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Club Life The Grill on the Alley 172 S. Market St., San Jose (inside the Fairmont Hotel); 408.294.2244; www.thegrill.com/sanjose By Jim Harrington Hours: Mon-Thu 11:30am-11pm, Fri 11:30am-midnight, Sat 5pm-midnight, 5-10pm Dress: Business casual attire recommended; no cover charge Amenities: Televisions, full service bars, drink promotions, happy hour, coat check INSPIRED BY the great steak haunts of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, the Grill on the Alley has long seemed fashionably out of step with the quirky California cuisine and multinational fusion dishes served in trendy Silicon Valley eateries. Neither surprisingly nor coincidentally, the adjoining 55-person bar is arguably the most appropriate place in downtown to sip a scotch or tip back a martini. Decorated in darkly stained woods and classic paintings that seem to have come straight out of an introduction to art history textbook, the softly lit restaurant-bar inside downtown's Fairmont Hotel has more in common with old-timey haunts like L.A.'s Brown Derby. Embracing its lineage, the Grill celebrates the king of cocktails--the martini. From 5 to 8pm on Thursdays, up to now the grill has offered special $3 martinis and selected bar appetizers for $2. A different brand of vodka was featured each week. Martini lovers have extra motivation to make it down to the Grill this time. Following tonight's happy-hour promotion, Martini Nite Thursday at the Grill takes a lengthy break and won't likely return until September. Instead, the bar will turn its attention to other, equally appealing promotions such as Taste of South Bay Wineries (focusing on the wines of the Santa Cruz Mountain Range) and Sake Sampler (available in both the dining room and the bar). However, for those who believe that wine and sake simply won't do the trick, the Grill still offers its regular assortment of great hand-stirred martinis. With 20-plus martini styles and more than 80 varieties of vodka to chose from, martini lovers certainly won't have to go thirsty at the Grill. Send a letter to the editor about this story to letters@metronews.com. [ Silicon Valley | Metroactive Home | Archives ]