Sazon Latin Food Festival in San Jose

The Sazon Latin Food Festival is coming to the Japantown area next month. This free, family-friendly event celebrates the rich diversity of Latin American cuisine and culture, featuring food from the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, along with live Latin music. 

Event Details:

Date: Saturday, August 31st and Sunday, September 1st, 2024
Time: 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
Location: Gordon Biersch Brewing Company at 357 E Taylor St, San Jose, CA 95112

Event Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sazon-latin-food-festival-in-san-jose-two-days-family-friendly-tickets-889886543607

Highlights:

• A dozen food vendors offering authentic Latin American dishes

• Merchandise vendors with unique items reflecting Latin American culture

• Family-friendly activities such as face painting and henna

• Live salsa music band performing

LOOPKICKS 20th Anniversary

I have to come clean and say I've never heard of LOOPKICKS or Tricking before this week. However, all you need to do is watch the 36 second video below to see exactly how crazy this new sport is. Tricking is a mix of combining kicks, flips, and twists. It was created in San Jose by 12-year-old Isiah Flores in 1999.

LOOPKICKS is the longest running tricking team, camp, and gathering. This year is their 20th anniversary and tomorrow, July 19, is their coveted Nightshow where they feature the best domestic and international trickers with battles, exhibitions and performances. 

The LOOPKICKS Nightshow starts at 7:30pm at 2790 El Camino Real in Santa Clara. Tickets are $10 at the door. There is also a whole weekend of classes and workshops over here.

100+ affordable homes proposed for 1207 North Capital Avenue

A new project between Alum Rock and Berryessa would add 129 affordable homes in a five-story building right across the street from VTA Light Rail. The proposal has 13,000 SQFT of communal spaces including lounges, fitness facilities, and outdoor spaces.

The location is an easy walk to three different retail centers that have multiple restaurants, a clothing store, and a Safeway. BART is also just three Light Rail stops away.

Today this site is just an empty lot at 1207 North Capital Avenue so very little demolition and prep work would be necessary. Unfortunately, there is no timeline for groundbreaking and construction.

Source: The Mercury News

San Pedro Square Block Party on Thursday, July 18th

Over 60 businesses around San Pedro Square will be participating in the latest Downtown San Jose block party. The even will feature live music, tons of food, local makers & artists, and activities for the whole family. Ground zero will be along North San Pedro Street (you can't miss it now with the new mural). 

The event runs from 5pm to 9pm and there is free parking for 90min in the Market & San Pedro Square Parking Garage or free all night on metered spaces after 6pm.You can also easily take Light Rail to Saint James Park and walk two blocks.

1,472 new homes headed to Seely Avenue in North San Jose

There are only a few empty lots left for development in North San Jose, one one of those is at Montague Expressway and Seely Avenue right along the Coyote Creek. The land currently has farmland and orchards, which somehow have survived over the decades right in the middle of Silicon Valley.

The proposal on the table today would add 1,472 residential units and retail between three developers: Hanover Company, Pacific Companies, and SummerHill Homes. The total project would be a whopping 2.3 million SQFT, with 1.7 million SQFT for housing, half a million SQFT for parking, and 16,120 SQFT for retail. 

Most of the housing would be 1,140 market-rate apartments which would wrap around a new public park. 178 units would be affordable housing and 154 units would be townhomes. Of the apartments, 159 would be studios, 737 are one-bedrooms, 368 are two-bedrooms, and 54 are three-bedrooms. Parking would support 1,967 cars and 944 bicycles.

Construction would last about four years from the initial groundbreaking, for which there is no ETA yet.

Source: SF YIMBY

San Jose's Archer Aviation is partnering with Southwest Airlines to build air taxi network

Archer Aviation is making a number of headlines lately. They just announced plans to build a network of five different air taxi locations across the Bay Area. Now they are announcing a partnership with Southwest Airlines to collaborate on integrating air taxis into California airports.

Southwest is California's largest airline and has operations at 14 different airports across the state. They are the largest operator at San Jose International Airport, which appears to be one of the five air taxi locations that Archer is planning.

The vision is that Southwest customers could do door-to-door trips between places like Napa or Santa Monica that do not have commercial airports within a few hours. You'd go from your Southwest flight to an air taxi that would take you to your destination in 10-15min.

Archer Aviation is headquartered at 190 W. Tasman Drive in North San Jose.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal

Yelp ranks a San Jose Indian restaurant as #2 in the United States

Yelp has put out it's very first ranking of the best Indian restaurants in the US, and the second one on the list is none other than Kadhai Kitchen in North San Jose. It actually started out as a food truck and is a small hole in the wall shop that serves a short menu of vegetarian options. 

I ordered almost the entire menu today on Doordash and was really impressed. In fact, I forgot it was vegetarian. Their specialties are pavs, kind of like Indian sliders using homemade buns stuffed with a potato fritter and a variety of sauces. Many people say it's as good as what you can get in Mumbai.

I ordered Pav Bhaji and Ragda Pattice along with Thums Up (an Indian soda similar to Coke that is now ironically owned by Coke). They also had a corn cutlet which is a corn and potato croquette that my wife and I loved. Their eggless date & walnut cake and a mango lassie were a great way to finish the meal. It wasn't expensive or overly spicy, and the flavors were outstanding. I think it's a perfect option for a quick meal or snack and you can't go wrong with anything on the menu. I'm already looking forward to ordering again--or better yet going in person.

Only two Indian restaurants in California made the list, which is surprising to me. Kadhai Kitchen did San Jose proud!

Kadhai Kitchen is located at 2678 Cropley Avenue and is open from 4:30pm to 9pm Tues-Fri and 4pm to 8:30pm on Sat-Sun.

Source: The Mercury News

San Jose's fanciest movie theater shuts down

The ShowPlace Icon movie theater at Westfield Valley Fair has suddenly shut its doors. The theater was one of the many entertainment draws at Valley Fair and featured premium seating, food, and cocktails. The ShowPlace Icon in Mountain View's San Antonio Center has also shut down.

COVID and the writer's strike was not kind to the movie theater business. Even though Icon offered a more unique upscale spin on going to the movies, sadly it wasn't enough.

There is good news though. The space will remain a movie theater and the general manager of Westfield Valley Fair has indicated that there will be a new theater operator soon.

Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal