You could do that then. It was a very relaxed place. The younger Mesa got his start in the restaurant business by washing dishes for his dad at age 9. Johnny's Northside Grill is the culmination of his experience. It's a casual, friendly place where customers can order salad, beans and a beer, then shoot the breeze with the bartender.
Sports are a focal point.
Mesa holds horseshoe tournaments for his customers in the summer, engraving winners' names on a perpetual trophy he made for the wall over the bar. Los Gatos High School teams know him for the banquets he caters. It's big food Mesa serves. His staff of 15 prepares feeds for construction companies that like to keep their workers happy with barbecues several times a year. Whatever the barbecue occasion, Mesa hauls to the party site a mobile unit that smokes meat in the front section and barbecues it over mesquite or fruit wood in an open pit in the back.