Downtown San Jose Restaurant List Updates! (Q4 2013 Edition)

I have done the latest round of updates to the Downtown San Jose Restaurants database (it has been a while, sorry about that). We are up to a grand total of 249 eateries! This is yet another record-breaking number for Downtown San Jose! To put it in perspective we were at 206 eateries just two years ago and we were at 234 last December.

We did have some closures such as Pop's & Sons at the San Pedro Square Market and Rokko Japanese near Cesar Chavez Park, but the new restaurants opening up more than counterbalance what little bad news there was this past quarter. It's a good time to be a foodie Downtown! Here are some of the newcomers:

• Bel Bacio Imported Italian Coffee - Little Italy finally gets a second Eatery to compliment Paesano's, one of the best Italian restaurants Downtown. Bel Bacio's specialty is high-quality imported coffee from one of the most famous coffee regions in the world.
• Ike's Place - The most famous sandwich chain in the Bay Area has finally come to Downtown San Jose (located at 60 E. Santa Clara)! Their sandwiches are amazing and they have a large selection of vegetarian options that even meat-lovers will appreciate. 
• Thirst Tea - Great boba milk tea shop in the heart of Downtown across from Camera 12 (in the former Sandella's spot). They also have a great honey-toast dessert that will easily feed 4 people.
• SP2 - Trendy new restaurant next to the San Pedro Square Market with locally sourced ingredients and a mixology-style bar menu.
• BJ's Brewhouse - Now open at the San Jose Market Center.  
• Other Places Coming Soon
• ISO: Beers
• C.R.E.A.M.
• Da Kine Island Grill
• San Jose Pizza Co.
• Nomikai
• Take One Pizza
• SoFA Market

Below is the changelog from the Downtown San Jose Restaurants Database:

• 7/25/2013 Added SP2, which replaced Sabor
• 7/27/2013 Added Amor Cafe & Tea, which replaces Cafe Bon Terre
• 7/28/2013 Noted that Sante Grill closed
• 7/28/2013 Noted that The Mmoon closed
• 7/29/2013 San Jose Pizza Co. is coming to the former Sante Grill Space
• 9/15/2013 Take One Pizza will be opening in space formerly occupied by The Mmoon
• 9/15/2013 Pops & Sons closed at the San Pedro Square Market
• 9/15/2013 Added Da Kine Island Grill on Market (formerly Thepthai)
• 12/1/2013 Koji Sake Lounge replaced with Nomikai
• 12/1/2013 Added Bel Bacio Imported Italian Coffee in Little Italy
• 12/1/2013 Added Thirst Tea on First Street

If you haven't bookmarked it yet, here's the link to the spreadsheet! There is also a permanent link over to the right entitled Downtown San Jose Restaurants.

CREAM Ice Cream Shop Coming to Post St.

Another hot eatery is coming to Downtown San Jose! C.R.E.A.M. (Cookies Rule Everything Around Me) is a chain that specializes in customizable ice cream sandwiches and tacos, as well as milkshakes. They will be opening up shop at the corner of South First and Post, adjacent to 55 South and across from Original Gravity House. Things are really starting to turn around along this corridor.

Side-note, I have added DTSJNews to the blogroll on the right. Great site, I just found out about it!

Source: DTSJNews, Drew S., Joseph M.

Amir Mediterranean Restaurant

Had to share the Yelp review below I just completed. Really, this has to be the best year ever for Downtown San Jose restaurants. Amir has a well deserved 4.5 star rating on Yelp right now. A worthy successor to Morocco's, highly recommended!

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Downtown San Jose's lucky streak of GREAT new restaurants continues. This one is really a gem and easily one of the best values for Mediterranean in San Jose. The owner is Greek and grew up in Egypt, and the menu reflects a nice variety of foods from all over the Mediterranean countries.

We had the hummus, tzatziki, and baba ghanoush for appetizers. All were good but the baba ghanoush was among the best I have ever had. Nicely pureed with a rich smokey flavor.

For the main course we tried falafels (outstanding), chicken kababs, and geef shawarma... for the price you're going to have a really hard time finding quality and authenticity than this.

For dessert we got almost all of the options available. The kunafa was the best I've tried so far. There was also an Egyptian dish topped with sweetened milk that was super unique and tasty. I can't remember the names of the other desserts we had but there wasn't a single bad or mediocre item among them, I would order all of them again.

Oh, almost forgot. They have a freshly squeezed mint lemonade that will blow you away if you are a lemonade fan. On a hot summer day I think I would be willing to make the trek just for that.

The customer service also rocked. I was very sad to see Morocco's go (moved to Mountain View), but am glad they were replaced with a worthy successor.

DevineGrind Coffee is Open Downtown

I have several posts coming about new eateries in Downtown San Jose. There have been a ton of new places that have opened recently, many of which are exceptional and unique to Downtown San Jose. I'm hoping that DevineGrind will be one of those places. While I haven't visited this new coffee shot yet, so far I have heard good things and it has a great 4 star rating on Yelp.

DevineGrind sits at the corner of Devine and 2nd Streets, near St. James Park (an area currently under-served by restaurants). They serve coffee, espresso, tea, Italian sodas, smoothies, freshly squeezed juices, pastries, and sandwiches. DevineGrind also has an enclosed patio area and free WiFi. The shop is family owned and the service is standing out in the reviews so far. These are exactly the types of places we should try to support versus the cookie-cutter cafes like Starbucks and Peets.

