Tuesday, July 16, 2024
San Pedro Square Block Party on Thursday, July 18th
Monday, July 8, 2024
Dine Downtown San Jose Restaurant Week is July 11-21
- AJI - great Japanese Peruvian fusain restaurant in the lobby of the Signa Hotel (former Fairmont). Have been here several times and it has never disappointed, great for groups.
- Angkor Chef - Downtown San Jose's first Cambodian restaurant. Affordable and delicious.
- Club on Post - Great brunch, best Espresso Martini in San Jose.
- Cobre & Clay (NEW) - Mexican cuisine at the corner of the San Jose Marriott.
- Dr. Funk - Tiki bar with outstanding ambiance, great way to surprise guests and friends.
- EggHead (NEW) - Very popular local chain featuring egg sandwiches.
- Elyse (NEW) - French Vietnamese fine dining in beautiful expanded space. Perfect date-night. restaurant.
- Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ (NEW) - the only Japanese BBQ Downtown.
- ISO Beers (NEW) - They're back and newly remolded! Previously they did not serve food, but I see they have will have dinner specials.
- Orchestria Palm Court - One of the most unique restaurants I have ever been to. Part museum, part 40's restaurant experience.
- Petiscos - Downtown San Jose's only Michelin-rated restaurant. Excellent introduction to Portuguese cuisine.
- Pastelaria by Adega - Petisco's sister restaurant with a focus on Portuguese desserts (amazing egg tarts) and snacks.
- Rollati (NEW) - Hot addition to the San Jose dining scene and the flagship restaurant around City Hall.
- Silicon Valley Capital Club (LIMITED ACCESS) - This is Downtown San Jose's only place to dine in the sky. It takes up the penthouse floor at 50 West San Fernando and is actually a private club. It's only open for everyone during Restaurant Week. I'd recommend taking advantage of it and soaking up amazing views of San Jose and Silicon Valley from their giant outdoor balcony.
- Urban Putt (NEW) - The best minigolf course I have ever done, a true love letter to San Jose. Their food and drinks are surprisingly great and unique as well (Pad thai pizza?). If you haven't been here yet, this is a great reason to go.
Monday, May 27, 2024
Downtown San Jose gets its first Japanese Ramen restaurant
Friday, March 29, 2024
Easter Brunch in Downtown San Jose 🐣🥂
Brunch at Rollati is best enjoyed with a group of friends, so you can order the Aperol Spritz Tower for four, which is their featured Brunch Cocktail. Brunch entrees include Italian Toast (Sweet Batard, Nutella, Maple Syrup) and Buttermilk Pancakes with Huckleberry, plus the entire lunch menu. Brunch served Sat. & Sun. 11am to 3pm.
The FAB brunch menu includes Egg Machaca, Pozole, and their hearty loaded dirty fries, served “breakfast-style” with a soft over-easy egg. Brunch served Sat. & Sun. 11am to 3pm.
The brunch menu at The Club includes Berry Waffles, Chilaquiles, Crab Cake Benedict, or a Club Burger, served brunch-style, with an egg on top of the Wagyu patty. There’s a full bar and specialty cocktails, but the Fever Tree Sparking Sicilian Lemonade is worth a try. Brunch served Sat. & Sun 11am to 3pm.
The Sourdough Machi Waffle, Tri-Tip Hash, Smoked Salmon Scramble (to name just a few) pair perfectly with imaginative cocktails that include an Elderflower Spritz, Passionfruit Bellini, and a drink called Corpse Reviver No. 2. SP2 also has a preset Brunch menu that allows you to choose an entree, side and a salad for the fixed price of $45. Brunch served Sat. & Sun. 11am to 2pm.
The Chuy’s Michelada at Farmer’s Union is practically a meal, but you will want to try the Chicken Fried Chicken & Eggs or the Huevos Motulenos with turkey, peas, cojita cheese, and friend plantain. Brunch served Sun.11am to 3pm.
Brunch at Mama Kin includes the usual brunch staples, along with Cajun Creole specialties of the house, but it’s mostly about the vibe. On Saturday, the R&B Brunch and Day Party, features R&B tunes from the 80s to the 2000s. Sunday is the Boom Box Brunch and Day Party, with a DJ playing music from the golden era of Hip Hop. Brunch served Sat. & Sun. 10am to 3pm.
Jambalaya Scramble, Pecan pancakes, New Orleans-style Beignets, and Pain Perdu (New Orleans French Toast) are just a few choices on the brunch menu at PHB. Doors open 10 am, but the live Blues on the Patio entertainment doesn’t start until noon. Brunch served Sun. 10am to 2pm.
