As a side note, Valley Fair is also beefing up their luxury wing with new stores for Tiffany & Co, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton. Now if only they would get started on their 500,000 sqft expansion.
Source: SVBJ
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Prada's Miu Miu Premiering at Valley Fair
More and more companies are choosing San Jose over San Francisco to introduce new luxury retail concepts into the Bay Area. The latest in a growing list is Prada's Miu Miu, a high-end brand for women's clothing with locations only in premier fashion destinations around the world. The store is opening up at Valley Fair in Spring 2013, around the same time as David Yurman. Other stores that have chosen San Jose over SF to launch include Hastens, St. Croix, and the Tesla Store.
As a side note, Valley Fair is also beefing up their luxury wing with new stores for Tiffany & Co, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton. Now if only they would get started on their 500,000 sqft expansion.
Source: SVBJ
As a side note, Valley Fair is also beefing up their luxury wing with new stores for Tiffany & Co, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton. Now if only they would get started on their 500,000 sqft expansion.
Source: SVBJ
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Wednesday Wishlist: Michelin Star Restaurants (2013 Edition)
I do this rant every year and will continue to do so until San Jose nabs a Michelin star restaurant. For the non-foodies out there, a Michelin star represents one of the highest achievements and forms of recognition that a restaurant can get. There are three different rankings:
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.
I have gone ahead and made a Google doc listing all of the 2013 Bay Area Michelin star recipients as well as the recipients for each year since Bay Area restaurants started being evaluated in 2007. This data was surprisingly not that easy to aggregate since it was hard to find the lists of early recipients. If you open the doc, you will also notice a Stats tab on the bottom that shows how things have evolved over the years.
In 2007 the Bay Area received a total of 34 stars across 28 restaurants. Only 2 restaurants were in the South Bay (7% of the total). For 2013, the Bay Area received 52 stars across 42 restaurants and 5 were in the South Bay (12%). So there is definitely some improvement for the region as a whole, but unfortunately there is yet to be a single San Jose recipient. I have been to quite a few on the list below (13 of them in fact), and there are at least two San Jose restaurants that should definitely be there. Le Papillion and La Foret, which are sister restaurants and offer phenomenal food and service equal to many of the places on the list. I also have high hopes that new aspiring chefs will decide to open up restaurants Downtown that may one day qualify for a star.
You can check out the full Google doc here. The South Bay restaurants are highlighted in yellow and the Peninsula restaurants in northern Silicon Valley are highlighted in blue.
P.S. Hat tip to All Spice in San Mateo for being the first Indian restaurant to make the cut in the US as far as I know.
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.
I have gone ahead and made a Google doc listing all of the 2013 Bay Area Michelin star recipients as well as the recipients for each year since Bay Area restaurants started being evaluated in 2007. This data was surprisingly not that easy to aggregate since it was hard to find the lists of early recipients. If you open the doc, you will also notice a Stats tab on the bottom that shows how things have evolved over the years.
In 2007 the Bay Area received a total of 34 stars across 28 restaurants. Only 2 restaurants were in the South Bay (7% of the total). For 2013, the Bay Area received 52 stars across 42 restaurants and 5 were in the South Bay (12%). So there is definitely some improvement for the region as a whole, but unfortunately there is yet to be a single San Jose recipient. I have been to quite a few on the list below (13 of them in fact), and there are at least two San Jose restaurants that should definitely be there. Le Papillion and La Foret, which are sister restaurants and offer phenomenal food and service equal to many of the places on the list. I also have high hopes that new aspiring chefs will decide to open up restaurants Downtown that may one day qualify for a star.
You can check out the full Google doc here. The South Bay restaurants are highlighted in yellow and the Peninsula restaurants in northern Silicon Valley are highlighted in blue.
P.S. Hat tip to All Spice in San Mateo for being the first Indian restaurant to make the cut in the US as far as I know.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
New Craft Beer Tasting Lounge Opening Downtown!
I have a feeling that the craft beer scene is about to explode Downtown. The Original Gravity House and Good Karma are going to have some company very soon.
Sukhjeev Singh is the owner of Bobby's Liquors on El Camino, which features an insane collection of craft brews. He's about to take things to the next level by opening up a tasting lounge called ISO: Beers (In Search Of Beers). With 1,756 sqft, he'll have enough room for 50-60 tap handles, storage for 2,000 bottled beers, comfortable sofas, and of course some tables. This is someone that really knows his beers, so I can't wait to see how this turns out.
