Page 126 - 2014 Travel Guide to California

GILROY
More than a whiff of garlic
GILROY GARDENS, top;
pyro chefs at Gourmet Alley
during the Gilroy Garlic
Festival, above.
IN SOUTHERNMOST Santa Clara County,
the city of Gilroy adds a bit of spice to the
outdoors with its vast garlic crop and wide
variety of ways to play. Known as the Garlic
Capital of the World, Gilroy treats its resi-
dents and visitors to the aroma from this
pungent plant nearly 12 months of the year.
The peak of the bulb’s popularity comes
at the end of July with the Gilroy Garlic Fes-
tival, a three-day celebration of food and
drink, music, arts and family entertain-
ment—where festival-goers consume up to
two tons of garlic each year. Right in the
center of the action is the festival’s Gourmet
Alley, where “pyro chefs” create tasty dishes
over open flames, like sizzling scampi and
calamari. But that’s not where the culinary
creations end. Annual favorites like pepper
steak sandwiches, stuffed mushrooms and
garlic bread lure crowds to wait in line until
they have enough servings to make a first
date end early.
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B Y J I L L K. R O B I N S O N
Even if you’re not visiting in July,
Gilroy’s restaurants don’t skimp on garlic,
whether in house specials or beloved fes-
tival dishes. By all means, share the allium
with friends and family at home with a
souvenir of a garlicky food specialty item
or gift basket.
Gilroy is not all about the garlic,
however. Spend some time in the six
gardens of the Gilroy Gardens family
theme park—landscaped with camellias,
conifers, topiaries, semi-tropical flowers
and water elements—or take an amuse-
ment park ride in a garlic bulb, a giant
banana or mushroom swing. Take the
garden tour a step farther with a self-
guided meander through the colorful
fields of nearby Syngenta Flowers. And
even locals stop regularly at Casa de
Fruta, once merely a roadside fruit stand
that has now morphed into a farm-stand
destination for all ages.
GILROY WELCOME CENTER