January 15, 2007 by PT Rothschild.

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January 15, 2007 by PT Rothschild.

T-TOWN’S LATEST TREAT SENSATION – BJ’S
 

Temecula, CA - As the outside touches are being finished up on the new Olive Garden set to open soon in T-town, the ‘hip’ uptown crowd is already dining well in the latest and busiest place to hit the area since Red Lobster. Although in business since 1978 and located in So Cali from Oxnard to Irvine, BJ’S Restaurant & Brewhouse just recently opened its most southern location here in Temecula, on Ynez and Overland, across from Guidant, now Abbott Labs. The restaurant is set up with three distinct but wide open spaces. Entering the Chicago style building with its large revolving door front and center which reminds you of Lakeshore and Wells in downtown Chi-town, you are greeted by several charming hosts who waste no time in getting you into a seat. You have a choice. On the left is a long, massive, dark wood bar with a huge TV screen split into sections like the home page in ‘Idiocracy’. You can watch one thing or a host of different channels at once (I’m thinking here for Superbowl). Directly in front of you and down a couple of steps is a sunken dining hall. I say ‘hall’ because it is too big to be a room, at least by T-town standards. And to the right, next to an outside patio, is a long, open room with table arrangements for larger parties. You can see through the whole place and on the day I first went there, arriving early just before lunch, I thought I was in a train station it seemed so vast. We sat, a sales rep and myself, with perhaps one or two other groups also scattered around in the restaurant. By the time we had finished our lunch, which was well prepared and delicious, the place was filled, even at the bar, and that’s a lot of people.
Having now been there three times, I can say it doesn’t surprise me that it fills up at lunch and dinner. The menu is as varied as any place in town and way more than most. BJ’S is no one trick pony. You have sandwiches, you have pizza, giant stuffed potatoes, deserts, pastas, comfort foods, soups, and entrees like steaks and ribs. For the ‘Lisa Simpsons’, BJ’S offers up a very delicious garden burger and ten kinds of salad to nibble on. But it is the little things that have the populace buzzing, like offering New Orleans Jambalaya (hello Bayou Kitchen) and a drink that is a combination of an ale and cider. It is a heady brew and sooo tasty. Besides the big city interior atmosphere of hustle and bustle, the surrounding interior walls and the outside back wall exhibit some very recognizable proletarian art scenes. For the Epicurean, BJ’S is a very satisfying experience and the newest trendsetter in T-town.

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