Savor the Flavors: Dine Downtown San Jose Returns in July!

Now in its 17th year, Dine Downtown invites both locals and visitors to explore over 40 restaurants offering special menus, exclusive food and drink pairings, and chef-created delicacies. From July 11th to July 21st, food lovers can indulge in a variety of flavors that highlight the creativity and passion of San Jose's chefs.

This year's event features a wide range of dining experiences, from upscale restaurants to casual eateries, ensuring there's something for every palate. Whether you're in the mood for a three-course prix-fixe meal or a unique food and drink pairing, Dine Downtown has it covered. The event also includes popular cafes like Nirvana Soul and Pastelaria by Adega, each offering special treats for those who prefer a lighter bite or a caffeine boost.

To plan your Dine Downtown experience, visit dinedowntownsj.com, where you'll find a complete list of participating restaurants. Their special menus should also appear within a few weeks. The website is a valuable resource for organizing your culinary adventure, whether you're dining alone, with friends, or with family.

Downtown San Jose Welcomes Sumi Sushi - Affordable Japanese Cuisine

Sumi Sushi's commitment to affordability without compromising on quality is a standout feature. Owner Terry Tien's vision for the restaurant is clear: to provide the local community and visitors with high-quality Japanese cuisine that doesn't break the bank. This mission is a refreshing take in a market where good sushi often comes with a hefty price tag.

The restaurant aims to challenge the notion that excellent sushi must be expensive, making it accessible to a broader audience. This approach not only caters to sushi enthusiasts but also invites newcomers to explore Japanese cuisine without financial hesitation. The menu promises a variety of dishes that reflect traditional Japanese flavors, crafted with care and authenticity. 

Owner Terry Tien's connection to Downtown San Jose is deeply personal. He views the area as a vibrant community with a unique blend of heart and brain, reflecting his genuine appreciation for the city's character and its people. Tien's decision to open Sumi Sushi here is not just a business choice but a testament to his belief in the area's potential and charm. His enthusiasm for being part of Downtown San Jose's growth and vibrancy is evident, and it sets a positive tone for the restaurant's role in the community. Additionally, Tien plans to open Meimei Dumpling next door at 117 Paseo de San Antonio in June, further expanding his culinary footprint in the area.

For those eager to experience Sumi Sushi, the restaurant promises a welcoming atmosphere with ample indoor seating and a focus on fresh, high-quality ingredients. Early reviews suggest that the restaurant has already made a positive impression, with patrons praising its affordability and the staff's attentiveness. The restaurant's proximity to San Jose State University also positions it as a convenient dining option for students and faculty, adding to its potential for success. As Downtown San Jose continues to evolve, Sumi Sushi stands as a symbol of the area's growing appeal and the entrepreneurial spirit that drives it.

Sumi Sushi is located at 119 Paseo De San Antonio and is open from 11am to 9pm every day.

Brunch Blooms in Downtown San Jose

Reza Manion, the mastermind behind the beloved Bloom Eatery brunch spot in Santa Clara, is bringing his vision to 225 W. Santa Clara St., with an anticipated opening later this year. This expansion marks a new chapter for Bloom, a restaurant that’s been winning hearts since its debut in 2020, and it’s a sign of exciting things brewing in the city’s core.

Manion’s journey into the restaurant world started early, shaped by his upbringing in his family’s café, Sara’s Kitchen, a Santa Clara staple for over three decades. That experience fueled his dream of creating his own space, and Bloom Eatery was born. The Santa Clara location quickly gained a following for its standout dishes like croissant French toast and chicken and waffles. Now, Downtown San Jose gets to experience that same magic, with a 4,000-square-foot space that Manion describes as perfect thanks to its natural light and lack of brunch competition nearby.

The move to Downtown wasn’t Manion’s first instinct—he initially leaned toward smaller towns like Campbell or Los Gatos. But when a real estate opportunity arose, he saw the potential for Bloom to shine in an area he believes is on the upswing. Challenges like parking and Downtown’s reputation don’t faze him; instead, he’s eager to contribute to the area’s growth. With the interior build-out underway and permits in progress, he’s aiming to open by late summer or early fall, setting the stage for a cozy brunch haven just before the holiday rush.

What makes Bloom special is its commitment to keeping things simple yet exceptional. The menu stays focused, letting the quality of the food and the care in its presentation take center stage. Whether it’s the flaky layers of croissant French toast or the crispy perfection of chicken and waffles, freshness is key. Manion wants Bloom to feel like a neighborhood gem—approachable, elegant, and rooted in community. 

