by Hoyt Nelson, Board Member-at-Large
Indoor dining is picking up around here. Some places have reduced hours or have gone out of business, but I recommend the experience in general. They are frequently almost empty and haven’t lost quality. Many offer outdoor seating. Call to see when they are open, however.
Our experience with some South Bay Japanese restaurants is that they change or go out of business. There are some, like Gombei in SJ Japan Town and Yuki Sushi (at Pruneridge and Winchester in Santa Clara) that are consistently good, but even some of the reliable old places like Azuma on Stevens Creek seem (to us) have lost some of their luster. Over the last several months however, we have eaten several great meals at Suro Sushi Grill about .3 mi. south of 280 on Saratoga Ave in San Jose. They specialize in fancy rolls (which are good) but we prefer the standards like tempura, nigiri, donburi, etc. Where Suro shines for us is the bento. The tempura is not at all greasy and the sashimi is excellent and very generous. My only complaint is that on two consecutive trips, the tea was good, but not hot. Prices are fairly reasonable and the atmosphere is nice.
We recently found Joy Dumpling on S. Blaney at Bollinger in San Jose. In spite of their name, they have relatively few actual dumplings on the menu, but they are good and we were impressed with their quality. We will return. Still on our list to try are two places with the same name in SJ: Scott’s Seafood Chowder at 111 W. St. John and at 200 S 1st in San Jose. They are associated with the old Scott’s, but are supposed to be more casual and a little less expensive. NOLO in Palo Alto was our favorite New Orleans eatery, but in the last couple of years, have dropped some of our favorite menu items. We tried Bywater in Los Gatos (another New Orleans place) about 2 yrs ago on Santa Cruz Ave.. They only have a few of the old standards, but they aren’t as expensive as many Los Gatos places and are pretty good. While in that area, don’t forget the Indo Café in Saratoga. It’s amazing that it’s doing so well in such a hard-to-find location but I think it’s the best Indonesian restaurant in S Bay area.
Check out my Google Drive section on restaurants for more info and contact me by email (hoiytnelson6@gmail.com) if you have specific questions. I will also send you my links to restaurant segment and other sections (so you won’t want to copy a random 24 letter address into your browser address bar).
As always, please send me info on your favorite places. I always have my antenna up for interesting places..