The sweet and savory crepes at Whispers are offered all day every day, but it’s a very popular place for brunch on the weekends. It’s also the longest hours for Brunch in the downtown, for early risers who don’t want to wait until 10 a.m. to eat. Brunch served Sat. & Sun. 8am to 3 pm.
Located inside the Signia by Hilton San Jose, next to the Circle of Palms, offers a weekend brunch that includes Lobster Benedict served atop fresh artichoke hearts, generous Avocado Toast and Trout Toast, Pancakes, and Belgian Waffles. The weekend brunch menu also adds lunchtime go-tos like the tasty Fountain Burger with balsamic onion jam and gruyere, plus salads, sandwiches, and a crowd-pleasing kid’s selection with Mac n’ Cheese, Chicken Tenders and Sliders.
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Rollati's Cocoa Pappardelle (lamb ragu, pistachio, and mint gremolata) and Italian Easter Bread |
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Urban Putt, a love letter to San Jose's past, present, and future
Wednesday, October 4, 2023
Slice of Homage Review 🍕🤯
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
The Signia San Jose (former Fairmont) added to ResortPass ☀️🏊🏻🍸🍹
Sunday, July 9, 2023
Hobee's beer garden coming to Downtown San Jose
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Petiscos and LeYou added to the Michelin Guide
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Downtown getting another food hall! (Updated 4/18/23)
Downtown San Jose could one day become the mecca of food halls. It all started with the San Pedro Square Market which deserves much of the credit for revitalizing Downtown. To this day it is a top destination for locals and visitors alike. Wrapping a vibrant food, bar, and music scene around San Jose's oldest historic home was brilliant. Then came the SoFA market, which is smaller but also has a selection of excellent eateries (including my go-to spot for uni handrolls). Thirdly is the Littlest Little Italy... more on that in a separate post. Now, there is a fourth (!) food hall being proposed by an Uber co-founder.
The plan is to turn a historic late 19th-century building at the corner of Santa Clara and 3rd and turn it into a food hall with 26 kitchens. You might know this as the old Hank Coco Downtown Furniture corner, which is a key space right in the center of Downtown San Jose.
The entire ground floor would be utilized for the project. This would make it larger than the SoFA Market but slightly smaller than the San Pedro Square Market. Also part of the plan is a 1,000 SQFT dine-in restaurant and a coffee bar.
Exciting times ahead for San Jose foodies!
Source: The Merc
4/18/23 Update:
Unfortunately it looks as if the kitchens will not be publicly accessible and they will be used as ghost kitchens for delivery services. The dine-in restaurant is where you can order food from any of the kitchens, but it is a very small space. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Hat tip to Kelly Snider for sending in these corrections.
Monday, July 25, 2022
Dine Downtown is happening now!
Dine Downtown is back with an assortment of specials to encourage people to try out Downtown San Jose's many fine establishments. This time around you have everything from a Cold Brew and Stan's Donut pairing for $5 at Academic Coffee to a $40 prix fixe menu at Petiscos. There are also many new names on the list like Serious Dumplings, Secco, Mama Kin, Desi Express, The FAB, and San Pedro Social.
To see all of the great specials, head over here!
Participating Restaurants:
• Academic Coffee | • Nomikai Social Food + Drinkery |
Thursday, July 1, 2021
Dine Downtown 2021!
One of the best opportunities to try out new restaurants at a discount launches today. 27 restaurants will be participating in the latest Dine Downtown event with special three and four course fixed-price menus. This time around instead of a restaurant week, the event will take place over the course of over two weeks.
Several new restaurants such as The Good Spot, Petiscos, Scott's Chowder House, and The Shop are on the list. In fact, the only restauranteurs in San Jose to ever get a Michelin Star have three different eateries on the list: Adega, Pastelaria, and Petiscos. Old favorites like Orchestria Palm Court, Habana Cuba, and Mezcal are on the list too.
To see the full press release and the list of restaurants, just scroll on down.
SSAN JOSE – Dine Downtown San Jose Restaurant “Week” returns for 18 days, starting July 1.
Normally the “week” lasts 10 days, but Dine Downtown was delayed and extended successfully to six weeks last October and November amid the COVID pandemic, so it will be extended again this year to assist with economic recovery after 15 months of tough times.
Twenty-seven downtown eateries have confirmed participation, offering food-and-drink pairings, 3- and 4-course price-fixed menus, or chef specials.
For first-timers as well as veteran downtown diners, the restaurant promotion provides a good way to explore new places and return to old favorites. Several new Dine Downtown restaurants that opened during the pandemic are participating: The Good Spot, Petiscos, Scott’s Chowder House and The Shop by Chef Baca.
