Lunar New Year in Japantown

San Jose's Japantown is celebrating Lunar New Year this Saturday, February 1st from 11am to 3pm. The party will feature lion dancers, vendors, lucky bags (fukubukuro), mochi making, and live performances. The lucky bags contain mystery items and are sold at a discount. You'll be able to find these at a variety of stores listed below.

Lunar New Year at Santana Row

This year, Santana Row will welcome the Year of the Snake on Saturday, February 1st from 11am-1pm in Santana Row Park. The family-friendly event will be hosted by NBC Bay Area and feature a large number of performances. You can find the list of performers below along with dining and shopping specials.

New San Jose mural honors the Vietnamese community

Completed in time for Tet, Vietnamese Lunar New Year, there is a massive new mural in East San Jose honoring the Vietnamese community. The three panels of the mural represent the Vietnamese people fleeing their homeland, traditional dress, and the beauty of Vietnam.

San Jose has the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam, so it's fitting that this is the largest Vietnamese mural in the Bay Area. Also 2025 is the 50th anniversary of the great migration away from Vietnam after the Vietnam war.

The mural was painted by the 1Culture Gallery team and it is located at 1737 Alum Rock Avenue on the side of Wash America.

Source: San Jose Spotlight

Happy Lunar New Year! 🐍

Today is officially Lunar New Year and there are multiple festivities planned throughout San Jose in the coming week at Santana Row, Valley Fair, and Eastridge. More on those in future posts.

During Christmas Paper Plane and Miniboss got the award for the most Christmassy bars in town. For Lunar New Year, it appears that 55 South is the bar to beat. In addition to the beautiful decorations, they also have special cocktails for the year of the snake.

55 South is located at 55 South 1st St. and is open from 4pm to midnight from Tuesday to Thursday, and 4pm to 2am on Friday and Saturday.

Eos & Nyx - the new king of Downtown San Jose restaurants

The bar has just been raised for fine dining in Downtown San Jose. Eos & Nyx is an upscale Mediterranean restaurant in the Paseo building at 201 S. Second Street. The restaurant spans two stunning floors in a 4,000 SQFT space filled with unique furniture, Instagram-worthy decorations, and an open kitchen. There is also a large outdoor dining area on the paseo itself.

This restaurant is brought to you by the same team as Miniboss, Paper Plane, Still OG, and Alter Ego. However, it is less bar and more restaurant than their previous ventures. Don't worry though, it still has all of the amazing craft cocktails you would expect from this team and they are severed across two different bars connected with a pully system. It's really cool to see the bottles move from bar to bar, which you can even see outside from the street.

This was the restaurant I was most eagerly anticipating throughout 2024. I wanted to visit earlier, but couldn't get a reservation =). I booked way in advance to visit on my birthday in mid January, with a nearly two-year old toddler in tow. The only time slot I was able to get on a cold Wednesday was late in the evening. It's a very popular restaurant.

After I got over the wow-factor of the space, my first impression was not great. Despite having a reservation (and it being a birthday), we still had to wait 30 minutes and we were getting dangerously close to our daughter's bedtime. There is not an ideal waiting area for the restaurant if it's cold outside. Usually it would be the bar, but that's a challenge with a kid. Speaking of which, the vibe did not seem ideal for kids, especially for dinner. I was getting a little apprehensive. Did we make a mistake?

No, we didn't. After being seated we were able to get the food expedited and everyone was extremely friendly and apologetic for the wait. There was a high-chair for our daughter, and despite it being a little loud she loved hanging out and munching on multiple courses as much as we did. Also, there was a beautiful birthday card on the table with a drawing of the restaurant and it was signed by the staff.

The food was exceptional from start to finish. It started with an amuse bouche of beef tartar and caviar in a mini waffle cone. My mom who doesn't eat any raw fish or meat loved it (we didn't have the heart to tell her what it was).

For appetizers we had the "everything" carrots (carrots many different ways, including fennel, truffle, and hazelnuts), raw seafood (hamachi for the night and it was spectacular), bruschetta, and the dip trio (cacik, baba ghanoush, ataramas, and pita). I would recommend all of it. Next time we'll try the octopus which looked really good.

We tried a variety of cocktails. I wanted to go for items that we could not easily get anywhere else. So we tried "Licensed to Dill" which featured Greek yogurt, apricot eau de vie, aquavit, dill, and lime. It was really interesting and was perfect for Mediterranean appetizers. We also tried a "Crimson & Clover" with gin, strawberry, lychee, basil, lemon, and honey as well as a "Smooth Operator" with rye, blackberry, vanilla, and bitters. Honestly you can't go wrong with anything on their bar menu, that is their wheelhouse.

