The Mmoon Sneak Peak!

Last week I was fortunate enough to get a preview of The Mmoon Empanadas... and I think we have a real winner on our hands! My personal favorite was the Beef Tri-tip empanada dipped in an Argentinian chimichurri sause. My wife couldn't get enough of the Banapple empanada. To take a look at the full menu, just head over here.

There's still some work to do before the restaurant officially opens its doors, but some nice San Jose touches like local digital art and a live twitter feed were already hung up on the wall and functional. Currently, they're shooting for a mid-September opening. In the meantime you can enjoy a few photos from the preview night:

September 2010 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:

• The holidays are coming up soon and the new official name of the downtown ice rink will be Hawaiian Airlines / Kristi Yamaguchi Downtown Ice.
• The San Pedro Square Urban Market will now launch in Q1 2011 [I should have names of some tenants in 1-2 weeks, construction should be done in December]
• Henry's World Famous Hi-Life celebrates its 50th anniversary (for 2 days in August the owner rolled back prices to 1960).
• Andy's Pet Shop is coming back! Formerly in a 4,000sqft store on the Alameda, they will open up in a new 9,000sqft location at 51 Notre Dame (near San Pedro Square and Little Italy). The famous neon sign is returning as well.
• As previously reported, Second Street Tavern + Bowl is coming to the ground floor of the Globe. Games will cost about $3 and hourly lane rental will range from $25-45.
• Satori Tea (phenomenal teas here) is open at 37 N. San Pedro.
• Pho 69 adds Vietnamese noodles to SoFA @ 321 S. First St.
• Polar Ice is now offering yogurt, gelato, smoothies, and boba at 96 E. San Salvador St.
• Whipp's Frozen Fruits & Deserts has frozen cups made entirely of fruit over at 110 E. San Fernando.
• Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt is open at 567 Coleman across from Chili's.
• Higher Fire Clayspace & Gallery opened its doors at 499 S. Market St. in SoFA [very cool place, they are a new addition to the South First Fridays art crawl]
• 01SJ is coming Sep. 16-19, showcasing 100+ artists from 21 countries. Many of the technology-oriented outdoor pieces will be up until at least November.
• The San Jose Mariachi Festival will take place from Sep. 15-26.
• The Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon will attract thousands of participants during its stretch from Oct. 1-3
• Property owners are following in Groundwerx's footsteps and beautifying the space around their businesses. The areas near the Comerica building, Market Street Tower Venture, and Original Joe's have all been improved by business owners. The SJDA is more than happy to help any downtown businesses that would like to improve their sidewalk space (Contact Eric at 408-590-0241)
• SJSU ranked 14th among the West's top public universities and the College of Engineering ranked 7th in the nation among public engineering programs.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

2010 01SJ Biennial Promo

ZER01 is coming very soon and represents the art forms that will differentiate San Jose's art scene from other cosmopolitan cities across the world. We're talking about art that's innovative, dynamic, interactive, eclectic, thought-provoking, and fun. Much more info to come, but let's start with the teaser video below:

SJBJ: San Jose office park will be transformed into 89 homes

According to the San Jose Business Journal, it looks like 16 acres of office park are going to be razed to make room for 89 detached homes in Almaden Valley. Not a bad idea given the 10 million or so square feet of vacant office space in San Jose right now. The builder also plans on restoring four acres of habitat next to the Guadalupe Creek. Fore more details, head right over here or here.

South First Friday + Street Market TODAY

Another awesome South First Friday is coming your way today, and it will be the last one of the year to be accompanied by a full blown street market! It all goes down at 7pm and stretches until the wee hours of the morning. More details below:

South FIRST FRIDAYS + STREET MRKT Sept. 3rd

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

The South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk + STREET MRKT is this Friday, September 3rd! It all kicks off at 7pm and goes 'til late!
Here's some highlights from KALEID Gallery and Phantom Galleries coordinated exhibits:

Coexist & Bisect Two new manifestations by René Lorraine
René Lorraine's latest work is a fascinating take on man coexisting with unfamiliar species, ideals, and life styes that one may find on this earth. Coexist deals with embracing differences between souls and the shells they reside in, and is an unbeatable experience involving a harmonious dance between crisp clean line, and free-flowing watercolor pigments. Bisect is about the challenges one person may have desiring two very different life styles. The delicate graphite mimic's the fine line of having balance and not.
René Lorraine is a graduate of San Jose State University with a BFA in Pictorial Arts, and an A.A in Painting.


