Scenes from State of Mind Public House and Pizzeria, July 2018, Plus Q & A with Co-Owner Lars Smith
We finally made it to State of Mind Public House & Pizzeria last month, located in downtown Los Altos (101 Plaza North).
We met up with friends right at the open for lunch.
We ordered Fieldwork Brewing Company Blueberry Parfait Kettle Sour with Lactose & Blueberries and Palo Alto Brewing Company Hostage Rye IPA:
Andrea ordered the Burrata, which we devoured within seconds:
Deviled eggs with house pickled pepper and cilantro:
‘The Wedge’ salad:
Super tasty pizzas, including our ‘Heirloom Goat’ pizza, among a couple others:
We were gobbling up everything at a record pace.
For my next beers, I opted for the smaller pour options of Fieldwork Brewing Company Garden of Weeden Hazy IPA and New Glory Brewing Company Use ‘Em or Lose ‘Em Hazy Double IPA:
Oh, and I recognized Kristina from Instagram, who’s as knowledgeable a beertender as they come.
And though they were busy throughout lunch service, State of Mind’s Lars Smith, Andrew Smith and Amy Betz carved out time to talk to me. Thank you!
Since opening back in January, State of Mind has consistently garnered a slew of rave reviews for numerous reasons, and I can clearly see – and taste – why.
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Q & A with Chef and Co-Owner Lars Smith
Just recently, I caught up with Lars, who graciously shared more about State of Mind.
Who are the folks behind State of Mind Public House and Pizzeria?
We are a family owned and run business. Our ownership and management team consists of me and Andrew Smith, our father Jim Smith, my wife Cristina Smith, and our dear friend, Amy Betz, who we like to call our sister.
Can you briefly share your backgrounds, including your connections to the South Bay and the Peninsula?
I was born and raised in Palo Alto. My grandma fostered an interest in cooking and hospitality at a very young age. I have been in the restaurant business for about 16 years now. While I spent a ton of time as a front of house manager, cooking has always been my passion.
Andrew was also born and raised in Palo Alto. He has also been in the restaurant business all of his adult life. He is the brains behind the beer program and is really passionate about discovering new beers and breweries.
Amy was born and raised in the San Jose area. She worked for many years at Pizza My Heart where she and I became friends. She is an excellent front of house manager and people person.
Cristina grew up in Menlo Park. She and I met and fell in love working at Pizza My Heart in Palo Alto. She worked in the restaurant business for many years and then transitioned to HR and accounting work. She wears many hats for us, including our HR, accounting and events.
How did your passion for food and beer come about?
Andrew and I grew up in a food and hospitality obsessed family. Both of our Grandmas are/were amazing cooks and loved to throw parties. We grew up helping them in the kitchen.
Our mother also owned a small catering business when we were young so we were definitely exposed to the business at a young age.
I became really interested in food and cooking in my teenage years. I started to amass a large cookbook collection and experiment a lot in the kitchen. I knew I wanted to have a career in the restaurant business in some form at a relatively young age.
Our father, Jim, is definitely responsible for our passion for craft beer. He has been interested in the craft beer movement since the 80s. We have fond memories of summer road trips and detours to check out obscure little breweries and tap rooms.
We also started home brewing together in 2002.
Amy started in the restaurant business at 15 and found out very quickly that she was good at it. She worked her way up to a general manager position by age 20. While she dabbled with other job prospects, she realized that she was really excellent at managing restaurants and chose to come on with us as a partner.
Which breweries and beer styles are your personal favorites?
I really enjoy all styles of beer, but sours and IPAs are definitely my go-to styles. I’m a big fan of anything from The Bruery and Libertine. I’m also really into the beers coming out of Modern Times.
Andrew also enjoys many styles of beer, but IPAs are usually his go to. He is excited about the beers coming out of Fieldwork, Stone and Barebottle.
Amy is a fan of stouts, sours and almost anything on nitro, dark or not. She is enjoying the beers from Barebottle, New Glory, and Alvarado Street.
Cristina is a big cider drinker. She enjoys the occasional sour beer but she is our go to for an opinion on cider. She loves the ciders coming out of Mission Trail and Far West.
What’s your take regarding the current beer scene in the South Bay?
The beer scene in the South Bay has been booming for a while now, and it just keeps getting better and better. It’s really amazing how many quality breweries, beer bars and restaurants featuring solid tap lists there are. We, unfortunately, haven’t had a lot of free time in the last few months to check out some of the newer breweries and beer bars.
How and when did the idea for the restaurant come about? How did you go about choosing the name ‘State of Mind?’
We have talked about opening a family restaurant for a very long time. Our dad always had the dream of having a restaurant when he retired from teaching. We got serious about the idea about 5 years ago.
We knew we wanted to feature California craft beers and pizza and just started brainstorming from there.
We came up with the name at a Stone Brewing dinner at Martins West Gastropub in Redwood City about 4 or 5 years ago. Andrew, our Dad and I were enjoying the food and beer and brainstorming concepts and possible names.
