There’s a fresh fish special on the menu every night. Monday and Tuesday are no-corkage fee nights which is popular and Sunday is prime rib with Yorkshire pudding and the trimmings.

If you haven’t been to Maltby’s lately, reservations are suggested because it’s getting crowded. The bar now provides a place for people to wait instead of the sidewalk.

Maltby’s is located at 101 Plaza North at the corner of State and Fourth streets. Lunch is served from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5-9 p.m. For reservations and information, call 917-8777.