Downtown San Jose restaurants playing musical chairs

Several Downtown restaurants are making moves to new locations and filling critical corner retail gaps on city blocks. 

Elyse--one of my favorite Downtown San Jose restaurants--has outgrown their previous spot (famous for House of Siam until 2014). They are moving to a much larger corner space previously occupied by Nemea Mediterranean. Elyse is the ultimate date-night spot, with an eclectic French Vietnamese menu and craft cocktails. Hopefully they will keep the romantic atmosphere from their old location.

Next door is Angkor Chef, a brand new Cambodian restaurant. A few doors down from that in the former Pizza Flora spot (RIP, another one of my favs) is Angelou's Mexican Grill. They are moving from North 2nd Street and upgrading to a full bar. If it's anything like the previous location they'll be open until 2 or 3am as well. 

Then we have Mas Pizza from Paseo de San Antonio which will be taking over the Mumbai Local restaurant and nightclub. Like most of the previously mentioned spots, they will be significantly increasing their footprint and the owner envisions turning the pizza spot into an upscale sports bar.

Last but not least, the space that used to be Tony DiMaggio's and Pizza Chicago will become El Cabron Kitchen & Cantina.

The Downtown San Jose food scene continues to evolve, so please support your local restaurants--especially the family-owned unique spots that make Downtown special.

Source: The Merc