One Night In San Jose

[jrichman]

Hi All,

I have one nigh in San Jose soon, and I want to get some recomendations. I am looking for dinner recomendations that serves good local food - nothing too fancy, but I really want to get some local cuisine. I am willing to travel a bit, but would prefer to stay within 15 - 20 minutes of the San Jose / Milpitas area.

Thanks in advance for your recomendations. I'll report my results when I get back home.

[Octaveman]

Original Joe's Downtown San Jose. IMHO really good Italian with steaks, chops, seafood. Their Veal Scallopini Sec with mushrooms is awesome and I LOVE their ravioli. It's a casual place open until 1:30 am. See Menu. They've been there since 1956 and are family owned. Highly recommend.

[alanamoana]

Hi All,

I have one nigh in San Jose soon, and I want to get some recomendations.  I am looking for dinner recomendations that serves good local food - nothing too fancy, but I really want to get some local cuisine.  I am willing to travel a bit, but would prefer to stay within 15 - 20 minutes of the San Jose / Milpitas area.

Thanks in advance for your recomendations. I'll report my results when I get back home.

←

if you're staying in milpitas, there's very good chinese food and islamic chinese food right there. darda seafood restaurant in milpitas makes great chinese...no pork!

edited to add: link to darda

Edited January 24, 2007 by alanamoana (log)

[John S.]

Hi All,

I have one nigh in San Jose soon, and I want to get some recomendations.  I am looking for dinner recomendations that serves good local food - nothing too fancy, but I really want to get some local cuisine.  I am willing to travel a bit, but would prefer to stay within 15 - 20 minutes of the San Jose / Milpitas area.

Thanks in advance for your recomendations. I'll report my results when I get back home.

←

When you say local cuisine, I'm not sure that San Jose has any particular style. But I would admit that we have restaurants that are landmarks. In that vein I fully agree with Octaveman. OJs is great. Try the Original Joe's Special. They have always served it. Ground beef, spinach, I forget what else. Upon looking, I don't see Joe's Special on the menu. 8(

Paolo's is another stalwart, not too fancy but a bit more expensive that Joe's. Italian. http://www.paolosrestaurant.com/menu_dinner.html Old place too.

Vahl's in Alviso (I thought of that when you mentioned Milpitas) is way old (60 years?) http://www.sanjose.com/underbelly/unbelly/Alviso/vahls.html

and http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/12...ining-0149.html My parents used to love it (they're dead and I'm 54).

Lastly, the oldest French place is Emile's: http://www.10best.com/San_Jose,CA/Restaura...usinessID=38929

There are other references.

Hope that helps!

[ludja]

Nice to see people's suggsetions as I'm not as familiar with restaurants in San Jose. The food that I think might be distinctive and good quality in the area would be Afghan, Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese or Mexican. So depending where you come from and your tastes, these cusines could be an option. Can't give specific recs down there though and would have to leave that up to others.

I think Carolyn Tillie recently mentioned a great bbq place she discovered down there so that is another option. If you're interested, I could dig up the link to her post.

Edited January 24, 2007 by ludja (log)

[ludja]

Here's an excerpt from Carolyn Tillie's review:

...

Several hours later, I returned to Texas Smokehouse BBQ [1091 S. Capital Avenue, San Jose, 408.926.2829] and almost cried with joy at finding such stupendous Q. Ordering significantly more than was possible to eat in one sitting (but loving left-overs), we tried the tri-tip sandwich, pork ribs, fried catfish, and two sides, the yams and collard greens. For me, the measure of a good Q is not only the sauce, but also the sides. To be overjoyed that fried catfish and red snapper were offered is an understatement. This was perfectly fried catfish as well with the best ratio of cornmeal breading needed. The Q-sauce was spicy and piquant without burning too much but having those ribs delivered straight from the outside smoker was practically awe-inspiring. I was particularly impressed with the collard greens which were sturdy and well-studded with bits of pork. My yams were broken up and smaller than preferred, but still tasty. There are only three tables and they are the formica kind found in kitchens, circa 1950. It is decidedly tiny, not remotely fancy, and almost dingy.

...

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See here for her full review: click

[Nathan P.]

The food that I think might be distinctive and good quality in the area would be Afghan, Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese or Mexican.

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I agree that this is the new local cuisine. If you want to go this route:

My favorite Indian is Tirupathi Bhimas http://www.thirupathibhimas.com/ on Abel just south of Great Mall Pkwy in Milpitas. Its vegetarian if that is an issue for you. Interesting Thali meals and good dosas and other crepe/bread items.

I also have enojyed Darda when I have been. Try the lamb and sour cabbage soup or the cumin lamb. Be sure to get some sesame bread as well.

For Vietnamese you can't go wrong with the classic Vung Tau on Santa Clara in San Jose or the newer Nha Toi. http://www.metroactive.com/metro/08.23.06/dining-0634.html is a Nha Toi review- you can also find some first hand comments on some of the other food boards out there.

Vung Tau

[TarteTatin]

Any updates on San Jose?

We'll be staying at an airport hotel, probably, without a car...

Middle of August.

We do love local food, or ethnic or seafood!

Thanks!