The newcomers have waited a long time for their chance to show off their mettle during Dine Downtown. For example, Petiscos, new to the SoFA District, has a three-course menu that includes appetizers from flamed chouriço to asparagus rice; 15 choices for the main course from these categories: shells & claws, tentacles & scales, and feathers & bones; and five choices for “sweet endings.”
On the customer side, every price point can participate. Pastelaria by Adega offers a grilled cheese sandwich, drink and pastry for $10. Grace Deli and café has a breakfast combo of egg, bacon, avocado and hash browns with salsa and fruits, plus bottomless coffee for $11.
The Grill on the Alley decided to mix it up, offering a featured cocktail – a Ruby Red Lemon Drop – to go with their three-course meal of appetizer, filet mignon pot pie or Norwegian halibut as entrée, plus dessert.
Nomikai social food + drinkery offers chef’s specials and cocktail specials. Choose from mango jalepeno wings, pork belly musubi on the food side or P.O.G Pig or a green tea highball.
71 Saint Peter and Mezcal have participated in all 13 years of Dine Downtown.
All the choices are posted at dinedowntown.com.
“It will be smiles all-around this summer,” said Julie Carlson, SJDA marketing director. “Our chefs, hosts and servers are ready to welcome their customers ready for a beautiful evening out in downtown.”
2021 Dine Downtown
restaurant roster
- 4th Street Pizza
- 71 Saint Peter
- Adega
- The City Fish
- Devine Cheese and Wine
- District
- Enoteca la Storia San Jose
- The Farmers Union
- The Good Spot
- Grace Deli & Cafe
- The Grill on the Alley
- Habana Cuba
- Il Fornaio
- Mezcal Restaurant
- Nomikai Social Food + Drinkery
- Nox Cookie Bar
- Orchestria Palm Court
- Paper Moon Cafe
- Pastelaria
- Petiscos
- Scott’s Chowder House
- Scott’s Seafood
- The Shop by Chef Baca
- SP2 Communal Bar + Restaurant
- Spoonfish Poke
- Voltaire Coffee Roasters
Monday, October 5, 2020
Dine Downtown returns with a super-sized 6 week program
The Dine Downtown program is back and better than ever despite COVID19. Not only will more eateries be included but the event has been extended to 6 weeks, running all the way to November 15th. Each participating restaurant will have a multi-course special just for the event. This time around even cafes are included with food and coffee pairings, which is a fantastic idea!
The list of participants includes many local favorites like 71 Saint Peter, District, Enoteca La Storia, Habana Cuba, Mezcal, Pastelaria Adega, and Farmer's Union. There is one notable addition, which for me is the most highly anticipated restaurant opening in Downtown for all of 2020... Petiscos by Adega. This is a new casual restaurant by the same owners of Adega (the first and only San Jose restaurant to ever get a Michelin Star) and Pastelaria Adega on Santa Clara Street. Petiscos by Adega will offer Portugal's version of tapas at the corner of First and San Salvador (above Haberdasher). It's inclusion on the list hopefully means it will be open by November.
The Dine Downtown press release is below and a list of participating restaurants and menus can be found here.
Dine Downtown San Jose returns for 12th year, Oct. 1-Nov. 15
SAN JOSE – Dine Downtown, version 2.020, celebrates all Downtown San Jose restaurants currently open during the COVID-19 crisis.
“This is our most popular dining event because it highlights downtown’s unique food cultures,” said Julie Carlson, marketing director for the San Jose Downtown Association, which produces the event. “This year, we stretched Dine Downtown to include more restaurants over a longer period of time to make sure customers have plenty of time to explore new dining experiences AND revisit a favorite.”
Downtown restaurants are eager to see their customers return for the extended promotion Oct. 1-Nov. 15 – that’s 46 days covering seven weekends to celebrate and support all the downtown San Jose eateries that have remained open for business during the strict pandemic protocols.
“Our restaurants are struggling because of the pandemic,” said Autumn Young, SJDA’s interim managing director. “We wanted to bring attention to those businesses making their way through these difficult times so they can focus on what they do best – which is making delicious food!”
Cafes are joining in the program this year with creative food and coffee pairings. Dine Downtown in past years focused on white tablecloth dining with chef specials, prix fixe menus and wine/cocktail tastings.
More than 100 food establishments are open downtown offering take out, delivery and Al Fresco outdoor dining. Of those, more than 20 will feature a Dine Downtown offer.
