Good Karma Artisan Ales & Cafe and Russian River Brewing Company Beer Dinner

Two favorites among many local beer fans unite for a beer-and-food pairing dinner taking place tomorrow (Thursday), Dec. 3 from 5pm to 8pm. As the blog post title indicates, I'm referring to Good Karma in downtown San Jose and Russian River Brewing Company. Additional information - which I previously wrote on Examiner.com - is below.

Carefully crafted vegan dishes will be paired with the following ales – all on tap – from Russian River Brewing: STS Pils (Czech Pilsener), Blind Pig IPA, Pliny the Elder (Double IPA), Temptation (Wild Ale) and Consecration (Wild Ale). While Russian River Brewing IPAs and wild ales continue to be the standards for their respective beer styles among many beer enthusiasts, having these five beers all on tap in the South Bay is a rarity.

Tickets are $55 per person, and reservations can be made via the dinner's EventBrite page. Payment for the dinner will be collected at the event. Good Karma will be open back to the public at 8pm.

Good Karma owner Ryan Summers, who has done much to elevate the local beer scene, recently took the time to answer a few questions regarding the upcoming beer dinner.

How did the idea for this dinner come about?
Natalie and Michael Benz from Russian River Brewing Company had been in town a few months back for business, and they were kind enough to stop by for dinner and a beer. At some point in the conversation, we threw around the idea of hosting a beer pairing and dinner. A few weeks and multiple emails later, the plan was in motion.

Can you please confirm that the five featured RRBC beers will all be on tap?
The lineup is all draught... Pliny the Elder, STS Pils, Blind Pig, Temptation and Consecration. We're lucky that we get Pliny on the regular in Santa Clara County. Blind Pig hasn't been down this way in 6 plus years. And STS Pils barely makes it out of the brewery, if at all. Temptation and Consecration – the sour, mixed fermentation barrel-aged beer components for the dinner – are such a treat.
The love, talent and care it takes to produce beers of this caliber is high art to say the least. We are beyond honored, and needless to say excited, to work with this great list of beers.

Can you provide a sneak peek of any of the vegan dish pairings?
There's a lot to play with when it comes to food and beer. We're excited to rehydrate Guajillo and California Chilis with Blind Pig for the Chili Colorado with young Jack Fruit. We'll be incorporating Temptation with an Exotic Mushroom Ceviche... That's too many spoilers already!

Anything else to add?
I've run Good Karma for almost ten years now. The relationships we've built, the experiences we've shared, the smiles we've inspired continue to inspire and us... day in, day out. The beer community continues to be some of the warmest, friendliest bunch of people I've ever encountered. Pair that with music, food, thought and reflection... the whole world just makes more sense.

Wednesday Wishlist: Downtown San Jose Bathed in Gold

We all know that San Jose is going to be a major beneficiary of Super Bowl 50 in less than three months. Every hotel room that week has been booked and several events have been planned from San Jose ranging from "Super Bowl Opening Night" at the SAP Center, an expanded Downtown Ice season, a new Guadalupe River Run, and a Super Bowl-themed South First Friday. The SB50 committee is still coming up with ideas for getting Downtown in the Super Bowl spirit. In his sports blog, Mark Purdy posted a new idea from the last SB50 briefing--lighting San Jose in gold during Super Bowl weekend.

Personally, I think this is a great idea. Residential, commercial, and office buildings would be encouraged to use gold illumination during Super Bowl week. This would create a unified theme across the Downtown core. I actually think we should take it a step further. With modern LED lighting, it is easy and relatively inexpensive to plaster any color up on a building. So why not bathe the city in teal during Sharks playoffs or blue for the Earthquakes. The city could turn red for Valentine's Day or Green for St. Patrick's day. It is a low cost way to add some more character and brand identity to the streets of Downtown.

Source: The Merc

Iconic 25-Story Tower Proposed for Santana Row!!!

Nathan Donato-Weinstein from the SVBJ has an epic scoop that made my week. A 25-story high rise called Volar has been proposed for 350 S. Winchester Avenue. This was the only parcel in the area that Federal Realty was not able to acquire for Santana Row. Currently, the site has a two story commercial building with Eli Thomas Menswear as a tenant. That parcel could become one of the most iconic buildings in San Jose, and a testament that high-rise residential could work outside of Downtown San Jose.

If built, Volar would very likely be the tallest building in San Jose and possibly even the tallest between San Francisco and Los Angeles. If those are tall ceilings--which I'm assuming will be the case given its location--it could break 300 feet in height. The project has two floors of commercial/retail space totaling 50,000 SQFT followed by 23 floors containing 330 residential units. Massive balconies drape a huge portion of the building. There is a two-story atrium at the very top of that would house a rooftop restaurant! It even looks like the whole roof could be accessible based on the renderings below. 

Volar also has one little surprise feature that would be a first in Silicon Valley, an automated garage. It works similar to an ATM. You park in a bay, get out, and the car gets loaded into the garage. When you need your car you go back to the bay, enter a code, and it gets delivered in 60 seconds. This allows more cars to be stored in a small space.

While this all seems too good to be true, it looks like this project has legs. Financing is lined up and they are ready to build as soon as the project gets city approval. The plans were just submitted last week--hopefully the city will fast-track this one!!

Source: SVBJ

North San Jose R&D Vacancy Finally Dips Below 10%

After a painful recession and years of recovery, North San Jose commercial space is finally back on solid footing. The last couple tech companies to move into the "golden triangle" were enough to bring the Research and Development (R&D) vacancy rate below 10% for the first time in many years. Usually development picks up substantially when vacancy is in the single digits.

The two most recent companies that moved to North San Jose are Silver Spring Networks and ForeScout. Silver Spring is a smart grid  provider that relocated from Redwood City to 190,000 SQFT on 210 and 230 W. Tasman Drive. ForeScout is a cyber security company that moved from Campbell to 95,000 SQFT at 190 W. Tasman Drive.

Source: San Jose Economy Newsletter

New Snowmen Sculptures for Christmas in the Park

Christmas in the Park has some new donation boxes this year. Five custom painted 5-foot tall snowmen / snow-woman created by different artists were be placed at each main entry point for San Jose's flagship holiday event. You can check them out right now as they were unveiled two days ago.

Source: Phantom Galleries

Saturday Stats: 18% of New California Jobs in October Went to the San Jose Metro

I'm sure you have been noticing a bit more traffic on the road over the last few months. The Bay Area economy is surging, and the San Jose Metro is leading the pack. There were a grand total of 41,200 jobs added to the California economy last month. 7,600 were in the Santa Clara County. Despite making up only 5% of California's population, San Jose landed 18% of the state's new jobs. San Francisco and San Mateo combined gained 4,600 jobs and the East Bay scored 3,400 jobs.

Of those new 7,600 jobs in the San Jose Metro, 2,300 were high-paying tech jobs. Now would be a good time to focus additional investment into infrastructure, we're going to need it.

Source: SVBJ 

Small Business Saturday - Downtown San Jose

12 Downtown San Jose small businesses will be open today as part of a new event to encourage supporting Downtown retail. Parking validation is included for patrons of any of these businesses and this is a great event to combine with Christmas in the Park, Ice Skating, or visiting one of the 250 restaurants Downtown. Below is the list of shops open today and you can find out more information at the Small Business Saturday Facebook Page.

• Seeing Things Gallery: 30 N. Third Street
• Underground Boutique: 15 N 2nd Street
• Cathedral Gift Shop: 80 S Market St
• Circle A Skateboards: 108 Paseo De San Antonio Walk
• Diaz Menswear: 70 E Santa Clara Street
• Hammer and Lewis: 19 S First Street
• Andy's Pet Shop:  51 Notre Dame Ave
• Museum of Art Gift Shop: 110 S Market Street
• Tech Museum Gift Shop: 201 S Market St
• Children's Discovery Museum Gift Shop (CDM): 180 Woz Way
• San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles: 520 S 1st Street
• Mosher's LTD: 170 S Market Street

Black Friday 2015 at Santana Row

Today is officially Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005. To ensure your shopping tax dollars stay in San Jose this year, head over to Santana Row. There is long list of promotions today, some of which you can find below. The best part is that you won't have to wake up super early!

San Jose, CA - The day-after-Thanksgiving shopping tradition at Santana Row begins early with deals and door busters and continues throughout the day with specials and holiday treats.