After the apps came a palate cleanser, a thoughtful second comp that everyone eating dinner gets to enjoy. Then were all the main courses. We got pappardelle duck pasta, tagliatelle lobster pasta with beurre blanc sauce, the house burger (with harissa, eggplant, and piquillo), and a half chicken. Again, everything was excellent. The biggest surprise was that the burger was my favorite course. I love a good burger and this might have been my favorite of all time Downtown.

Dessert was Loukoumades, followed by bite-sized chocolates that came with the artfully presented bill. We were also delighted that the appetizers were comped to apologize for the wait. Great customer service and that gesture ensured we will be back many times in the future.

In conclusion, it was worth the wait... both for the restaurant to open in San Jose and on the day of my birthday meal. It's the new ultimate date-night restaurant for Downtown San Jose and has Michelin Guide written all over it. Just make a reservation way in advance and give yourself plenty of time to enjoy this amazing restaurant!

List of New San Jose Restaurants

The Silicon Valley Business Journal has a full list of notable South Bay restaurants, both those recently opened in late 2024 and coming soon this year. Below is the list for San Jose, but you can check out the source link for all of Silicon Valley.

Tomorrow I'll have a full review of Eos & Nyx, San Jose's most highly anticipated restaurant opening in the past several months. From the list below, I'm super excited about the return of Adega as well as Augustine in Santana Row (their other restaurants are excellent). Campus Burgers gets the award for biggest surprise of 2024 for me. Who would have thought $2 smashburgers could be so good?

New San Jose Restaurants

Adega: San Jose's only Michelin-starred restaurant reopened in October after closing in December 2023. Serving Portuguese cuisine, owners Carlos and Fernanda Carreira had planned to turn the 1614 Alum Rock Ave. location into a second location for their Petiscos restaurant but had a most welcome change of heart. 

Augustine: The Bacchus Management Group's second restaurant in Santana Row will offer Mediterranean cuisine in two dining rooms across 8,000 square feet as well as a 3,000-square-foot patio space. The site, formerly a dim sum restaurant, will also have a reservations-only cocktail bar. 

Campus Burgers: Home of the $2 smash burger, this family-run burger stand opened in July offering students and locals an inexpensive alternative to the larger chains. Located across the street from San Jose State University at 108 Paseo de San Antonio, this little burger joint has become a student staple. 

California Fish Grill: Coming soon to the Evergreen Circle shopping center at 2394 Evergreen Place, this will make three Silicon Valley locations of the healthy fast-food chain. 

Caminos de Michoacán: Offering up authentic Mexican cuisine like goat birria tacos, menudo and enchiladas michoacanas at 5138 Monterey Road in San Jose. 

Dough Burger: Big burgers, shakes and fries at 1721 Old Bayshore Highway. "All meat is Hand-Slaughtered Halal," they brag on their website. 

El Amigo: Family-style Mexican food and beverages located in Santa Teresa Village, in South San Jose. Regulars love the wet burrito as well as breakfast favorites like huevos rancheros and machaca. 

Eos & Nyx: This Mediterranean-inspired two-story dining complex comes from MO Hospitality Group, the folks driving Downtown San Jose's revival with MiniBoss, PaperPlane, Still O.G., and Alter Ego. The restaurant opened this past November as part of Urban Catalyst’s Paseo project. 

Hey Chicken: This fried chicken fast-food joint opened at 670 River Oaks Pkwy. last year. 

La Korita Restaurant: Offering up a combination of traditional Mexican street foods like tacos and quesa birrias in what was formerly Tony P's Park Ave Bar & Grill, La Korita also offers a Mexican seafood menu. 

La Más Querida Cantina & Cocina: Located at King and Story Road, this Mexican bar and restaurant that aims for a festive, fiesta feel. 

Los Arcos Restaurant: Traditional Mexican food and entertainment that's been open for more than a year on Tully Road. Live entertainment, big portions, and plenty of parking.  

Mendocino Farms: The sandwich shop opened its fourth location in San Jose at the Westgate Center offering up its trademark "fast-casual" fare of gourmet sandwiches and salads. 

Moonwake Coffee Roasters: What began as a pop-up cafe out of the back of a Tesla Cybertruck, husband and wife team of Ming Wood and Mabel Yeung opened a cafe proper at 1412 Saratoga Ave. in West San Jose this past fall bringing a little Apple Store atmosphere to coffee culture. 

Mylapore South Indian Restaurant: Opened in April in the Westgate Mall, Mylapore offers quick, easy, and inexpensive vegetarian dishes like dals, dosas, and jaggeries. 

Pizza Guys: The Sacramento-based chain opened its fourth San Jose location at 2471 Berryessa Road, Suite 2 in September as part of its plan to open eight more franchises in the state. 

