55/110 x MACBBQ Blantons & BBQ

MACBBQ is an award-winning competition BBQ team based in the South Bay that travels all over the US for events. Tonight they are hosting a special BBQ event at 55 South to celebrate a their new hand-selected private barrel of Blanton's whiskey.

The event includes all-you-can-eat BBQ beef ribs, brisket sandwiches, pulled pork, pork ribs, chicken, and sides along with drink specials, give aways, and live DJs. You might also get an opportunity to sample their special bourbon.

For more info, head over here.

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

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

Bay Area Michelin Star Restaurants - 2024 Edition (Part 2) + 2025 preview

It has been a long while since doing a post about Michelin recommended/starred restaurants--2019 in fact.

The Michelin guide is the most renowned rubric in the world for measuring culinary success. Unfortunately, we have some bad news this year. San Jose's first and only Michelin Star restaurant ever, Adega in Little Portugal, is now permanently closed. The silver lining is that it will be replaced with a second Petiscos restaurant. The original Petiscos is in Downtown San Jose's SoFA District and is not only featured in the guide but is one of San Jose's first two Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants (a step below a Star and signifying a restaurant is of outstanding value for the quality).

Michelin has three different star categories:

• One Star - A very good restaurant in its category with cuisine prepared to a consistently high standard. A good place to stop on your journey.
• Two Stars - Excellent cuisine, skillfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality. Worth a detour.
• Three Stars - Exceptional cuisine with distinctive dishes and superlative ingredients. Worth a special journey.

New last year were "Green Stars" for restaurants that are at the forefront of sustainable, environmental, and ethical standards.

There are also restaurants in the Michelin guide that do not get a star, but are considered "Michelin Recommended." This is already a significant honor that a very small percentage of restaurants achieve. This distinction has gotten more rare since the guide now covers all of California instead of just the Bay Area. San Jose has a total of 4 Michelin Recommended restaurants (they already added Adega back).  It's the same list as a year ago.


San Jose Michelin Recommended Restaurants:

• Downtown
• Petiscos $$ (Bib Gourmand)
• East San Jose
• Adega $$$$ 
• Midtown
• Luna Mexican Kitchen $$ (Bib Gourmand)
• North San Jose
• LeYou $$

I also created a Google doc listing all of the star recipients for 2024, along with tabs for all previous years and some general statistics. 2020-2022 have finally been updated. There is no longer a physical book for California, but Michelin will update their site after new stars are awarded.

Below is an image capture from the doc. This year there were a total of 44 Bay Area restaurants that were awarded Michelin stars. 66% of the restaurants are locating in SF, 14% in Silicon Valley (9% in the South Bay, 5% in the Peninsula), 16% in Wine Country, 2% in the East Bay, and 2% in Marin. There are three new restaurants on the list for 2024 and four that no longer made the cut or were closed down. There were no new Silicon Valley restaurants on the list from last year, but I'm feeling optimistic about 2025.

Michelin will announce updates to the guide for Bay Area restaurants this summer and I'll make the 2025 updates faster than I did in 2024. It will be interesting if San Jose can earn back its star with Adega. There are also some new hopefuls that might be able to get a star in 2025. I have my eye on Alter Ego, Eos & Nyx, and Augustine. I also think Le Papillion and Rollati certainly deserve a shot and should at least be "Michelin Recommended."

Top San Jose Blog posts of 2024

Below are the most popular posts on The San Jose Blog this year. The general theme appears to be food🍔!

#1 Santana Row has a Speakeasy now! (April 12)

#2 Raising Cane's is opening their first San Jose location in Evergreen (Feb 4) 

#3 San Jose's fanciest movie theater shuts down (July 12)

#4 Campus Burgers will offer $2 Hamburgers and $3 Cheeseburgers in Downtown San Jose (Apr 28)

#5 Augustine will be Santana Row's newest high-end restaurant (Oct 17)

San Jose is getting a new signature cocktail

Rollati Ristorante, one of Downtown San Jose's top restaurants, is introducing San Jose's first signature drink. It's called the San Jose Sour and includes not one, but two local products.

The main spirit is 10th St. Distillery's triple cask single malt whiskey called Dragon Plus. This is a local San Jose company with several award winning products and the spirit is even distilled in San Jose.

The second ingredient is Alamitos Vineyard's award-winning estate Hawk Eye Syrah, which is grown and produced in South San Jose.

The drink also has lemon juice, simple syrup, egg whites and a few dashes of Angostura bitters. You can enjoy it at Rollati right now and hopefully it will be available at some of their sister restaurants like Left Bank, LB Steak, or Meso. If you want to try to make this cocktail at home, below are the ingredients and directions.