In addition, Santana Row will be the South Bay location for the annual One Warm Coat drive to provide new or gently used coats to those who are in need. You are invited to drop off coats all day on Black Friday in Santana Row Park (across from Left Bank brasserie). After Black Friday coats can be dropped off at the Santana Row Concierge or CineArts Theatre lobby through Dec. 31.

KTVU/Fox Channel 2 will broadcast live in front of the 40-foot Christmas tree during the evening of Black Friday. Santana Row merchants and eateries are offering one-day-only discounts, giveaways and samplings to shoppers. A few are listed below. Please visit www.SantanaRow.com for detailed information.

• Sephora – Open at 9 a.m.  Exclusive specialty items available for just $10! 
• H&M - Opens 9 a.m. Black Friday Scratch offs offering percentages off purchases!
• Drybar - Opens 7 a.m. Enjoy 20% off all products and hot tools.
• lululemon athletica – Opens 9 a.m. with markdowns and specials.
• Maido – Opens 9 a.m. 10% off purchases on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; 20% back (quadruple points) on Fivestars cards and $5 gift card for every $25 dollars spent, valid for December. 
• Icebreaker TouchLab - Black Friday door busters include “Buy 3, Get 4th item free. Includes of any combination of underwear, socks and accessories.
• W's Salon - Enjoy 20% off all hair care products and $45 blowouts all day.
• Beau Bijou - Opens 8 a.m. with 50% off the entire store.
• 100% Pure - “Buy More, Save More” deals mean getting 20 - 30% off.
• Kara's Cupcakes - Celebrates the season and take a break with samplings of hot cocoa and marshmallows all day.
• BoConcept – Scratch and save means savings of up to 30% on collections.
• Calypso St. Barth – 60% off of sale items and 30% off full price products; some exclusions apply.
• Donald J. Pliner – Opens 9 a.m. $100 off all boots, all day!
• The Counter - Happy hour with select starters and drinks from 11 a.m. to midnight.

General hours on Black Friday for Santana Row stores are 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. but many stores opening early or extending hours during the weekend. For a comprehensive listing of retail and restaurant events and offerings, visit SantanaRow.com.

Drop off a letter to Santa at SantanaRow and you’ll get a letter back!
Every child who leaves a letter for Santa in the mailbox outside of the Santana Row concierge office will receive a reply from the red-clad, jolly fellow! Each letter must include the child’s name and a mailing address. The letters must be dropped in the box by Dec. 10. Concierge is located near the garage between Sino restaurant and Left Bank Brasserie.

Santana Row holiday hours:
Thanksgiving: Closed, some restaurants open
Christmas Eve: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Christmas: Closed, some restaurants open
New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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About Santana Row
Santana Row, a 647,000 square foot mixed-use development in San Jose, CA, is Silicon Valley’s premier destination for shopping, dining, living and working. Santana Row features over 70 shops, 20 restaurants, a boutique hotel and movie theatre. In addition to the dynamic retail & restaurant collection, Santana Row offers 615 luxury rental homes, 219 privately owned condos and 65,000 square feet of Class A office space. Santana Row is a property of www.federalrealty.com (NYSE:FRT), headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. For more information, please visit www.santanarow.com.

About Federal Realty
Federal Realty is a recognized leader in the ownership, operation and redevelopment of high-quality retail based properties located primarily in major coastal markets from Washington, D.C. to Boston as well as San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Founded in 1962, our mission is to deliver long term, sustainable growth through investing in densely populated, affluent communities where retail demand exceeds supply.  Our expertise includes creating urban, mixed-use neighborhoods like Santana Row in San Jose, California, Pike & Rose in North Bethesda, Maryland and Assembly Row in Somerville, Massachusetts. These unique and vibrant environments that combine shopping, dining, living and working provide a destination experience valued by their respective communities.  Federal Realty’s 90 properties include over 2,600 tenants, in approximately 21 million square feet, and 1500 residential units.

Federal Realty has paid quarterly dividends to its shareholders continuously since its founding in 1962, and has increased its dividend rate for 48 consecutive years, the longest record in the REIT industry. Federal Realty shares are traded on the NYSE under the symbol FRT. For additional information about Federal Realty and its properties, visit www.FederalRealty.com.