Grande Pizzeria Makes Its Welcome Return to Downtown San Jose

After seven years of silence on East San Carlos Street, Grande Pizzeria has stepped back into the Downtown San Jose scene across from San Jose State University. Owner Nick Barrita poured more than $250,000 of his own money into the nearly 1,700-square-foot space, which now seats roughly 130 guests including a sizable outdoor patio for 80. The doors opened on August 3 without outside investors, a decision that followed heavy pandemic delays, labor shortages, and climbing costs that kept the longtime campus hangout dark for so long.

Barrita absorbed around $500,000 in losses during the closure yet covered them through his other local spots, La Victoria Taqueria and Burger Bar. The location still sits in a strong position for foot traffic. Major events earlier this year, from the Super Bowl to FIFA matches and FanimeCon, reinforced his belief that San Carlos Street stays lively when the city draws crowds. Regulars had been pushing for the return, some half-joking that they needed the place open before they were gone. The kitchen answered by keeping signature pastas and favorites while expanding the seafood options and shifting to a more casual setup where tables order through QR codes.

Once fully staffed the restaurant expects to employ 10 to 12 people. Nate LeBlanc of the San Jose Downtown Association noted that bringing back a familiar local name fills an empty storefront and strengthens the hospitality mix that helps create lasting memories for students and visitors alike. A similar revival is underway nearby at Peanut’s Deluxe Cafe, another former SJSU favorite now under new ownership with cooperative plans. Together these reopenings add energy to a stretch of Downtown that benefits when college-area classics come back online.

The timing feels right for anyone who remembers the old Grande or simply wants a solid pizza and pasta option steps from campus. The patio offers a chance to sit outside, the expanded menu gives new choices alongside the classics, and the casual approach keeps things easy for both quick bites and longer stays. Downtown San Jose gains another steady presence that ties the SJSU community to the broader Downtown area.

Source: SVBJ

Rising Star Pianist Angel Stanislav Wang Opens Steinway Society Season

Steinway Society – The Bay Area will launch its 31st season on Sunday, September 27, with a recital by 23-year-old pianist Angel Stanislav Wang at the Visual and Performing Arts Center on the De Anza College campus in Cupertino. The 2:30 p.m. program, titled Worlds Away, moves from the Spanish lyricism of Granados through Liszt’s demanding Sonata in B Minor, Debussy’s atmospheric Estampes, and the rhythmic drive of Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrushka.

Wang has already collected major international prizes, including silver at the Tchaikovsky Competition, first prize at the Rachmaninoff Competition, and a place as one of the youngest finalists in Van Cliburn history. Born in Los Angeles and trained in Moscow, he has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Musikverein while building a reputation for expressive power and technical command. The Cupertino appearance marks a local chance to hear an artist whose career is accelerating across major venues and series.

The intimate 400-seat hall at De Anza offers a clear acoustic setting well suited to solo piano. Steinway Society, a Silicon Valley nonprofit now entering its fourth decade, continues its focus on presenting award-winning pianists alongside an active education program. Single tickets range from $53 to $78, with senior and student discounts available; three- and six-concert subscriptions remain on offer for those who want to hear the full season.

Tickets and full season details are available through steinwaysociety.com or by calling 408-300-5635.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Plans Large House of Sport on Blossom Hill Road

Dick’s Sporting Goods will open a nearly 99,000-square-foot House of Sport store at 920 Blossom Hill Road in San Jose, on the rebuilt site of a former Home Depot destroyed by fire in 2022. The large-format location is expected to arrive in 2027 near Westfield Oakridge.

House of Sport stores go beyond traditional retail with interactive features such as climbing walls, golf simulators, and batting cages. The company has already filed permits for exterior remodeling and tenant improvements at the property. Brokers from Econic and others handled the lease.

The new store will replace Dick’s existing roughly 40,000-square-foot location at nearby Sunrise Plaza, where the retailer has operated for decades. The Blossom Hill corridor continues to draw national brands thanks to surrounding shopping centers, residential density, and convenient access. Boot Barn is also preparing an 18,000-square-foot store in the same area.

The arrival of this expanded format gives south San Jose shoppers a more experiential place to buy sporting goods and try activities on site while reinforcing the commercial strength of the Blossom Hill corridor.

Source: SVBJ

The Silk Route Brings Modern Indian Dining to San Pedro Square

A familiar midblock space at 17 North San Pedro Street will shift from Mexican fare to upscale Indian cuisine this fall. Jasbir Singh and Mandeep Jandir, the operators of neighboring The Brit Sports Pub and Patio, took over the former Olla Cocina site after earlier plans for a modern Mexican steakhouse fell through. Exterior and interior work is already in progress for The Silk Route.