THE SAN JOSÉ SOUR

Ingredients

1 ½ ounces 10th Street Distillery, American Whiskey, Triple Cask, STR Single Malt, San Jose, CA

¾ ounces Alamitos Vineyards, Syrah, Hawk Eye Estate Grown, Santa Clara County, CA

1 ounce lemon juice

¾ ounces simple syrup

1 egg white

4 dashes Angostura bitters, “Aromatic,” Trinidad & Tobago

Directions

1. Add whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup and egg white into shaker

2. Shake with ice and strain back into tin

3. Reverse dry shake

4. Double strain over coupe glass

5. Float Hawk Eye Syrah

6. Garnish with Filthy Black Cherry and Angostura bitters

New Tasca Portuguese food truck

Portuguese food has been getting more popular in the Bay Area, especially thanks to Adega (San Jose's first and only Michelin star restaurant ever) and Petiscos (Downtown San Jose's only Michelin-recommended restaurant). However, one thing I have never seen before is a Portuguese food truck. Tasca Portuguese is the first I am aware of in the Bay Area.

The truck has a short menu with a focus on Portuguese street food, but it does have some surprises. There are starters like Linguiça and Bacalhau (codfish dumplings) and traditional sandwich options using staples like pork and steak cutlets. However, there are two exotic options. The Sandes de Alcatra uses an Azorean specialty where the beef is cooked in a clay pot for hours with tons of delicious spices. I have never seen a sandwich made out of it before. Even more adventurous is the octopus sandwich which uses well-marinated chunks of octopus stuffed in Portuguese bread. Desserts include a classic crowd-please, Pastel de Natas.

You can find the food truck at 1401 E. Santa Clara Street near Five Wounds Church on Monday through Friday from 11am to 8pm and on Sunday from 10am to 8pm.

Source: Yelp

Eos & Nyx is now open!

The most highly anticipated restaurant in Downtown San Jose for 2024 is now open. Eos & Nyx is the new flagship venue from the proprietors of Original Gravity, Still OG, Alter Ego, Miniboss, and Paper Plane. It takes up 4,000 SQFT across two stories in what used to be the Camera 12 building in Downtown San Jose, and the restaurant looks stunning. It is part of the Paseo Project also brough us Urban Putt earlier this year. This project is quickly transforming this part of Downtown San Jose in the best way possible.

The vibe is described as chic and sophisticated. It looks like careful attention has been provided to every detail. The restaurant has 20-foot-high ceilings, indoor trees, and custom furniture. There is even a lit conveyor belt of spirits. I'm not entirely sure how the conveyor belt will work but I can't wait to find out.

The menu is upscale Mediterranean with influences from many different cultures. Some of the dinner items include prawns in a Moroccan tagine stew, octopus, kofta beef & lamb meatballs, pappardelle duck, tagliatelle lobster with beurre blanc sauce and caviar, bone in pork chops, and lamb chops. The cocktails are going to be the high-end craft variety they are known for at their other establishments.

Hours are Tues-Wed from 5pm-9pm, Fri-Sat from 10am-2pm and 5pm-10pm, and Sunday (brunch) from 9am-3pm. These will likely be expanded after the soft opening period.

You can find Eos & Nyx conveniently located at 201 S. Second Street. It's impossible to miss as you drive or take a Light Rail down second.

Source: SiliconValley.com

22 happy hour deals in San Jose

SJtoday is back with periodic posts and they have a list of several great happy hour deals across San Jose. My favorites on the list are EMC Seafood (get the phenomenal uni pasta while you're there), Dr. Funk, The Table, San Pedro Social, Meso, Lazy Dog, and MINIBOSS (pictured). All of those have great food to go along with libations. Check out the full list in the source link below.

Source: SJtoday

Restaurant Gish

The Silicon Valley food scene continues to deliver numerous high-end options, but the downside is ever-increasing costs heading towards insanity. Restaurants like The French Laundry and SingleThread easily cost upwards of $500 PER PERSON. Wine tastings to go along with that fancy meal can easily cost upwards of $100 per person on top of that. That is why I was thrilled to find a great fine dining option that won't break the bank. It's called Restaurant Gish.

One of the reasons why the prices are not super high is that the area around it is not pretentious at all. The restaurant is in a nondescript Santa Clara strip mall facing an alley. It's one of the last places you would expect a fine dining establishment. It feels like you're going to a speakeasy.

Inside the ambiance is modern yet homely. Deciding on what to eat is simple, there is a single menu with 4-5 courses that changes each month. When I went it was $79 for 4 courses with an excellent wine pairing for $47. There was also an optional extra course if you were really hungry.