Thanks to Luke (who also provided the photo) and Silvia for the tip.

Froyo Delight is Now Open!

Today was Froyo Delight's first day open for business. I randomly stumbled upon this as I saw a line of people out the door as I was driving to a meeting. When I drove back to try it, they were sold out of yogurt but at least I did get to talk to one of the workers there. Froyo Delight is immediately next to Dac Phuc on Santa Clara Street (in fact I think they have the same owner). They have several varieties of frozen yogurt, smoothies, and espresso. Looked like a nice little shop.

They are open from 8am - 8pm every day, and for this week only all of the yogurt is free from 8am-noon! They also mentioned free parking in one of the 2 spaces in front of the adjacent dry cleaners building (which I think they own as well).

The Kebab Shack Replaces Chill Factor

The bad news is Chill Factor Frozen Yogurt Lounge at 312 S. 3rd is no more. This brings us down to ONLY FIVE yogurt shops in Downtown San Jose.

The good news is it was replaced by a solid Mediterranean place called The Kebab Shack. I tried their chicken kebabs and recently, and they were extremely tender and flavorful. It does take about 15min to get your order because everything is made fresh to order, but it's worth the wait. The best part? Open until 3am on the weekends.

La Vic's on Santa Clara Street is Now Open!

The remodeled and expanded La Vic's is now open on Santa Clara Street! This was pure serendipity. As my wife and I were driving by I noticed a decorated horse dancing on the sidewalk (literally). Of course we had to go check it out.

The remodel is surprisingly upscale. All counter tops are granite, there are crown moldings, and plenty of comfortable seating. This is a dramatic improvement over the old storefront. My favorite touch is the bright orange wall in honor of their famous sauce. The menu is exactly what you would expect... whatever your feelings for La Vics were before the remodel, expect them to stay more or less the same. I'm hoping for the same hours as their SJSU location, but they may need to file new permits to stay open that late (3am).

La Vic's, welcome back!

Pho 69 - Best Pho in San Jose!

Downtown San Jose is really on a roll with restaurant openings lately. Since I was raised in San Jose, I'm intimately familiar with Pho (Over 100,000 people of Vietnamese descent live in San Jose... Pho is everywhere). Back in college, I had Pho for lunch almost every single day. Of the 50+ Pho restaurants I've been to over the years, Pho 69 is hands down the best one in every criteria I can think of!

Let's start with the food. Today I had the spring rolls, crispy rolls, a Pho 69 special, and my wife had Chicken Pho. Everything was amazing, but the house special Pho 69 really rocked my world. The 3 main proteins in their signature bowl are brisket, meatball, and thinly sliced fillet mignon. You read that correctly, fillet Mignon in Pho! My wife's Pho Ga also featured a rare Pho ingredient, free range chicken. The broth was rich and complex. Usually I douse hot sauce and plum sauce in my soup, but that was really unnecessary in this case. Perhaps the $20,000 vat that they use to steam cook the broth over a 24 hour period has something to do with the quality here.

Next, the ambiance. Easily the nicest Pho restaurant I have ever been to (I've had Pho at Parcel 104 before, but that doesn't really count). The dining area is spacious, lofty, and well appointed. There's a second floor for additional seating and private parties that overlooks the entire restaurant, and it's equipped for Karaoke. The kitchen is pretty open and is visible from the dining area. There's even a skylight, another feature I've never seen in a Pho restaurant.

Lastly, let's talk about character. Pho 69 is located in the artsy SoFA district downtown. I've been keeping my fingers crossed for weeks that the restaurant would have a program for artists, and it looks like it paid off. The walls are fully prepped to support rotating art and the 20+ foot ceiling provides ample space for even over-sized works. And yes, Pho 69 is planning to participate in South First Friday and already have relationships with Anno Domini and MACLA!

Personally, I couldn't have asked for anything more for a new SoFA restaurant. It's been a good year for Downtown San Jose!

A Taste of Paris is Coming Soon to Downtown San Jose

A retail space that has been vacant for two years is finally getting a new lease on life. A French sandwich shop called "A Taste of Paris" is moving into what used to be Beard Papa's, just in time for Christmas in the Park. I was in the area yesterday morning and there was some nice activity around the space, mostly thanks to Philz Coffee. It'll be nice to have another unique, non-chain eatery downtown!

In other retail news, it looks like The clubHOUSE next to The Rep is just about ready to open. The interior is 99% complete and they are already doing soft openings. If the food is up to par with the interior, this could easily be downtown's next hot spot. I got a sneak peak yesterday, and sports fans are going to love this place. I'll have more info after the official opening.

clubHOUSE Restaurant Opens on October 15th!

Looks like Downtown San Jose patrons will have yet another restaurant to choose from this Friday. On Twitter they describe themselves as:

"A brand new exciting Restaurant located in downtown San Jose. It's a sports lounge with a Wall Street influence. Located at 150 S. Second St."

And their last tweet says:

"clubHOUSE Restaurant and Sports Lounge to have GRAND OPENING This Friday Oct. 15th! Ribbon Cutting at 4:30pm and official party at 7pm."

SJ Development Forum: clubHOUSE Coming Soon to Downtown!

Posted by "guru_ck":

The signs from Hawgs were taken down yesterday and the new signs for clubHOUSE were put up today. Can't wait to see the interior when it opens.