Singh pointed to a clear opening in the local dining scene. Downtown San Jose has lacked a high-quality, modern Indian option even as other South Bay destinations such as Mountain View, Santana Row, Palo Alto, and Santa Clara each support successful spots that draw mixed crowds. He also noted the rising presence of young Indo-Americans around SJSU, the Improv, and San Pedro Square itself, alongside broader interest in Indian flavors among non-Indian diners.

The location carries a long restaurant history. Blake’s Steakhouse occupied it for years, followed by La Piñata and then Olla Cocina from summer 2016 until fall 2025. A short-lived Bar Tako pop-up filled the gap earlier this year before the current transition. The new concept aims to deliver a refined experience suited to the square’s growing energy.

Expect The Silk Route to open later this fall once renovations wrap. The change adds another distinct flavor to a stretch already drawing steady foot traffic and fresh investment.

Source: The Mercury News

Poetry Beyond the Page with Ana Maria Caballero at NODE

Head a short drive north of San Jose this Saturday and step into NODE, the immersive digital arts space at 180 University Avenue in Palo Alto. Colombian-American poet and multidisciplinary artist Ana Maria Caballero arrives for an evening that treats poetry as something alive, visual, and shared in real time.

Caballero holds a rare distinction as the first living poet to sell a poem through Sotheby’s. She will discuss her newest collection, Material, published by Trio House Press in 2026, while live multimedia elements of the work appear across NODE’s displays. She will also offer a reading from her forthcoming project Sonic Bodies, which turns the human voice into shifting visual landscapes through spectrogram technology. Each performance creates a unique composition on the spot, showing how verse can move past the printed page and into physical space.

NODE continues its run of boundary-pushing programming after exhibitions featuring CryptoPunks, Beeple, and the current Kim Asendorf PXL installation. The venue pairs Caballero’s practice with large-scale LED surfaces and flexible environments designed specifically for digital and hybrid work. The result is an evening that feels less like a standard reading and more like a temporary collaboration between language, technology, and the room itself.

A book signing follows the conversation. For additional details or to RSVP, visit the event page on Luma.

Street Mrkt Turns South First Street into an Open-Air Gallery This Friday

South First Fridays returns tomorrow with its companion STREET MRKT indie urban art faire, transforming a stretch of South First Street in the SoFA District into a free outdoor showcase of local creativity. From 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on August 7, galleries and museums across Downtown San Jose will stay open late with free admission while dozens of hyper-local artists set up along the street in front of Anno Domini and KALEID Gallery.

Visitors will find original paintings, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture, and light projections available for purchase, giving direct support to the makers who keep San Jose’s independent art scene alive. Food trucks including 3 Brothers Kitchen, 3 Hermanos Mexican Grill, Kabobi Persian Grill, and Me Oi Vietnamese Kitchen will line the route, making it easy to linger and explore between stops.

Participating spaces will feature new exhibitions ranging from mixed-media storytelling at Anno Domini to textile explorations of identity at MACLA and immersive installations at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. The combination of indoor shows and the outdoor market creates a single evening that rewards both casual walkers and dedicated collectors.

Free street parking kicks in after 6 p.m., and short-term garage options sit nearby at South Third and San Carlos or South Second and San Carlos. The event remains fully family-friendly and open to everyone who wants a low-pressure way to experience the creative energy that defines the SoFA District.

Anyone looking for an easy Downtown plan this Friday can head straight to South First Street and let the mix of art, food, and open galleries set the pace for the night.

Participating Artists: 

Art Boutiki / Dan Vado

Bad Art by Nice

BAGI / Bay Area Glass Institute

Purl Bailey  aka Marilyn Roaf

BX Edits

Bryan Corbin 

Craft Haus 

Crochetforloves

Crossroads

Curent Tattooing

Mario Dimas

Mahsa Emoventeur 

FUSE Presents

Leysar Garcia

Katie Green

Ground Up Music Bus 

Hand in Hand Henna

Harvest Empire

Higher Fire Ceramics 

La Raiz Magazine 

Lazy Daisy Designs

Yasushi Matsui

Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo 

Nuanez Artglass Studio 408

Petite Galleria 

Phin & ernxde

Quỳnh Vy art & zine workshop

Steven Reece

Ruin to Ruin

Starbunny & Rue

TWC / Together We Create

VoidKnightArt

YMCA Camp Campbell

Food Trucks: 

3 Brothers Kitchen

3 Hermanos Mexican Grill 

Kabobi Persian Grill

Me Oi Vietnamese Kitchen

Ensemble Breaks Ground on 301-Unit Parkside Apartments in Clara District

Ensemble Real Estate Investments has begun construction on Parkside, a 301-unit apartment complex at 2301 Calle Del Mundo in Santa Clara’s Clara District. The eight-story project carries an estimated $190 million price tag after the developer spent an extra year refining plans to cut costs by 10 to 15 percent and secure financing.