The Pressroom: Located at the intersection of Santa Clara and North Almaden Ave., this upscale restaurant and bar will be the latest addition to restaurateur David Mulvehill's San Jose mainstays, Five Points craft cocktail bar, O’Flaherty’s Irish Pub, Dr. Funk Rum House, and Hella Good Burger. Done in partnership with Nuvo Hospitality Group, it's expected to open in early 2025. 

Pho King Restaurant: Celebrating chicken noodle pho, this Vietnamese restaurant at 385 Kiely Blvd. also celebrates traditional pork chops and spicy beef noodle soup. 

Raising Cane's: The fried chicken finger chain, founded in Louisiana in 1996, plans to open later this year at the Evergreen Circle shopping center. 

Shake Shack: The New York-based gourmet burger chain opened a third location in San Jose at the Westgate Center at 1640 Saratoga Ave. with a rumored fourth location to be on the way in 2025. 

Taelynn Cafe: A modern Vietnamese coffee shop located in the Sun Plaza offers a variety of teas and coffees with some small bites like beef and rice and banh mi sandwiches. 

Tang's Asian Vegetarian Restaurant: A Vietnamese specialty restaurant — an all-vegetarian menu — opened on the site of Champa Kitchen, a halal-style Vietnamese restaurant. Foodies on social media praise Tang's use of meat alternatives like mushrooms and bean curd as well as being one of the more sensibly priced veggie restaurants in the area. 

Wowmia Pizza: Recently opened pizza joint that offers an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet as well as its signature pizzas at 2951 Monterey Rd. 

Source: SVBJ

Fleurs de Villes San Jose LUNAIRE

From January 29th to February 2nd, visit Westfield Valley Fair for Fleurs de Villes LUNAIRE, a free 6-day immersive exhibition celebrating San Jose’s floral artistry, inspired by Lunar New Year traditions and the Zodiac focus on the Year of the Snake. 

• This stunning showcase of local floral talent will be freely open to the public from January 29 - February 2, and will feature over 15 incredible fresh floral installations, including Fleurs de Villes’ iconic mannequins.
• Visitors are also invited to extend their LUNAIRE experience by visiting another incredible floral mannequin on display at Hotel Valencia (Santana Row). 
• Each floral display will honor Lunar New Year traditions and the spirit of the Year of the Snake, offering a breathtaking fusion of culture and floral artistry created by the Bay Area’s talented floral artists.

Valley Fair is open from 10am-9pm 

Source: Westfield Valley Fair

 

Giants Fanfest Tour

If you happen to be a Giants fan, they are doing a Fanfest Tour today at San Pedro Square in Downtown San Jose. You'll get to interact with players and coaches, get autographs, and take selfies with the World Series trophies. There will also be promotional items and face painting for kids. If you want to buy tickets, you'll be able to get them for 20% off at the event.

The Giants Fanfest Tour will run from 1-4pm today and you can park for free for 90 minutes in the parking garage facing San Pedro Square.

San Jose's 2025 Plan

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan wrote a summary of San Jose's 2025 strategic plan for the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

While there are economic and fiscal challenges, the tone was optimistic. The plan centers around creating a better government, not a bigger one... echoing what is happening nationally. San Jose is already leading in innovation, especially in AI with the highest per capita AI jobs and patents. San Jose generates more than double the number of AI patents of San Francisco and Oakland combined. 2025 will also be a year where San Jose embraces AI to enhance public services, including optimizing bus routes and repairs.

Housing is another key challenge. The plan is to streamline the permit processes, reduce fees, and speed up approvals. Policy reforms have already opened up capacity for 20,000 new homes in North San Jose.

Safety and homelessness will benefit from expanded foot patrols Downtown, getting repeat offenders off the streets, and 1,000 new temporary housing units.

More info will follow at the Journal's annual Economic and Mayor's Forecast event, but for now you can read the full article below (no paywall).

Source: SVBJ

Thursdays are Free Play days at Miniboss

Did you love playing arcades but hated spending buckets of quarters? Now you can play all the way through 6-player X-men or challenge a team to Killer Queen for free. Thursdays are arcade free play days at Miniboss in Downtown San Jose (corner of Santa Clara Street and 2nd Street).

Next week I'll also have a full post on the latest project from the same team that brough you Miniboss, Paper Plane, Still OG, and Alter Ego. It's called Eos & Nyx and it truly sets a new benchmark for Downtown San Jose.

Source: Instagram

CEO Noodles Grand Opening

Today is the Grand Opening of CEO (Chief Eating Officer) Noodles in Downtown San Jose. The restaurant specializes in Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine, especially noodles. Today there are some festivities from 4pm to 7pm.