SJDA is still gathering offers from regular Dine Downtown participants, including 71 Saint Peter, Farmers Union, District, Enoteca la Storia, Habana Cuba and Hawaiian Poke Bowl. One newcomer this year is the Petiscos by Adega Portuguese restaurant at 399 S. First St., which is scheduled to open during Dine Downtown’s run.
Examples of specials for this 12th year of Dine Downtown:
· Tiki Pete, 23 N. Market St. offers a food-and-drink pairing of Mai Tai and Shoyu Chicken ($20) and a Chef Special of ahi poke nachos ($10). The Prix Fixe for two includes Cajun fries appetizer, seafood combo of shrimp, green mussels from New Zealand, dark clams in shell, plus choice of Dungeness crab, king crab legs or whole lobster, plus Hawaiian sausages, corn and red potatoes, and haupia for dessert ($90).
· The Farmers Union on San Pedro Square brings back its offer from previous years of three courses for $30 of choice of creamy tomato soup or Caesar’s salad appetizer, entrée choice of Farmers veggie bowl, grilled flat iron steak, half-rack smoked ribs or salmon, and warm brownie and salted caramel bread pudding for dessert.
Many of the cafes, delis and coffee houses are excited to participate in Dine Downtown:
· The Nest Asian Bistro, 312 S. Third St., offers 77-cent boneless chicken wings and $5 beer on Monday and Wednesday.
· Cubamex, 325 S. First St., will add chips and salsa and soda to any sandwich order for $2 more.
· MakiBQ on Fountain Alley has three chef specials: Kimbap & Inari Combo with House Sauce ($6); Chicken Katsu Musubi with Cucumbers & Teriyaki Sauce ($6); Volcano - Fire Fries, Fried Chicken & Crispy Noodles Spicy ($8)
Other participants include Academic Coffee, Voyager Craft Coffee, Voltaire Coffee Roasters, Paper Moon Café and Pastelaria Adega.
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Welcome Back to Downtown San Jose!
Monday, May 11, 2020
San Jose wants to allow more business outdoors
Currently, over 46,000 restaurant workers have lost their jobs in Silicon Valley. The industry has been devastated and many restaurants will be closing their doors for good. It's expected that restaurants will reopen with no more than 25-50% of their previous interior capacity, so any change we can make to cushion further blows to the industry I'm sure will be greatly appreciated.
City officials are also trying to offset application costs and provide quick-build infrastructure. These include barriers and potted plants.
Hopefully some of the changes will become permanent so that we can have more al fresco dining and retail in the community when all of this is over.
Source: SVBJ, San Jose Inside
Monday, July 22, 2019
Dine Downtown San Jose 2019
To see the full list of 22 participating restaurants and their featured menus, head over here. OpenTable also set up a handy page to easily book Dine Downtown San Jose Restaurants here.
Monday, October 1, 2018
Scott's Seafood launches a hip new lunch menu
John Huân Vũ, Andrew Rivlin, Noe Sacoco, and I were invited to try the new lunch menu at Scott's Seafood. Collectively, we were blown away. I have been to Scott's many times, and this was by far my best experience.
Before we got into lunch, we were lucky to sample two items from the catering menu. An ahi poke in a soy sauce infused waffle cone and bruschetta in a basil infused waffle. Both were delicious with outstanding presentation. These are several of the many options available for private events.
The first lunch dishes we sampled were three salads: the seared scallop salad with organic mix greens, rainbow quinoa salad, and red & golden beets salad with grilled peaches. Each of us had a favorite. I have always loved the way Scott's Seafood does scallops, so that one was my personal fave. The pomegranate molasses vinaigrette on the red & golden beets salad impressed everyone at the table.
We also tried a tuna poke with seaweed, cucumber, and wontons that was a more elaborate version of tuna cone we had earlier. However, the real star of this round was the squid ink croquette with calamari. The squid ink added a complex and briny flavor that went flawlessly with the croquette and added a dramatic color to the dish. It sounds a bit exotic but this is an appetizer that is likely to please anyone who likes calamari or crunchy fried foods (nearly everyone). The croquette was one of the more creative plates and was John's favorite dish.
The lobster rigatoni was a combination of fresh rigatoni pasta, cherry tomatoes, Gruyere cheese, tarragon, bisque sauce and generous pieces of lobster. The halibut bouillabaisse lemon risotto was a more modern take on a Scott's classic with beautiful presentation.
Finally, our favorite was the lobster roll. It's pretty hard to find a great lobster roll in San Jose, this is it. The crispy and buttery bread with well-seasoned chunks of lobster smothered in shellfish bisque sauce--flawless. Beats Sam's Chowder House any day of the week.
Big thanks to John Huân Vũ for taking all of the photos.
Scott's Seafood