PINKBERRY CONTEST WINNERS!!!

Thanks again to everyone that participated in the Pinkberry contest. Choosing winners was a huge challenge since all of the answers were great! Listed below are the 5 winners:

San Jose is eclectic – Payge
San Jose is progressive - Arlene
San Jose is visionary - Kevin
San Jose is unique – Heidi
San Jose is home – Joie

Congratulations guys! If you're a winner, please send your mailing address to josh@thesanjoseblog.com and I'll send over your gift card.

For everyone else (including those that did not participate), your consolation prize can be the Pinkberry party today with FREE yogurt and musical entertainment, featuring Evan Taubenfeld (lead guitarist for Avril Lavigne). The party goes from 6-10pm at the new Pinkberry location in the Pueblo Plaza Shopping Center, 1110 Blossom Hill Road. Enjoy!

Discrawl Recap

Last month's dishcrawl was another amazing event for South Bay foodies! From what I understand, it was the best attended in dishcrawl history with 120 people along for the ride. We hit up Mezcal (Oaxacan Mexican), Mogo (Korean Taco Truck), Hunanuman (Thai), and Treatbot (Karaoke Ice Cream Truck). For a quick recap, check out the the video below by NBC's The Feast.

If you're ready to sign up for the next Downtown San Jose dishcrawl (March 23rd), just click here to register for Discovering Exotic San Jose II!

View more videos at: http://www.thefeast.com.

Pinkberry Contest Entries

The Pinkberry contest is now closed for business. Thank you to all who have participated! Contenders for the 5 Pinkberry gift certificates are:

San Jose is awesome
San Jose is innovative*
San Jose is eclectic
San Jose is in
San Jose is cool
San Jose is legendary*
San Jose is underrated
San Jose is unique
San Jose is dependable
San Jose is home
San Jose is genesis
San Jose is hip
San Jose is inspiring
San Jose is ingenious
San Jose is visionary
San Jose is diverse
San Jose is faboo
San Jose is progressive

The two with asterisks were actually submitted by The San Jose Blog contributors, so they don't qualify =). Winners will be announced tomorrow morning!

PINKBERRY GIFT CARD CONTEST IS LIVE!!!

In honor of the 2nd Pinkberry in San Jose at 1110 Blossom Hill Road, we're giving away five $5 Pinkberry gift cards. Also keep in mind that everyone will be able to snag some free yogurt at their grand opening party on Thursday between 6pm and 10pm, all while being entertained by guest DJ Evan Taubenfeld (lead guitarist for Avirl Lavigne).

Alright then, onto the contest.  This time around it's very simple:

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DESCRIBE SAN JOSE, IN ONE WORD

San Jose is [ your word here ]

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Everyone gets a single shot in the comments section below. Some disclaimers:

• In order to participate in the contest, you cannot post anonymously.
• Please use the format "San Jose is [ your word here ]" 
• You can only post a single answer, although it is okay to have multiple comments regarding other people's posts.  Posting more than one "San Jose is [ ]" answer in the comments below will get you disqualified!
• You cannot post anything that has already been posted by another reader.

But of course, there is more. You can also get a BONUS post on Facebook! All you need to do is find the Facebook post called PINKBERRY GIFT CARD CONTEST IS LIVE!!! and post another answer over there for a second shot at winning. It is possible to win 2 cards thanks to the BONUS post.

The contest ends in 24 hours and the winners will be announced Thursday morning! Good Luck!

Sharks Win Again, Sweep the Avalanche At Home

San Jose Sharks forward Ryane Clowe’s shootout skills win it again for the Sharks in the second straight game, putting the Sharks’ win streak at seven games in a row. The Sharks endured a nail-biting battle against a much-rejuvenated Colorado Avalanche team, hungry for revenge after their domination by the Sharks less than two weeks ago at the Shark Tank to the tune of a 4-0 loss. During the contest, Devin Setoguchi managed his first ever NHL hat trick.

Due to the defensive prowess of both teams, the first two periods remained scoreless. Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson quickly changed things with a power play goal just 1:18 into the third period to put the Avalanche up 1-0. Due to the slow scoring pace of the game, Johnson’s goal proved to be a significant game-breaker for the Sharks. The Johnson goal continued to be so until a very late third period goal by Joe Thornton tied the game up at 1-1, adding the much-needed energy to the San Jose fans in the Shark Tank and sending the game into overtime.

Overtime remained more of the same with an edge in puck control by the Sharks. Once the overtime period ended scoreless, the Sharks took control in the shootout, beginning with a Ryane Clowe goal, and followed up by Niemi successfully stopping all three Avalanche players from scoring.

Niemi again proved to be a much-valued asset for the Sharks organization. (No wonder the Sharks jumped at the opportunity to extend his contract.) Earlier this afternoon, Niemi signed a $15.2 million, four-year contract extension.

(It also helps that San Jose happens to be a wonderful place to live. Just ask any NHL player who has ever spent time here.)

For the Sharks, honorable mentions go to:

- Defenseman Ian White, who displayed his solid offensive skills by pinching in properly and effectively breaking out of the defensive zone to give the Sharks’ offense proper momentum.
- Antti Niemi, although facing only nineteen shots (as opposed to the Sharks’ thirty-five on Avalanche netminder Brian Elliott), the great majority of the shots he faced were dangerous. To top off his dominant play during regulation, he denied all three Avalanche shooters in the shootout to seal the Sharks’ win.
- Forward Joe Pavelski, contributing greatly to the Sharks’ dominant puck control. In addition, he almost scored when his shot beat the Avalanche netminder, but failed to beat the hard, iron crossbar.
- Captain Joe Thornton, playing another fantastic set-up game and scoring the goal that sent the Sharks into overtime.

As for the Avalanche, honorable mentions go to:

- Newly acquired defender, Erik Johnson, who went first overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft to the St. Louis Blues. Johnson proved to be a massive thorn in the Sharks’ side by not only blocking many shots and turning away scoring opportunities, but scoring the Avalanche’s only goal. Most notably, during a rush by Joe Pavelski in the overtime period, it was Johnson’s stick that kept Pavelski from succeeding.
- Goaltender Brian Elliott only allowed one goal (not including the shootout goal) out of the thirty-five shots from San Jose. He was the key in keeping the Sharks off of the scoreboard.

Catch the Sharks next Thursday, the 3rd, as the Sharks again face the Detroit Red Wings at home.

Cinequest Launches Today!

Today at Cinequest - March 1, 2011 from San Jose on Vimeo.

Pinkberry Gift Card Contest Starts Tonight!

To celebrate the grand opening of the 2nd Pinkberry in San Jose, we're kicking off a contest which will culminate in 5 winners of Pinkberry gift certificates! The new location is at 1110 Blossom Hill Road (Pueblo Plaza Shopping Center) and they're having a grand opening party on Thursday featuring free yogurt, music, and a celebrity guest.

The contest starts tonight at 7:00 PM!

Downtown San Jose Restaurant List Updates!

Here's the latest round of updates:

• Found another restaurant chain with the original location Downtown: New Tung Kee Noodle House
• Added Hawaiian Drive Inn on Santa Clara and 7th
• Made it past the 160 restaurant mark in my mission to patronize every Downtown SJ Restaurant!

If you haven't bookmarked it yet, here's the link to the spreadsheet! There is also a permanent link over to the right entitled Downtown San Jose Restaurants.