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Club Life Mission Ale House 97 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose; 408.292.4058; www.missionalehouse.com By JavaScript must be enabled to display this email address. Hours: 11am-2am daily Amenities: Two full bars, live music, full menu, 32 beers on tap, patio beer garden, several televisions, happy-hour specials, eye candy MASSIVE changes are on tap at Mission Ale House these days. The pool table is gone, and so is the sign that read, "Has anyone seen Ron Gonzalez?" Maybe someone finally saw him. The bar now wraps all the way around the center wall, and Mission Ale House also sells pitchers of beer, so adjust your livers accordingly. In a bold maneuver, Mission also bought out Falafel House next door and will soon connect the two places and install a full-fledged kitchen into where the Falafel House used to be. As a result, Mission will upscale the menu and offer food to go for folks on the sidewalk, even into wee morning hours. There will be nicer meats, salads and sandwiches. So instead of the Redevelopment Blues Burger, you might see a "We Finally Made it Ourselves From Scratch Burger." After all, much of the crowd staggering out of the bar after a long session of cocktail-swilling would often go straight into the falafel place for food anyway. But the overall scene at Mission hasn't quite made the change yet. Walk into the place on a Friday or Saturday after 10pm, and you'll say to yourself, "At least half of these guys probably own a fast car, a high-def TV and a few pairs of Corona boxer shorts." Or "Do there really need to be that many fruity kinds of vodka?" And surely the legendary roster of female bartenders will not deteriorate in the least bit. That would be a colossal blunder. With June upon us, the summer looks good. Mission will roll out the Thursday happy-hour events to coordinate with the nearby Music in the Park series. Blues musician Jim Durrance will perform, tacos will float for $1 dollar and the beer propaganda will commence. Send a letter to the editor about this story to letters@metronews.com. [ Silicon Valley | Metroactive Home | Archives ]