Dinner at the Hay Market in Willow Glen

We planned to have friends over for dinner Saturday night.   A friend of mine, Wolfgang, who I have not seen since 1995 when I attended his wedding in Germany, called me a couple of weeks ago and said that he and his wife would be in San Francisco this weekend.    I invited them to stay with us one night and we planned to have dinner as well.   I am pretty sure that we agreed that this would happen on the night of March 2, but maybe I had the date wrong.

My daughter was having dinner with a friend and her family tonight, so when we didn't hear from Wolfgang by 5:30pm, my wife and I decided to go out to dinner at a nearby restaurant called the Hay Market.

The Hay Market is located in an area of San Jose called Willow Glen.   Willow Glen used to be a separate town many years ago, but in 1936, by a narrow margin, the residents voted to become part of the city of San Jose in order to tap into San Jose's city wide sewage system.   Over the years, Willow Glen's downtown area has maintained much of its character and has still has the feel of a downtown area of a small town.

The Hay Market claims to have a menu which changes daily.   Its a unique menu for sure both in the way it looks and in the content.   The menu is printed on paper which is inserted into a rectangular copper plate.   The copper plate has the restaurant's logo stamped on the back.   The aesthetic of the restaurant matches the menu.   Its a mix of old meets new and the dishes on the menu seem to be a new aesthetic applied to traditional dishes.   And of course, there is a bale of hay in the restaurant.

I hope the menu really does change often.  I think that will make for a more interesting dining experience and might keep me coming back.   I am sure it makes the work much more interesting and engaging for the chef.

I had the upside-down chicken pot pie which is served with the chicken in the center of plate flanked by the vegetables on one side and the pie crust on the other side all sitting in gravy.   I definitely enjoyed the food.  

Here's a shot of the menu:

The pedal tractor, tricycle, and pedal car in the window are the exact models that kids had in my neighborhood in 1970 and there's lots of other memorabilia from early 1970s middle class americana.  

All the tables are high and bar stools make up the seating.   We sat at one of 2 four person tables in the back.   The other handful of tables seat 8 or 10 and are arranged almost cafeteria style.    As more couples were seated, I noticed that different dining groups were seated at opposite ends of the same large table.   If you came here for dinner during a busier time, no doubt you would end up sitting near someone you don't know... which can be fun.

We never did hear from Wolfang... maybe he is planning to show up on Sunday.