ISO: Beers is going to be located at 81 East Santa Clara Street, near 4th Street Pizza and City Hall.
Source: Anonymous Poster, Examiner
![Sukhjeev "Dee" Singh standing in front of Bobby's Liquors in Santa Clara](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_s6Z-K0nfJaaccJiXIUpTcNwSgvt72i3zBCar2PCjw2OmmAWS1Y49qhu-UAD8oQSu7n_oOIm210UY41iqLzRCm8_-klO2nzfPmnl7VPf06tWW4I7eyu0ghKtbPPCx2sffJrGrcuQnSG-WqgfgRcNf7MGp8Aw8Itdn33-z4Ri6LWuAuu424pnzsiLn8G2tschXd1BO0UBGSH56vKL5gxF07m=s0-d "Sukhjeev "Dee" Singh standing in front of Bobby's Liquors in Santa Clara")
Sukhjeev Singh is the owner of Bobby's Liquors on El Camino, which features an insane collection of craft brews. He's about to take things to the next level by opening up a tasting lounge called ISO: Beers (In Search Of Beers). With 1,756 sqft, he'll have enough room for 50-60 tap handles, storage for 2,000 bottled beers, comfortable sofas, and of course some tables. This is someone that really knows his beers, so I can't wait to see how this turns out.
ISO: Beers is going to be located at 81 East Santa Clara Street, near 4th Street Pizza and City Hall.
Source: Anonymous Poster, Examiner
Monday, January 7, 2013
San Jose Looking for $1B in NEW Investment
Major Chuck Reed has set a goal to nab $1B worth of new projects over the next 6 months. This will help accelerate job growth as well as generate new revenues for the city. To help achieve this he is putting together a committee to evaluate and monitor economic competitiveness and is expediting planning and building permitting for high-rise residential, office, R&D, campus projects, and retail projects that are larger than 200,000 sqft.
Some good news is that there is already a billion dollars worth of development in the queue:
In addition, to fill up vacant space in Downtown San Jose the city is planning to waive permitting fees and business licensing fees for properties where landlords are willing to discount rates to new lessees for a one year period. These incentives would apply to tech startups, retail stores, or restaurants.
Source: SVBJ
Some good news is that there is already a billion dollars worth of development in the queue:
- 3 million sqft of office/R&D
- 800 high-rise residential units
- 600,000 sqft of retail
In addition, to fill up vacant space in Downtown San Jose the city is planning to waive permitting fees and business licensing fees for properties where landlords are willing to discount rates to new lessees for a one year period. These incentives would apply to tech startups, retail stores, or restaurants.
Source: SVBJ
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Wake up, fans! The lockout is over, and the Sharks are back!
“Wake up!
Wake up!” I texted to some of my
fellow Sharks fans. “The lockout is
ended! That Sharks will have a season
this year!”
The collective bargaining agreement negotiations finally came to a conclusion around 3AM Pacific Time, and the news spread like wildfire over Twitter and other social media sites. Many remained hopeful a deal would be made due to the severity of the situation. If no deal could have been made, the season was likely going to be cancelled. It was the last opportunity.
The collective bargaining agreement negotiations finally came to a conclusion around 3AM Pacific Time, and the news spread like wildfire over Twitter and other social media sites. Many remained hopeful a deal would be made due to the severity of the situation. If no deal could have been made, the season was likely going to be cancelled. It was the last opportunity.
To
assist with the negotiations process as the time wound down, a federal mediator
by the name of Scot Beckenbaugh was brought in.
Many believe his assistance saved the season, due to the high contention
between the two sides of the negotiating table: Gary Bettman, Commissioner of
the NHL, and Donald Fehr, the executive director of the players’ union, the National
Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA).
The negotiations continually fell through primarily due to the players’ insistence
they did not want their pay and benefits cut and the league’s insistence they
implement lower salary percentage rates due to most owners losing money.
Even though hockey fans in general may be delighted to see there will be a season, many fans feel like they’ve been cheated. There were a good number of players voicing their displeasure with the potential of having their salaries cut (and even threatening to stay with their professional level teams abroad), the players union ready and willing to cancel the season, and the league not providing realistic agreements to the table and not honoring existing contracts. As we all love our home teams and support them through all kinds of media, and by purchasing tickets and merchandise, how should the fans feel when the players and owners are carelessly toss aside the fans because some think they’re not making enough?