Source: SVBJ

Nation’s Giant Hamburgers Flips Back into San Jose with Three New Spots

Nation’s Giant Hamburgers is staging a long-awaited comeback in San Jose, and it’s bringing a triple dose of excitement with three new locations set to open over the next few months. After stepping away from San Jose decades ago, Nation’s is responding to years of local demand, proving that the city’s appetite for their return has never faded. It's actually one of my favorite burger chains and I'm thrilled to see it coming back (the last one I visited was all the way in Lodi).

The new restaurants will land at 5805 Silver Creek Valley Place, 5750 Santa Teresa Blvd., Ste. 5, and 2131 Monterey Hwy., Suite 40, with the Silver Creek spot opening in July and the others following in August. This isn’t the slow rollout Nation’s is known for—typically, they open just one location every few years. San Jose’s size and diversity make it the perfect stage for this ambitious move, ensuring that fans across different corners of the city can get their fix. It’s a thoughtful spread, too, with the company hand-picking sites they believe will thrive, blending instinct with hard data.

What’s especially intriguing is how these locations mark a fresh chapter for Nation’s. They’re embracing a franchise model—something they’ve only started exploring in recent years. The Nation’s team scouted the spots and then teamed up with franchisees to bring them to life, a sign of smart growth that’s also taking them beyond San Jose to places like Elk Grove, Modesto, and Turlock. Yet, San Jose stands out as a cornerstone of this expansion, a city big enough to welcome three outposts at once. 

Source: SVBJ

Massive Asia Live food complex coming to Valley Fair

I was quite bummed when iChina closed down at Valley Fair. I thought the opulent restaurant was San Jose's best chance at getting another Michelin star. However, the good news is that the space will not be vacant for long.

Asia Live will take that flagship two-story space and expand it to over 12,000 SQFT, including adding a new rooftop terrace and outdoor patio. It will be far more than just a restaurant. It sounds similar to Eataly, but for Asian cuisine. The complex will have a retail marketplace, cafe, lounge, interactive experiences, and entertainment. Diners will be able to watch chefs prep food like dumplings, sushi, and curries.

It has the same owners as China Live in SF and will feature the most popular dishes from that menu including pan-fried pork buns and Peking duck. It will also have sushi, robata (Japanese BBQ), tandoori ovens, and Indonesian rice. The icing on the cake is a bar that will rival the top craft cocktails spots in the Bay Area.

Asia Live is scheduled to open this fall. The sooner the better!

Sources: Eater, SFGATE

Dining and Nightlife in San Jose

Visit San Jose has just released a new video promoting dining and nightlife in San Jose. It's only 90 seconds long, yet highlights a multitude of areas: Valley Fair (Eataly in the opening shot), Santana Row, Downtown San Jose, Willow Glen, The Alameda, San Pedro Square, the Historic District, Qmunity, Little Italy San Jose, Japantown, and SoFA.

The video is a great reminder of all the great options we have in San Jose. Also, it's Friday! The perfect day to go out and try someplace new.

San Jose is getting a new signature cocktail

Rollati Ristorante, one of Downtown San Jose's top restaurants, is introducing San Jose's first signature drink. It's called the San Jose Sour and includes not one, but two local products.

The main spirit is 10th St. Distillery's triple cask single malt whiskey called Dragon Plus. This is a local San Jose company with several award winning products and the spirit is even distilled in San Jose.

The second ingredient is Alamitos Vineyard's award-winning estate Hawk Eye Syrah, which is grown and produced in South San Jose.

The drink also has lemon juice, simple syrup, egg whites and a few dashes of Angostura bitters. You can enjoy it at Rollati right now and hopefully it will be available at some of their sister restaurants like Left Bank, LB Steak, or Meso. If you want to try to make this cocktail at home, below are the ingredients and directions.

THE SAN JOSÉ SOUR

Ingredients

1 ½ ounces 10th Street Distillery, American Whiskey, Triple Cask, STR Single Malt, San Jose, CA

¾ ounces Alamitos Vineyards, Syrah, Hawk Eye Estate Grown, Santa Clara County, CA

1 ounce lemon juice

¾ ounces simple syrup

1 egg white

4 dashes Angostura bitters, “Aromatic,” Trinidad & Tobago

Directions

1. Add whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup and egg white into shaker

2. Shake with ice and strain back into tin

3. Reverse dry shake

4. Double strain over coupe glass

5. Float Hawk Eye Syrah

6. Garnish with Filthy Black Cherry and Angostura bitters

San Jose's first and only Michelin Star restaurant is coming back!

