Take 50% off Japantown Sake Walk Tickets through Labor Day

There's a flash discount of 50% off tickets good through the end of today for the upcoming Sake Walk in Japantown on Thursday, Sep. 15 from 6pm to 9pm.

The folks from The Beerwalk are helping to continue Sake San Jose and proceeds will benefit Yu-Ai Kai and the Japantown Business Association.

Tickets can be purchased until the end of the day today for 50% off the currently priced $35 tickets at www.sakewalk.com.

For some more information, please check out my recent post on my local beer site at www.gratefulhubby.com.

Cheers!

Opportunity Fund

Below is a guest post by Phillip Bergman. Opportunity Fund is a non-profit headquarterd in Downtown San Jose. Over the past 20 years they have loaned $173 million to 13,000 businesses and individuals. Last year alone they provided $60 million in loans. It is tough (and expensive) to run a business in San Jose, and this is a local resource that may be able to help.

San Jose is home to non-profit Opportunity Fund (www.opportunityfund.org), which believes that small amounts of money and financial advice can help people make permanent and lasting change in their own lives, driving economic mobility and building stronger communities. It says yes to small business owners, low-income students, and families because entrepreneurship, education, and sound financial habits are proven pathways to greater economic opportunity.

Even in the most favorable circumstances, creating small business success is a significant challenge. With traditional lenders tightening lending qualifications, small business owners are often left with a narrow set of problematic options – lending schemes with triple-digit interest rates that can cripple a business. Opportunity Fund helps small business owners avoid predatory lending, such as high rate ‘fast cash’ advances. About 90 percent of its loans are to minority owned businesses and Opportunity Fund provides no cost evaluation of loan needs and complimentary cash flow analysis to determine financing that businesses can afford to help promote long term success. The strategy combines microloans for small business owners and microsavings accounts to help students pay for college and families save for a rainy day. As California’s leading microfinance provider, Opportunity Fund has loaned more than $170 million and helped about 13,000 people since 1994.

Opportunity Fund's role is to help working families realize their dreams and move beyond worrying about how to live day to day. Visit www.opportunityfund.org for more information about the organization and San Jose office.

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the first metro in the country to break the million dollar mark for single-family homes

Ouch, the San Jose metro is officially the first metro in the United States where the average cost of a detached home is seven figures. The average cost of a come in our area (which includes all of Santa Clara County) is $1,085,000. This compares to $885,600 in the San Francisco Metro, $742,200 in Anaheim, and $742,000 in Honolulu.

The average cost of housing in the San Jose metro rose a whopping 10.7% last year. The San Francisco metro rose by 9.5%. Despite signs the housing market and economy are slowing down, home values are continuing to go up.

Hopefully we learned our lessen in 2008 and this won't get too out of hand. For those that don't understand what happened eight years ago, I highly recommend watching The Big Short (now on Netflix). Spoiler alert: one of the first people to identify the corruption and scandals happening in the mortgage market is from San Jose.

Source: SocketSite

San Pedro Square Market 5 Year Anniversary

I can't believe it has already been five years since the San Pedro Square Market opened up. It all started with just two vendors and a dream. Now the SPSM is one of the top destinations in Downtown San Jose--and a key contributor to the area's revitalization.

To celebrate, The San Pedro Square Market is holding an event on Thursday, September 8th with games, food & drink specials, live music, and tours of the historic Peralta Adobe. The entire city is invited to this free event, and it's open to all ages. Games will start at 5pm with music running from 7pm-11pm on two outdoor stages. Check out the schedule below for more details.

Event Schedule

• 5:00pm - The Barracuda mascot (Frenzy) opens our night with the inflatable puck challenge. Additional games include: a giant two person high striker game, two regulation corn hole sets, giant open air Photo booth, and a XXL corn hole set available for everyone’s enjoyment. Most tenants will be offering items for $5 or less and to commemorate our largest and longest running event at the Market, the bars will feature an Oktoberfest beer for only $5 while supplies last.
• 6:00pm - Mayor Liccardo's opening speech will be on the Sidewalk Cafe commemorating 5yrs at the Market
• 6:30pm - The Urban Outlaws Band will start the opening music performance on the Sidewalk Cafe and will perform until 9:30pm
• 7:30pm - Treatbot kicks off their Karaoke Night in the Market Hall building of SPSM
• 8:00pm - Our headlining music performance OTR Band (winner of The KFOX Last Band Standing competition) opens on the main stage in the plaza and will play until 11pm

CityDance San Jose starts tonight

CityDance San Jose is a series of free professional dance instruction at Plaza de Cesar Chavez. The first lesson is this evening and the party continues every Thursday for the next seven weeks. Music will be provided by local bands and there will be plenty of dancing and good times after the lessons. An added bonus is a beer garden and food trucks from 5:30pm to 9pm.

