Taste of the town: In the mood for burgers and beer or southwestern cuisine?

LIVERMORE, Calif. (KTVU) - Let’s start at Livermore's First Street Ale House, a family owned restaurant right in the heart of the downtown area.

Craft beer is on full display with 28 beers on tap. There’s a selection for everyone from IPA’s to lagers.

First Street Ale House opened in 2000 and has become a popular gathering place for locals young and old. 

Whether you come alone and sit at the bar or come with family and friends and grab a big table, it's the kind of place where you will probably see someone you know if you live in town.

The menu offers a lot more than just bar food and that’s what keeps bringing people back.

"Oh we come here all the time, we're here every other week,” said Marie Dremalas, a self-described burger aficionado. “Oh yea fantastic. It's probably one of the better ones.”

The menu even has a keto offering giving a nod to the ultra-popular low-carb eating craze

Across town, we also visited another local favorite. Posada restaurant features a southwestern menu. The restaurant earned rave reviews from the locals and is run by a husband and wife team.

"When we opened five years ago, I thought oh I didn't know if Livermore was going to be ready for his type of food, his type of cooking. It's very different. Actually it's delicious,” said co-owner Blanca Posasa.

Posada is open for lunch and dinner. The most popular lunch item is the blackened mahi-mahi tacos with watermelon salad that is dressed with a touch of habanero vinaigrette.

'The watermelon again is to balance the heat that you have with the blackened fish,” chef Eduardo Posada explained. “Here you have from the blackened fish and the freshness on your palate is just so fantastic it compliments"

For dinner chef Eduardo presented his most popular item - the dry-aged duroc porterhouse pork chop served with traditional rice pudding on a bed of tomatillo cilantro sauce.

“I think they have a lovely menu with a unique combination of flavors and the food always tastes light and fresh and wonderful drink options as well,” said Katrina Owens. 

The restaurant has an extensive list of Livermore valley wines and also has its own signature drink. The sangrita is a wine margarita which outsells all other drinks at the eatery.