A little Portuguese restaurant in East San Jose called Adega made history years ago as the first San Jose restaurant to earn a Michelin Star. For a time is was also the only Portuguese restaurant in the United States to have a star. From there, the owners created several additional successful restaurants including Petiscos in SoFA and Pastelaria on Santa Clara Street. Sadly, they decided to turn Adega into a second Petiscos location at the start of 2024. Petiscos is excellent, but Adega was next level.

Now, after many requests to bring back Adega they are doing just that. Starting tomorrow, November 15th, the restaurant will go back to a multi-course tasting menu. The cost will start at $125 per person, which is pricey but by no means insane for this caliber of restaurant. They also have the largest Portuguese wine list of any restaurant in the US and you better believe they have amazing wine pairing options to go with each course. 

I loved Adega and am thrilled to see it return. If you are ready to make reservations for the most decorated restaurant in San Jose, head over here.

Source: SVBJ

Eos & Nyx is getting closer to opening

The most highly anticipated new restaurant and bar in Downtown San Jose right now is Eos & Nyx. This is being done by the same owners of Miniboss, Paper Plane, Still O.G., and Alter Ego. It's a flagship two-story restaurant and bar in the building that used to house Camera 12 (Urban Putt is in there as well).

I was walking by and not only was there furniture, but they were testing the mechanical system on the 2nd floor that opens the windows. Look at that glorious patio space on the ground floor! 

It was supposed to open this year, but that might still be a bit of a stretch. Below are the spy shots followed by the latest renders.

Unique Cafes in San Jose

It looks like one of my favorite San Jose hyperlocal sites might be coming back! SJ Today just posted a list of unique cafes in San Jose. I definitely agree with the list which includes Nirvana Soul, K Cafe, Voyager, and many more. Check it out at the source link below.

Source: SJ Today

Red Lobster planning to shut down its last San Jose location

Red Lobster recently announced another set of locations to close across the United States as part of its bankruptcy and sadly the very last location in San Jose was on the list. 

Sitting at the corner Capitol Expressway and Aborn Road, this has been a staple in Evergreen for decades. In fact, of all the amazing restaurants in Downtown San Jose, I don't think I have been to any of them as often as this Red Lobster. This was always the restaurant I would go to with family for small celebrations. It provided access to pretty decent seafood at affordable prices.

I'm pretty surprised this location is on the chopping block. Despite the high cost of real estate, it always seemed to be packed. Anyway, it will be and end to an era and hopefully something really interesting will take it's place that will become a new staple for the neighborhood.

The locations in Milpitas, Stockton, and Vallejo are also planning to close.

Source: The Mercury News

Elyse: elevated French Vietnamese cuisine in the heart of Downtown San Jose

Before we talk about about the new Elyse, I have to spend a moment to honor the original. Elyse was the first French Vietnamese restaurant in Downtown San Jose and took residence in the former House of Siam space that old school San Joseans will remember well. The first time I went, I was just happy that a Downtown space that sat vacant for years was finally filled up with a new restaurant. However, I was completely blown away by the cuisine, cocktails, and how romantic the space was. Despite my mission to eat at every restaurant in Downtown San Jose (I'm at 258 so far) I returned several more times and would easily place it in my Top 10 for all Downtown San Jose restaurants.

This was in 2018. Fast forward to the pandemic. During the early 2020s the owner endured multiple hardships including including the passing of her mom, break-ins, property damage, looting, a divorce, and then some. It was an incredibly challenging time, and Elyse closed their doors for an extended period. 

Now, not only is Elyse back... but they have a new location that is bigger and better than ever. This key corner space once belonged to Nemea at the corner of San Fernando and 1st Street. Like House of Siam, it has also been vacant for years. There is a lot of pressure on Elyse to bring something special to this high-traffic part of Downtown--and they delivered.

The space is open and inviting. There is a bar area, main dining room, a cellar-style wine room, a private dining space, and outdoor seating. There are large works of art themed around both France and Vietnam. The lit Eiffel Tower was my favorite.

I was fortunate to sample eight of their dishes. For the appetizers we had caviar blinis, mushroom tartlette (crowd favorite), head-on grilled shrimp, fried Brussel sprouts, mussels, and garlic noodles. I would recommend any of these. The caviar was a nice surprise since I don't remember that on the original menu and I'm not aware of any other restaurant in Downtown San Jose that has that available. As decadent as that was, my favorite app was the mushroom tartlette followed by the giant shrimp skewers with Vietnamese seasonings.

After the appetizers we had two of the mains--a glazed seabass with sauted bok choy and cofit as well as a braised short rib bourguignon with bone-in braised Angus beef short rib and Belgian style fries.