Each week features a different type of dance--from Salsa to Bollywood to the Argentine Tango. Check out the schedule below:

• Sept. 1 – Salsa, instruction by Eddie Valdez and music by Los Boleros.
• Sept. 8 – Country Two-Step, instruction by Michelle Crozier and music by Country Cougars.
• Sept. 15 – Hustle, instruction by Eddie Valdez and music by Alfie and XS.
• Sept. 22 – East Coast Swing, instruction by Lesley McIntosh, music by The Fabulous CruiseTones.
• Sept. 29 – Bollywood, instruction by Joti Singh, music by DJ Puran Singh of KGS Entertainment featuring Gagan Singh Dholi, Dhol Player.
• Oct. 6 – Argentine Tango, instruction by Conor McClure and music by Tangonero Trio with Claudio Ortega and DJ Steve.
• Oct. 13 – Foxtrot, instruction by Hans Schmidt and music by The Serenaders.
• Oct. 20 – Rumba/Merengue, instruction by Michelle Crozier and music by The Alison Sharino Band.

Oh, and while you are at Plaza de Cesar Chavez don't forget to try out The Swings.

Source: SVBJ

Time-lapse photo montage of Downtown high-rises

What happens when you piece together dozens of photos taken from City Heights between 2012 and 2016? You get a really neat 33 second montage showing the construction of One South, Centerra, and Silvery Towers. Check out the video below!

Big thanks to David Cheung for sending this in.

Starbird: super-premium fast food launches in Silicon Valley

Starbird is a restaurant with a very unique beginning as it was actually created by a restaurant consulting company. What better way to show your customers you know what you're talking about than to create your own restaurant from scratch and practice what you preach? They invited me to come and try out their food and I have been back there a couple times since.

I'm not a huge fan of fast food (Chick-Fil-A and The Habit are my two exceptions), but have to say that Starbird does an outstanding job. They use Petaluma Farms free-range chicken, organic eggs, fresh-baked bread, and they make all of their sauces in house. Despite the high-end ingredients, the prices are still reasonable and the food comes out quickly.

My favorite item so far is the Free Range Ranch sandwich--crispy chicken, slaw, bacon, pimento cheese, and Greek yogurt ranch. They also have chicken tenders (the maple aioli was my favorite dipping sauce), wraps with an international twist, salads, breakfast sandwiches, and a house made chocolate-dipped ice cream cone with crushed toffee or almonds.

The decor is impressive for fast food. Starbird really put in a high attention to detail inside and out. The interior was clean and modern with some nice features like the plants in the middle of a communal table. They have a nice patio with plenty of tables and creative lighting. I can't say the seating was super comfortable, but it's not supposed to be for fast food.

Starbird also baked in the latest tech available for restaurants. You can always see the status of your order by looking at a large flat-screen so theoretically they don't have to shout out names or numbers. There is even a smartphone app that allows you to order, park, and have the food delivered to your car (think drive-through 2.0). It really seems to embody everything you would expect from a new fast food restaurant launched in Silicon Valley--not just the tech but the quality of the food, atmosphere, and the desire to innovate as well as challenge people's perceptions of fast food.

The first Starbird is located at 1241 El Camino Real in Sunnyvale. The owners are planning to open 9 more locations in Silicon Valley. For more information, head over to the Starbird website.

A Recent Visit to Hermitage Brewing Company

Since their opening in 2009, Hermitage Brewing Company has grown five-fold in terms of their brewery and operations space at their 7th Street location. Their growth is a reflection of the growing demand for their beers and their brewing services.

Recent beer awards and accolades include the bronze medal for Maltopia Scotch Ale in the Scottish-Style Ale category at the prestigious World Beer Cup held earlier this year, 1st place in the Sour Ale category for Sour Cherry Sour at this year’s California State Fair Commercial Craft Brew Competition and inclusion in this year’s top 50 (out of 247) of Paste Magazine’s popular American IPA blind tasting for Citra Single Hop IPA, coming in at #35.

They also have a separate sour beer making facility to release more of their own sour beers, while maintaining their high quality standards.

I recently visited Hermitage and toured the facilities with brewmaster Peter Licht and head brewer and cellarmaster Greg Filippi. I also took a bunch of pictures. Click here for the post.

Cheers!