Friday Flowers - Part 2

This is the second part (of four) of a weekly Spring feature showing off Kathy's work at Santana Row, and I'm sure she'll be able to bring the same level of aesthetics to her projects downtown ;). If you know anyone that needs a floral architect, her contact information is below. Time to decompress after a long week and enjoy the flowers.

Kathy Finley
Finley Landscape Design
(925) 785-5501
kathy@finleylandscape.com

EXCLUSIVE: The Mmoon Mission Statement & Photos

If you didn't catch it yet, please take a look at yesterday's post regarding the latest restaurant prepping for launch in Downtown San Jose, The Mmoon Empanadas. Below is their official mission statement as well as photos of their food (the open empanada is a vegetarian version) and Michael Mendez, the proprietor behind The Mmoon.

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The Mmoon Mission

We believe that empanadas made at The Mmoon are out of this world. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand it's simple quality that makes each empanada special.

Our mission at The Mmoon is to prove to the community that quick service and quality food are not mutually exclusive. Our food is fresh. We are passionate about how the food we source is produced and how far it is shipped before it lands at The Mmoon. Close partnerships with our suppliers allow us to ensure that their standards and values are consistent with ours.

Our menu is simple and we designed it that way so we can focus on providing quality over quantity. Our menu consists of nine kinds of baked-to-order empanadas, two salads, house-made dressings and sauces; and a selection of beverages.

The Mmoon provides a dining environment equal to the quality of its food. When customers walk through the door, they are greeted by staff who are proud to welcome them into a space that is sparkling clean, visually cool and eclectic; and filled with good music.

Conservation awareness is an integral part of our company and is reflected in many of aspects of The Mmoon's practices. We source food locally wherever possible, the major component of the art on our walls is recycled, we use green building materials when we can and our daily operations are focused on saving energy.

At the Mmoon, we value integrity, honesty, and creativity. And we respect our relationships with each other, our customers, and the planet at large.

Welcome to The Mmoon.

EXCLUSIVE: San Jose Going to The Mmoon

The San Jose Blog has an exclusive scoop on the next major restaurant to grace Downtown San Jose! Situated on the highly-trafficked corner of Santa Clara St. and Almaden--below the Irish Innovation Center and next to The Brit--The Mmoon is gearing up to blow your mind with delicious empanadas. For those of you who have never had empanadas before, they are essentially stuffed bread or pastry turnovers similar to Calzones or Samosas.

The Mmoon will have 9 different types of empanadas, such as Tri-tip, chicken sun-dried tomato, sausage, and even a banana apple dessert creation. The empanadas themselves will be made from scratch on-site using fresh local ingredients and baked to order. Despite the effort involved to make each empanada, The Mmoon will still be in the quick-service category thanks to a high-powered oven, and what makes it even more appealing is that it will be affordable--around $9 for a complete meal (unless you can put down a half dozen empanadas like me).

Argentinian-born proprietor and chef Michael Mendez could have located his unique restaurant anywhere he wanted, and he choose Downtown San Jose for his first and flagship location. That already makes this a special restaurant for me without tasting a single empanada.  However, what really pulls on my heartstrings is his plans to make a restaurant befitting of Silicon Valley's Capital. The ambiance will be eclectic with video projections making you feel like you're on the moon, "recycled" art on the walls, great music, an amazing outdoor patio with seating for 90 and built-in heat lamps, free WiFi, an interactive art program featuring local artists, utilization of social media, and a lot of interesting ideas using Twitter that I probably can't mention yet. Sure, it would have been substantially less expensive to create a generic environment like a Quizno's or Togo's (ironic example), but Michael is doing what entrepreneurs do best and that's shoot for the moon.

Tomorrow I'll give you the official press release along with photos! I'll also disburse additional information as The Mmoon gets closer to launch time (June/July).

April 2010 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:

• New initiatives for attracting and retaining businesses downtown was approved on Mar 16th. This includes suspending business license taxes and free parking.
• The San Jose Rotary Club is attempting to raise $1.5m to create a unique playground for all children--inclusive to those with disabilities--in the Guadalupe River Park.  This will include "touch-sensitive features and flora full of aromas." They are hoping to open the park in the club's 100th year of operations between March 2013 and 2014. (I wish them the best of luck, sounds like a great idea and a way to bring more activity to our future central park).
• The 3rd Downtown San Jose open house attracted 150 potential buyers and 4 new sales.
• Broadway San Jose is gearing up for their second season and is expanding from 5 shows to 7:
• Burn the Floor - Sep 21-26
• Rain, a tribute to the Beatles - Oct 26-31
• The Color Purple - Nov 23-28
• Grease - Jan 18-23 (2011)
• Fiddler on the Roof - Mar 15-20 (2011)
• Stomp - Apr 12-17 (2011)
• Mamma Mia - Jun 7-12 (2011) 
• Letcher Garage (later Oasis Nightclub) has been demolished to make way for 2 future high-rise buildings.
• Groundwerx ambassadors are helping to make downtown a safer place by checking garages for people loitering. Also if you don't want to walk alone to your car at night, you can call Groundwerx at 287-1520 and they will presumably walk with you.
• Irish Innovation Center opens at the corner of North Almaden and Santa Clara St.!  (I also have an exclusive scoop on the restaurant going on the ground floor of that building, more on that later this week).
• The Art Glass Center of San Jose (a key First Friday participant BTW) has expanded into its neighboring space, allowing for: an expanded fine art gallery, torch-working area, video learning area, and a new space for an artist-in-residence program.
• Overland Storage is moving from Milpitas to a 21,000sqft space on 125 S. Market.
• Deloitte signed a new 10 year lease, keeping 900 employees downtown.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

Latest San Pedro Square Market Render!