Both were phenomenal. I'm normally a carnivore and prefer steak, but the pan seared glazed seabass was truly outstanding and would likely be my choice. If you're out on a date, it's the perfect opportunity to get two different dishes and share. 

Unfortunately I had to leave the media preview night early to get to our baby at home and did not have a chance to try the desserts. They had a black sesame panna cotta and a Belgian chocolate lava cake, both of which I would have loved to try. I'm planning to head back there this weekend to get those desserts and try more of their dishes. I'm especially looking forward to trying some items that lean more towards the Vietnamese side and a cocktail or two.

In summary, Elyse gets two huge thumbs up. Please give them a try and let us know what you think! Could this be San Jose's next Michelin-recommended restaurant? Petiscos needs some company, and this may be it.

Elyse is located at 96 South 1st Street and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm to 9pm. Street parking is free after 6pm and pretty easy to get within a couple blocks of the restaurant. You can make reservations here as well as read more reviews (spoiler, they have a well-deserved 4.5/5 stars on Yelp). 

Elyse has a full-blown wine room

Finally, tomorrow I'll have the full write-up for Elyse. There is too much content for one post (not even talking about the fist fight outside during the mayor's interview). One quick item I'll break out for today is that Elyse isn't just a restaurant, they are also a wine merchant.

They have a beautiful room that feels like a wine cellar and can store thousands of bottles of wine. I know they dabbled in making their own products, so it will be interesting to see which bottles are available for purchase.

Since Zanatto's and The Market by Safeway closed, this part of Downtown San Jose has not had a great spot to buy wines. That all changes very soon. You can find Elyse at 96 S. First St. (former Nemea corner space). 

 

Fitoor is now open, bringing high-end Indian cuisine and late-night music to Santana Row

The San Jose food-scene continues to evolve and reach new heights. Fitoor (which is the word for passion in Hindi) is brining Indian food back to Santana Row in the same space that housed Amber India for years. However, Fitoor is a much higher-end concept than Amber and is run by serial entrepreneurs that also own the Michelin-recommended Rooh in Palo Alto.

Fitoor's ambiance and food look exquisite and I can't wait to try it for myself in early May. For now, I'll just have to savor these photos from The Merc.

Another twist on traditional Indian cuisine is their take on nightlife. On Friday and Saturday nights the lounge portion of the restaurant features DJs, fire dancers, and a more clubby vibe. It's certainly a unique addition to the Row and seems like a step up from what was there before (and I really liked Amber).

In other restaurant news, the expanded Elyse featuring French Vietnamese cuisine--and a local San Jose chef--has their official ribbon cutting tonight. More on that later this week.

Source: The Mercury News

Eox & Nyx - meet Downtown San Jose's newest flagship restaurant and bar

The proprietors of Original Gravity (now Still O.G. and Alter Ego), Paper Plane, and Miniboss are stepping up to their most ambitious project yet. Eos & Nyx is a flagship two-story restaurant and bar in the former Camera 12 Space. This happens to be the same block where Urban Putt set up shop, so it's turning out to become quite the district.

Named after the ancient Greek goddess of day and night, they will serve traditional Mediterranean cuisine from France, Spain, Italy, Greece, and North Africa. Their executive chef is Nicko Moulinos who was raised in Greece and previously cooked at Le Bernardin (a 3 Michelin Star restaurant), Kwame Onwuachi's Kith/Kin, and Taverna. I'm sure their drink program will also be outstanding given this team's craft cocktail pedigree.

As for ambiance, the renders look incredible. We're talking 20-foot ceilings, lots of trees and plants, outdoor terrace seating, and a rotating conveyor belt of spirits that will be visible both inside and outside the restaurant. If Urban Putt was my #1 most anticipated opening of 2024, this is #2.

Eos & Nyx will open sometime during the summer at 201 South Second Street, Suite 120.

Source: Eater SF

Raising Cane's is opening their first San Jose location in Evergreen

If you are looking for a fast food Chicken restaurant that is open on Sundays, look no further than Raising Cane's. The chain started in 1996 and was named after the owner's Labrador. Currently there is only a Raising Cane's in Oakland and Vacaville. That means the San Jose location will be the first in all of Silicon Valley.

San Jose's Raising Cane's will be part of the 80-acre Evergreen Circle Project, which is right off of Capital Expressway. The 315,000 SQFT project also has a Costco Business Center and by the end of the year it will also get a Crumbl, California Fish Grill, and Starbucks.

There is no official ETA for San Jose's first Raising Cane's, but it should be relatively soon since they already have a job posting for a manager of this particular location.

Source: KRON4