I was talking about a concept put forth by a professor of mine at UC Berkeley – that California can’t be defined as a state or a place on a map. California is so much more than that; it is a state of mind.
Andrew was listening to me ramble and interrupted me. He said, “That’s it!”
He said State of Mind has to be the name. We ran with it from there and created an LLC and locked in the domain name years before we had a location.
Speaking of location, how did you go about deciding to open locally in Los Altos?
The Peninsula is home for us. We were born and raised here as were both of our parents.
We have a lot of combined experience in the industry here, as well as a great support network here.
It seemed to make the most sense to open in an area we were familiar with and knew we had people who would support us.
We grew up going to the now defunct Boardwalk, so we were excited to bring something similar back to the community of Los Altos.
Can you describe a bit more about your restaurant? How big is the location?
We are truly a celebration of all things California. From the food and drinks to the music and atmosphere, we do our best to celebrate our beloved state.
We have communal seating and only offer counter service. We want to be a gathering place and foster community. We love seeing different groups sharing tables and mingling.
Our restaurant is about 3,600 sq. ft., and we have around 100 seats.
What particular styles are your pizzas?
Our pizza is hybrid of NYC and California style pizza. We want to push the boundaries while still honoring tradition. We source as much as possible from California producers and make everything in house.
How many taps do you have, and what other drinks and food do you serve?
We have 30 taps that all feature California craft breweries and cideries. We also have a nice wine list that features small family owned California wineries. Our sodas are also produced in California and are free of high fructose corn syrup.
We have other food items as well. We have some great appetizers, fries, wings, salads and sandwiches. We make everything from scratch (except ketchup and mayo) and are really proud of all our offerings.
A lot of time and love goes into everything we do.
The arcade area?
My brother and I, as kids that largely grew up in the 90s, are huge arcade fans. We grew up playing pinball at the Oasis and Boardwalk. We played a lot of video games, like Aladdin’s Castle, at San Antonio Center as well. With the growing popularity of classic arcade games and pinball, we wanted to include them in our concept.
We started collecting and working on the arcade games about 2 years ago and amassed a small collection of the games that we grew up with in the 90s and a couple other personal favorites.
We were also really lucky to get hooked up with an excellent pinball operator who takes a lot of pride in his machines.
What have been the biggest surprises since your opening?
After months and months of delays, we opened January 10th of this year. The biggest surprise, honestly, has been how unbelievably busy we have been and how well received we have been by the community.
Obviously that is what we hoped for, but we never thought we would be so successful so quickly.
You’ve taken great care with the beer menu. What are some current highlights on tap?
While we all have input on the beer, all the credit has to go to Andrew.
He spent a ton of time cultivating relationships with different breweries and distributors. He is very passionate about giving the smaller breweries consistent space on our taps and featuring lots of one-off beers. Besides taps 1 to 4, we never buy more that one keg of any given beer at a time.
We currently have some really great beers from Telegraph in Santa Barbara. They just started distributing up here, and we had a Bay Area kick-off party with them last week.
We also have a couple of interesting beers from Stone right now, including their 22nd Anniversary IPA and 2017 Saison Du Buff in collaboration with Dogfish Head and Victory Brewing.
‘The Brut There It Is’ Brut IPA from Benoit Casper we have on right now is pretty awesome as well and a nice change of pace from the hazy craze that’s going on right now.
Any upcoming beer events? What’s the best way to keep up to date?
We are working on a tap takeover with a really cool brewery in LA called Arts District Brewing Company. We are also working on a series of events featuring beers from different regions of California.
The best way to keep up with beer events and everything else is through our website or on social media. For Facebook and Instagram, we are @stateofmindpub.
Can you tell me again about the story about one of your tables and its connection to UC Berkeley?
Our big communal table back by the arcade is really special. We bought it from The Wooden Duck in Berkeley right before they closed. It is made from wood salvaged from UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium. You can see the seat numbers and some paint remaining on the wood. I’m a UC Berkeley alum and a big Cal football fan.
Can you share a bit about your experience winning world’s best non-traditional pizza at last year’s 2017 International Pizza Challenge at the Pizza Expo in Las Vegas?
We competed against 60 international competitors and came out on top with our ‘What the Duck’ pizza. It is featured on our menu so anyone can come and try it.
I had competed 3 times previously with Pizza My Heart and made it to the finals once before.
Getting first place was a dream come true. It is a huge competition in the pizza industry, and lots of amazing pizza makers compete every year.
They featured the competition on the Travel Channel’s “Best in Food” series, which was cool. And it didn’t air until after we opened, which worked out well.
Anything else you would like to add?
Just come visit and support us! We are always doing fun stuff in the kitchen and have great beers on tap.
We all feel like State of Mind is a great place to hang out, relax and get away from the high speed world around us.
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My sincere thanks to Lars for taking the time for the Q & A. I truly appreciate it.
And we can’t wait to visit State of Mind again.
Cheers! Prost! Gunbae!
~Andy