Shadows of Light, from the Hidden Sun A vision of the Authentic self by Ras Lowe.
This Art message is about deep personal inner visions, a progressive transmission of sacred information for the 21st. century, from the ancient temples of Egypt, to the jungles of Holy Peru. Remembering every moment in Life is a gift, and is precious, not to be wasted.
Ras Lowe is a graduate from San Jose State University, MA, Urban Planning, and BA, in Black Studies-( African American Studies) He has lived in San Jose since 1969 and is retired currently teaching (Japanese Swordsmanship) Ken-do at SJSU.
(7-9pm) KALEID Gallery
88 South Fourth Street
---------------------------------------------

Opening Reception: Scrap Facet by Sandi Billingsley
A collection of distinctive monochrome portraiture on rescued & re purposed material.
Good Karma Cafe
37 South First Street
---------------------------------------------

Opening reception of Gravity by artist Valerie Runningwolf
New encaustic works as well as mixed- media pieces that are of traditional and contemporary ideas that awaken and encourage exploration.
First Fridays are Opera Night! at Caffé Trieste with some of the Bay Area’s best opera singers performing your favorite arias and duets.
Caffe Trieste
315 South First Street
---------------------------------------------

On view: Freedom. Experience Reality. by abstract artist Nathan Belomy
Phantom Galleries Location: 386 South First Street
---------------------------------------------
This Friday is also the last STREET MRKT of the season! Live music by Sean Hayes, Lisa Dewey & Lotus Life, and Jhameel plus 40 regional artists and indie vendors 7pm-11pm out on South First Street between San Carlos & San Salvador streets.

---------------------------------------------
For full listings of all participating venues including Anno Domini, MACLA, San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, South First Billiards, SLG Art Boutiki, Higher Fire Clay, Downtown Yoga Shala, METRO Photo Exhibit and Art Ark, visit http://www.SouthFIRSTFRIDAYS.com!

San Jose's Treatbot Nominated for "America's Favorite Food Truck"

Treatbot--San Jose's Karaoke Ice Cream Truck with a rockstar 4.5 yelp rating--is in contention to becoming America's Favorite Food Truck, which is an honor earned by winning a Food Network contest to get the most votes. Show a little local love and vote for them right over here: http://foodtrucks.teamdigital.com/.

More Italian Family Festa Photos!

Thomas Wohlmut sent me a few shots from last weekend's Italian Family Festa that really show off the number of people that attended. This event was a huge success and hopefully will become a downtown tradition for many years to come.

Walking Tour of the Future A's Stadium + Diridon Area

I was fortunate enough to make it to the walking tour of the proposed A's stadium and Diridon area improvements. Imagine a state of the art ballpark along a new riverfront park, a short walk away from a bustling HSR/BART/Light Rail/ACE/Caltrain station, and adjacent to a massive retail and entertainment hub (this is the new plan for the area in front of Diridon and the HP Pavilion). It's a very realistic vision with a lot of intelligent and passionate people leading the charge.

I also noticed several friends at the walking tour:

BASEBALL SAN JOSE

At the Proposed Ballpark Site Walking Tour

from Baseball San Jose by noreply@blogger.com (DLo)

About 50-60 people, including several Baseball San Jose supporters, joined the San Jose Redevelopment Agencey for their Proposed Ballpark Site Walking Tour on Monday.

The agency's Dennis Korabiak led the tour, which consisted of updates on not only the ballpark, but the Diridon Station general plan, inlcuding BART and HSR. In short, the city plans to transform the area into a major retail-entertainment center, anchored to the north by HP Pavilion and to the south by Cisco Field.

Tour guests also got to hear from High-Speed Rail Authority board member, Rod Diridon. He made an impromptu pitch for the ambitious vision the city has for the area surrounding the station.



















Korabiak led the group to the corner of San Fernando and Autum, which will be the main gate to Cisco Field. It's not much to look at now, but soon it may be the site of a grand plaza welcoming A's fans to the game.

















Throughout the tour, Korabiak outlined the general ballpark concept. The agency's focus is on creating a comprehensive ballpark experience for fans, including a realigned Autumn Street, riverside parks, and plenty of new retail.

















The tour concluded with a few words from Baseball San Jose co-chair, Michael Mulcahy. In anticipation of a spring ballpark campaign, he urged baseball supporters to get the word out to as many people as possible.

It was interesting to get a peak at the city's grand vision for Diridon. If they come, the A's will have an dynamic new home in a bustling area of downtown. Of course, many things have to happen before that can become reality, but as Michael Mulcahy points out, MLB in San Jose begins with you.

You're up to bat, San Jose!

SAN JOSE METBLOGS

Tour of Proposed Ballpark Site Sparks High Hopes

from San Jose Metblogs by JoAnn Freda

Okay, I can only speak for myself but as I stood on the corner of San Fernando and Autumn and looked at the proposed site of the San Jose Athletics ballpark I couldn’t help picturing myself walking through the main entrance of the ballpark on game day and I got pretty excited.

Corner of San Fernando and Autumn

Last night Dennis Korabiak of the San Jose Redevelopment committee took a small group of fans(?) on a tour of the area between Diridon Train Station (Rod Diridon just happened to show up)
and the corner (and hallowed ground if hallowed ground can be secular?) that I hope will one day be the home of a major league ball club. The planners envision extended mass transit such as high speed rail, public art, trails, retail shops, restaurants and clubs. The beautiful artist’s renderings of the proposed ballpark made it easy to imagine this vision coming true. You can go to Pro Baseball San Jose for more details and links to the ballpark plans.