I have a special Easter treat for everyone, the latest render of the San Pedro Square Market! I think it looks stunning. Take a close look at greatly expanded sidewalk (Barefoot Coffee will be right below that San Pedro Square Market sign) and the LED-wrapped trees. Please click the image to enlarge and get the full effect!

Happy Easter!

Saturday Stats - Hey, Big Spender

I'd like to start a new weekly feature on interesting statistics related to San Jose. Last week I received a tip about a really slick site called Bundle (www.bundle.com) that aggregates all sorts of financial data across US cities. This site's a goldmine of useful information--especially related to us.

The first stat to analyze... San Jose has the 3rd highest consumer spending in the United States with an average annual household spending of $59,022 in 2009. This spending EXCLUDES rent and mortgage payments. This means that despite having some of the highest housing costs in the US, we still get the bronze medal for spending cash.

Let's put this in perspective:

• San Jose (#3) - $59,022
• San Francisco (#19) - $45,291
• Los Angeles (#42) - $39,422
• New York City (#53) - $37,435
• Detroit (#Last) - $16,397
• US Average - $37,782
  

In all fairness if New York City consisted of only Manhattan, it would beat out San Jose by a hair with spending of $59,602. Even then, it's pretty impressive to think of our spending as on par with Manhattan. For more information on spending, read Bundle's press release. Also if you know any other good statistics regarding San Jose, please post in the comments and I'll use them in future weeks!

South First Friday Tonight, Rain or Shine

I'll never get tired of promoting this event. Nothing like a free evening of perusing art at over a dozen different locations to brighten up a day of mediocre weather. For the full lineup of what's happening tonight, hit this link.

Friday Flowers - Part 1

In honor of Spring, I thought I would do a weekly post about flowers during the month of April. Why flowers you may ask? Recently my wife was contracted to photograph Kathy Finley's work at Santana Row. Kathy is the person responsible for just about all of the phenomenal floral landscaping at SR and has even begun doing work in Downtown San Jose (good choice Groundwerx, very good choice). If you know anyone that needs a floral architect, her contact information is below. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the flowers.

Kathy Finley
Finley Landscape Design
(925) 785-5501
kathy@finleylandscape.com

BREAKING: San Jose changes it's name BACK to El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe

Today a shocking announcement was made that will forever change the face (and name) of our city. To honor our heritage, city hall has decided to change the official name of the city back to what it was in 1777 when we were first founded: El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe.

In light of today's news, we will be changing the name of this Blog to the El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe Blog.

New Eclectic Restaurant Near Santana Row

Looks like a new restaurant called Kãama is coming to the former site of Fuel at 385 S. Winchester, right across the street from Santana Row. Below is a brief from Kãama's website. I'm definitely looking forward to trying it out, especially given the Chef's track record (Bleaux Magnolia in Napa).

Thanks to Tweservation for the tip!

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The Kãama Lounge
San Jose is about to discover a tasty treat, Kãama Lounge and Supper Club. This intimate setting is dedicated to the Goddess of Pleasure, Pleasure in Food, Pleasure in Drink and most importantly the Pleasure of good times and great company.

Kãama’s award winning Chef from Napa Valley “Matt Mermod” has transplanted to Kãama and his set sights on the Reinvention of “The Menu” it is not often you can truly say you are creating something “New” but that is exactly what Matt has accomplished.

Kãama’s menu is a recreation of comfort foods from around the world. Every plate has a tasting of the original and Chef Matt’s masterful reincarnation.

Kãama offers an intimate and playful setting of eastern elegance and design, with layers of comfortable seating that encourages a relaxed atmosphere.

Kãama is a versatile venue across from Santana Row, able to accommodate large private events to romantic parties of two. Let Kãama cater to your personal special event for any occasion.

Cheers
Kãama Lounge

Great Earth Day Idea from San Mateo

Those that work in San Mateo and pledge to take public transportation during "Earth Day week" (April 19th-23rd) will be eligible to get a free $10 TransLink card. This card is essentially a unified transit ticket that works on Caltrain, BART, Muni, AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit / Ferry, and eventually buses. Hopefully VTA will take note and join the club--especially with Grand Central Station San Jose coming soon to Diridon Station (VTA Lightrail, VTA Buses, BART, Caltrain, ACE, Amtrack, and Hight Speed Rail all in a single location). 

As population and commute times continue to rise, we really need to encourage better usage of public transit. This initiative from San Mateo is exactly what we should do here to continue to get better utilization and grow our transit system. Many people don't realize that our Light Rail system is actually pretty nice. It's far from perfect, but definitely usable... especially if someone is giving you free money to ride it. For more information on what our neighbor up north is doing, click here. Also if you happen to work in San Mateo, you might as well go for your free TransLink card as well!

New Nightclub Coming to Downtown San Jose

An anonymous poster tipped us off on a new nightclub/bar opening soon in Downtown San Jose. They are looking for feedback on what Downtown patrons would like to see as part of this new club. So, if you'd like to influence the future of Downtown nightlife, just complete this short survey!  There are only 12 questions, so it shouldn't take more than 2 minutes to fill out.

Rendering of Potential San Jose HSR Station

Proposed 49er Stadium Project Overview

While not technically San Jose, I think it's worth mentioning this highly controversial project... probably even more so than SJC =)

Here's an overview of just the stadium itself without too much propaganda:

Future Site of Little Italy San Jose!

I finally got to walk the Little Italy site for the first time and there is some real potential here. While not a large area, the site opens up to the Guadalupe River Park and has a spectacular courtyard in the middle. If successful, it will also push downtown past the 87 underpass and be a short walk away from Axis, San Pedro Square, and several proposed towers. I also have to say that I'm really looking forward to Paesano Ristorante Italiano, the first Italian Restaurant to open its doors in Little Italy!