Bank of America provided the construction loan. Value engineering focused on more efficient kitchen and bathroom designs and reduced variation among unit types, making the numbers work in a high-cost environment. Amenities will include a golf simulator, cinema screening room, karaoke lounge, and other social spaces intended to create a lively residential atmosphere.

Parkside follows Ensemble’s AVE Santa Clara complex, which opened in the same neighborhood in 2025 and is fully leased. The firm views the two properties as complementary and expects 500 to 1,000 additional units to arrive in the Clara District over the next few years. Ensemble also holds further entitlements in the area and aims to start its next project within two to three years.

The site once held light industrial buildings, continuing the district’s shift toward housing. With an anticipated opening in fall 2028, Parkside adds another substantial residential option to a neighborhood that saw significant new apartments arrive in 2025.

Source: SVBJ

Free Play Thursdays Keep the Games Rolling at MiniBoss in Downtown San Jose

Thursdays at MiniBoss turn into an open invitation for unlimited arcade action with no tokens required. The Downtown San Jose spot at 52 East Santa Clara Street opens its full lineup of more than 30 classic cabinets and a dozen pinball machines to anyone who walks through the door, letting groups challenge one another on everything from multiplayer favorites to vintage standbys without spending a single quarter.

Craft cocktails and solid bar food keep the energy going while the screens flash and the joysticks get a workout. Wings, Detroit-style pizza, and creative drinks pair easily with long sessions of play, making the free-play night a natural stop for friends who want both nostalgia and a proper Downtown evening.

The regular Thursday policy has become a reliable highlight for locals who remember the days of stuffing machines with change. Sundays shift to a family-friendly window (kids allowed from 2-10pm), but the midweek free access remains the clearest draw for adults looking to stretch their gaming time without the usual cost.

Source: Instagram

AES Drops Plans for Large Battery Storage Project in Coyote Valley

AES Corporation announced this week that it has canceled its proposed Jewelflower Battery Energy Storage System on a 128-acre site of prime farmland in North Coyote Valley near Morgan Hill. The 350-megawatt project would have placed hundreds of containerized lithium-ion battery units across roughly 40 acres of actively farmed land on San Jose’s southern edge.

The company cited a review of project economics, infrastructure needs, market conditions, community input, and long-term priorities. No permit application had been filed. Local opposition had grown steadily, with the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority voting unanimously in May against the plan. Authority leaders pointed to more than $160 million already invested by voters and agencies to protect wildlife corridors, groundwater recharge, climate resilience, and sustainable agriculture in the Coyote Valley Conservation Program area.

Parents at the nearby Charter School of Morgan Hill, state legislators including Senator Dave Cortese and Assemblymembers Ash Kalra and Gail Pellerin, and a petition that collected more than 2,200 signatures had also raised concerns about placing industrial-scale batteries so close to a school and inside a conserved landscape. A previous battery project known as Hummingbird had already been successfully moved to an industrial site behind the Open Space Authority’s San Jose headquarters, showing that better locations exist.

The cancellation keeps Coyote Valley’s open fields and hills available for the wildlife movement, farming, and public access that make the area a vital buffer and natural asset for San Jose and the South Bay. AES continues to pursue battery storage elsewhere in California, while this decision reinforces that energy infrastructure and protected landscapes can both advance when projects are sited with care.

Source: San Jose Inside

Downtown San Jose Welcomed More Than One Million Visitors During World Cup

Downtown San Jose drew more than one million cumulative visits over the course of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. San Pedro Square operated as the official Soccer Celebration Headquarters and staged watch parties for every one of the tournament’s 104 matches across 39 days.

Local hotels recorded solid gains from mid-June through mid-July. Occupancy rose 9 percent year over year, average daily rates climbed 17 percent, and revenue per available room increased 28 percent. On match days the RevPAR jump reached 42 percent, with even stronger results during the Round of 32 and Round of 16 week.

San Jose Mineta International Airport handled more than 500,000 passengers between June 13 and July 19. The airport managed 21 official team flights involving nine national squads and recorded its busiest departure day of the year the morning after a U.S. match at Levi’s Stadium. Private aviation traffic for one contest alone approached 200 aircraft.

City leaders credited coordinated work among municipal departments, the San Jose Sports Authority, Team San Jose, the Earthquakes, and other partners for turning the tournament into a showcase. Attention now turns to upcoming events such as the CrossFit Games, Slam Jose! basketball festival, and the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon that can keep the momentum going.

The tournament left a clear mark on the city’s hospitality and transportation systems while giving thousands of visitors a direct look at Downtown San Jose’s growing sports and entertainment energy.

Source: SVBJ