Everything was exceptional from start to finish, including the service. I might just become a regular.

Augustine will be Santana Row's newest high-end restaurant

Bacchus Management Group has run several Michelin-starred restaurants including The Village Pub in Woodside, Selby's in Atherton, and Spruce in SF. They also launched one of the most popular restaurants in Santana Row two decades ago--Pizza Antica. Now they are opening a second restaurant at Santana Row called Augustine.

The new restaurant will focus on family-style Mediterranean cuisine and encompass 8,000 SQFT along with a 3,000 SQFT patio space. They actually tore down the front of the building and moved the entrance back 25 feet to make the patio even larger and give the restaurant an indoor-outdoor feel.

It will have a cocktail lounge, a large bar, two dining rooms, a reservation-only cocktail bar (could it be another speakeasy?) and options for private dining. Pricing will be around $80 for a two-person dinner, but I'm assuming that is without alcohol.  

The goal is to open by end of the year at 377 Santana Row, a spot formerly occupied by Sino that has been vacant since 2020. I can't wait to try it out!

Source: SVBJ

Busy weekend with theater openings and a food festival in San Jose

There is too much going on this weekend, but Sal Pizarro provides a nice summary. Click the source link for the details.

• MACLA is presenting an immersive theatrical concert called "Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind"
• City Lights Theater has it's opening of "An Inspector Calls" tonight
• The San Jose stage Company is opening it's season today with "The Smuggler"
• The inaugural Tully East Festival takes place outside Eastridge with 150 makers, artists, and food trucks (not to mention an outdoor kitten lounge).

Source: The Mercury News

Cultura in the Park 2024

Today the celebration for Mexican Independence Day takes place in Downtown San Jose at Plaza de Cesar Chavez from noon to 4pm. The party includes live music, food, low riders, vendors, art, and cultural performances. 

Suspiro Paella Party

Paella is a delicious Spanish rice dish that you almost always have to order for two people or more. Suspiro at Santana Row is doing Paella Parties where you can commit to a smaller portion for $16 a plate along with discounted Sangrias. 

You can find Suspiro all the way at the end of the Row next to Meso and Barry's Bootcamp. (Shh, it also has a hidden Speakeasy in the back).

First T&T Supermarket in California is coming to San Jose

A new supermarket specializing in Asian groceries will be coming to West San Jose in 2025. T&T Supermarket will be the newest anchor tenant at Westgate Center (which is owned by the same company as Santana Row). The store will be 55,000 SQFT and take over the former Walmart space.

T&T's goal is to be more than just a place to grab groceries. They want it to be a destination for discovery, innovation, and bringing people together through food. The store will have live seafood tanks, a full-service meat counter, a BBQ counter, noodle station, dim sum, and a street food section, and even a made-to-order Chinese crepe station. Their bakery will have mochi puffs, egg tarts, and assorted pastries.

T&T Supermarkets has 33 stores, mostly in Canada but there are a couple stores in the US. This will be their first location in all of California.

Source: SiliconValley.com

Festival for Foodies

Westfield Valley Fair is hosting a foodie event this Friday. You can sample dishes from 14 restaurants while enjoying live music and pop-up shops. Featured eateries include Salt & Straw, Rooster & Rice, and Shake Shack. Each $40 ticket includes 10 food tastings and games/prizes.

For those with bigger appetites, there are also dine-in experiences for a higher ticket price at Eataly, Mastro's, AnQi, Tacomania, and King's Fish House (one of my favorites).

Proceeds of ticket sales will benefit the Hunger At Home non-profit. The event is this Friday, August 16th from 12pm to 8pm. For more information and tickets, click here.

What's there to do on a Tuesday night in Downtown San Jose?

I remember for years most people would say there is nothing to do in Downtown San Jose, period. Then as most realized weekends are almost all filled with activities and major events Downtown, the new mantra became there is nothing to do after work Downtown during the week.

Let's put aside the 300+ eateries, the SAP Center, Improv, Urban Putt, and the many venues open during the week. I had a look at the San Jose Downtown Association Newsletter, and today's featured events on a random Tuesday seemed like a pretty fun night out.

Sorry the links below aren't clickable, but you have Tequila Tuesday with 50% off tequila tastings and $3 tacos. Karaoke at the Caravan. Traditional Irish music at O'Flaherty's. An Open Mic at Mama Kin (great venue). Last but not least, you can cap off the night with DJs spinning Punk and Country at the Ritz until midnight. If that's not an eclectic mix of options for a Tuesday, I don't know what is.

Source: San Jose Downtown Association Newsletter