The restaurant has been in soft launch mode for some time and is getting great review on Yelp (4.5 stars). It also has one of the best facades for a Downtown San Jose restaurant with a giant mural you can't miss. 

CEO Noodles is located at 130 E. Santa Clara Street and they are open from 10am to 9pm every day except for Sunday.

Downtown San Jose Falcon

Today I just have a great photo of a peregrine falcon sitting on top of San Jose's City Hall. It's a unique angle of Downtown San Jose that I have never seen before. In fact, I had to check Google maps to even see if this shot was technically possible or fabricated. Good news, it's legit!

Source: Chris Roth on X

Downtown San Jose office building may convert to housing

We're in a precarious situation right now with office space. Many employees simply do not want to return to the office and companies are looking to downsize their footprint because of it. At the same time, population is not growing quickly and we do not have a rush of companies across the world looking to relocate staff to the most expensive region of the United States. What are we to do with all the empty space?

A nine-story office tower at 152 North Third Street is considering a conversion to 133 residential units. This is a very smart move that would reduce the amount of empty office space and replace it with much needed housing.

As a bonus, the building was constructed in 1985 and a conversion would bring it up to modern standards. It would also keep the "Eagles Hall" facade that was built in 1909 in the photo below.

If it goes through, the project would also include a lounge, game room, two music studios, a gym, yoga studio, cinema room, coworking space, two meeting rooms, a cafe, kitchen, club room, and amenity terrace.

Hopefully they keep Freshly Baked Eatery on the ground floor, which is the best sandwich shop in Downtown San Jose.

Source: The Mercury News

FC2025 discounts in Downtown San Jose

If you have seen people walking around Downtown San Jose looking like Disney characters, that's because Furcon is in town this weekend and runs until January 20th. Downtown Ice might be extra entertaining to watch on these last couple days as fursuits are welcome on the ice. 

For anyone attending the convention, below are a list of discounts for things to do in Downtown San Jose. I have never seen a discount for Haberdasher before (one of the best bars in all of Silicon Valley). The Foxtail Fermentation promo is on-brand, well done!

Almaden Plaza in San Jose is getting a couple new stores

Tomorrow will be Barnes & Noble's last day at Almaden Plaza in South San Jose. That space along with the former spaces for Buy Buy Baby, Compass Real Estate, and Tuesday Morning will be merged into a single 81,000 SQFT anchor space. Sports Basement is planning to take that anchor spot later this year.

Tillys is also leaving its 10,500 SQFT store at the end of the month. That was actually the first Northern Californian location of that brand. However, the space is already destined to be replaced by Sephora sometime this summer.

Source: SVBJ

Soccer in San Jose

Visit San Jose has just released a video promoting soccer in San Jose. It's only 90 seconds long, and highlights tailgating, PayPal Park, and our awesome Earthquakes fanbase. Enjoy it embedded below.

Goodwill buys San Jose office building for $17 million

Goodwill of Silicon Valley has just purchased an empty building at 1600 Technology Drive in North San Jose near the airport. The shiny eight-story building is destined to become Goodwill's new headquarters.

They will also use the facilities for job training and employment opportunity services, including no-cost skills training to benefit the local community.

Goodwill got the deal of the century on the building. It was previously valued at $92.4 million in January of 2024. So they paid 81.6% less than the assessed value for the 198,000 SQFT building.

The purchase was made possible by a $10 million donation from MacKenzie Scott (Jeff Bezos' ex-wife). 

Goodwill plans to immediately start relocating administrative and operations staff to the new building. Any unutilized space will be shared with other local nonprofits.

Source: The Mercury News

Massive Asia Live food complex coming to Valley Fair

I was quite bummed when iChina closed down at Valley Fair. I thought the opulent restaurant was San Jose's best chance at getting another Michelin star. However, the good news is that the space will not be vacant for long.

Asia Live will take that flagship two-story space and expand it to over 12,000 SQFT, including adding a new rooftop terrace and outdoor patio. It will be far more than just a restaurant. It sounds similar to Eataly, but for Asian cuisine. The complex will have a retail marketplace, cafe, lounge, interactive experiences, and entertainment. Diners will be able to watch chefs prep food like dumplings, sushi, and curries.

It has the same owners as China Live in SF and will feature the most popular dishes from that menu including pan-fried pork buns and Peking duck. It will also have sushi, robata (Japanese BBQ), tandoori ovens, and Indonesian rice. The icing on the cake is a bar that will rival the top craft cocktails spots in the Bay Area.

Asia Live is scheduled to open this fall. The sooner the better!

Sources: Eater, SFGATE