Last Call Bar & Grill Opens This Week in Oldtown Salinas

June 21, 2022 – Something is coming as Last Call Bar & Grill opens this Thursday in Oldtown Salinas (pending any unforeseen plot twists).

That something is a landslide of French fries—truffle fries, chili fries, garlic fries, Cajun fries, sweet potato fries, garlic Parmesan fries and voodoo fries ($9-$14). 

That something is wings—white barbecue wings, Jamaican jerk wings, Texas BBQ wings, lemon pepper wings, teriyaki wings, Buffalo wings and mango spice wings ($15 each).

That something is chicken strips—avocado chipotle chicken strips, Buffalo ranch chicken strips, Texas BBQ chicken strips, honey mustard chicken strips and ranch chicken strips ($14.50 each).

And there’s still more rib-sticking somethings arriving too, including shrimp skewers, fried pickle spears, pizzas, tacos, burgers, loaded baked potatoes, Philly cheese steaks, and a section of the menu titled “heavier options”—if the preceding items weren’t weighty enough—with plates like char-roasted salmon, flap steaks, smoked rib tips and saucy swordfish. 

The bar program, meanwhile, focuses on Salinas Valley and Carmel Valley wines, along with craft beer and more mainstream brews on 18 taps. A liquor license is in the works, and when it is in place they plan to add live music with independent acts, DJs and dance nights.

But the pieces of Last Call that are really something go beyond food and drink. They settle on two things: place and personal history. 

Last Call Bar & Grill brings new life to a linchpin spot for Oldtown Salinas, further advancing the downtown district’s ongoing resurgence. At the same time, it adds another chapter to a family’s tradition of creating restaurants locals gravitate to.

Last Call occupies the former Penny Farthing Tavern (and Salinas Sports Tavern), long a go-to for locals in the know, now enjoying a remade interior and a team familiar with Oldtown. 

Its owner and general manager is Max Gibbons, the fourth generation of his family to operate eateries in the area. His dad Don—with whom Max still runs Portobello’s Catering—directed the restaurant by the same name in what’s now Stonies Taphouse & Bistro and then the Taylor Building, where it continues under different ownership. Before that Don had Dudley’s Oldtown at the heart of Main Street. 

In fact, the sale of Portobello’s on Main (in the Taylor Building) led to Last Call. Max wanted to perpetuate the family tendency toward hospitality and had a partner in former Portobello’s lead chef Ruben Hurtado.

“Hey, I’m a family man,” Max Gibbons says. “A lot of my motivation is to do this for my four kids. I’m trying to create something to pass along.”

Hurtado’s a known commodity after two and half years at Portobello’s, during which he debuted 18 of his own dishes, and his return has contributed to the anticipation for Last Call. 

“Quite a few people have been asking, ‘What happened to the chef with the beard?’” he says.

The answer: He’s drawing from travels across the country, and work in upwards of a dozen kitchens from coast to coast, to develop his take on American Cajun fare without straying too far from classic pub food. 

“It’s a bar setting,” says Hurtado. “So we want to do a lot of things people can share. And I’m generous—it’s not puny plates with micro greens.”

Edible stopped by about a week before today’s opening. As Hurtado moved around the kitchen, he added that the eagerness isn’t reserved for patrons.  

“I was out of the kitchen setting for a year, and I was ready to be back, and now I’m getting my shot in my hometown,” he says. “It’s my first time running a kitchen, my first time dropping a menu of my own. I take a lot of pride in—and have a lot of passion for—my work. It’s a big deal to me.”

Which is really something in itself. 

Introductory hours are 11am-9pm Tuesday-Sunday. More at Last Call Bar & Grill’s Instagram page.