With that said, however, there were a healthy amount of players communicating to fans using social media apologizing for how the situation has turned out and how they’re going to “play their hearts out” for the fans if the season is allowed to continue. (We can only hope they deliver now.)
The new collective bargaining agreement has a ten year life (although there’s a potential “opt out” in eight years), with an eventual salary cap set between $44 million and $64.3 million. The salaries in individual contracts cannot vary more than 35% year to year, and the final year cannot be more than 50% of the highest year. (This acts to prevent some of the high front loaded contracts seen in the previous years, such as the contracts the Minnesota Wild signed with Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.)
Another important statistic, the revenue sharing percentage between the owners and the players, is now a 50-50 split, instead of the previous 57-43 split, in favor of the players.
As for the Sharks’ season, if play begins on January 15th, which it very well should, the season will be 50 games long (instead of the full 82), although it is possible for play to continue a bit later, which would then result in a 48-game season.
Either way, we will have hockey this year, which means there will be plenty of opportunities to cheer on our Sharks. Most importantly, however, is the continuation of the season puts the Stanley Cup back into play.
LET’S GO SHARKS!
Even though hockey fans in general may be delighted to see there will be a season, many fans feel like they’ve been cheated. There were a good number of players voicing their displeasure with the potential of having their salaries cut (and even threatening to stay with their professional level teams abroad), the players union ready and willing to cancel the season, and the league not providing realistic agreements to the table and not honoring existing contracts. As we all love our home teams and support them through all kinds of media, and by purchasing tickets and merchandise, how should the fans feel when the players and owners are carelessly toss aside the fans because some think they’re not making enough?
With that said, however, there were a healthy amount of players communicating to fans using social media apologizing for how the situation has turned out and how they’re going to “play their hearts out” for the fans if the season is allowed to continue. (We can only hope they deliver now.)
The new collective bargaining agreement has a ten year life (although there’s a potential “opt out” in eight years), with an eventual salary cap set between $44 million and $64.3 million. The salaries in individual contracts cannot vary more than 35% year to year, and the final year cannot be more than 50% of the highest year. (This acts to prevent some of the high front loaded contracts seen in the previous years, such as the contracts the Minnesota Wild signed with Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.)
Another important statistic, the revenue sharing percentage between the owners and the players, is now a 50-50 split, instead of the previous 57-43 split, in favor of the players.
As for the Sharks’ season, if play begins on January 15th, which it very well should, the season will be 50 games long (instead of the full 82), although it is possible for play to continue a bit later, which would then result in a 48-game season.
Either way, we will have hockey this year, which means there will be plenty of opportunities to cheer on our Sharks. Most importantly, however, is the continuation of the season puts the Stanley Cup back into play.
LET’S GO SHARKS!
Boston Private Bank Opening in Downtown San Jose
Another bank is coming Downtown, although most of us won't casually be walking into this one. Boston Private Bank focuses mainly on wealth management, wealth advisory and trust services, commercial lending, and private banking. The new branch is scheduled to open this quarter at 60 S. Market Street, and it will be the first location in San Jose. They already have other Bay Area locations in Palo Alto, Los Altos, Burlingame, and San Francisco. Tenant improvements are happening as we speak and I'm sure we'll all look forward to having another business Downtown.
Source: SVBJ
Source: SVBJ
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Saturday Stats: SJC Has the Top On-Time Performance in California
Since we're just days away from getting an international direct flight to Tokyo, I figured that this would be a good week to do an airport related Saturday stat. Last year, San Jose International was ranked as having the best on-time performance in California. This shouldn't be a huge surprise given our good weather, a streamlined airport layout, and advanced systems for handling luggage. Heck, the last few flights I have taken out of SJC ended up arriving early.
On the other side of the Bay, SFO came in dead last in terms of on-time performance for California airports.
In terms of all medium to large airports in the US, San Jose ranked 4th in on-time performance, Oakland claimed the 17th spot, Sacramento took 20th, and SFO ranked 64th. 65 airports were evaluated.
Source: SiliconBeat
On the other side of the Bay, SFO came in dead last in terms of on-time performance for California airports.
In terms of all medium to large airports in the US, San Jose ranked 4th in on-time performance, Oakland claimed the 17th spot, Sacramento took 20th, and SFO ranked 64th. 65 airports were evaluated.
Source: SiliconBeat
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