South Bay Tour Guide

HI, IF YOU'RE NEW TO THE SAN JOSE AREA and keep complaining there's nothing to do around the Valley, this is for you! My family and I have been living in the South Bay since 1982, but we have never been together to most of the places I am listing. Shows you can live in Paradise but still live like you're in the Nevada desert. It's amazing---most of this stuff is listed in the beginning of the Yellow Pages! Feel free to pass this to your newcomer friends.

Here's what I always recommend to people who think only San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Berkeley have anything interesting to see. Never be bored again in San Jose!:

My favorite entertainment guide: SF Gate. I use it often to easily search for food, theater, music, and the tons of other stuff to do in the Bay Area. Citysearch Silicon Valley is also good.

FOOD

It's hard to find a really good restaurant around here. To save endless searching, why not look on the Net?
Dine.com is where I have gotten inspired to try places like Kabul Afghan Cuisine and Creo LA (New Orleans food). People send in their reviews of Bay Area restaurants in every category. Just discovered Mistral (French/Californian) in Redwood Shores!

Places with good restaurants around here include: Mountain View downtown (Castro St.), Saratoga downtown (Big Basin Way), Sunnyvale "downtown" (near Evelyn), 99 Ranch Market (Milpitas, Cupertino Village, N. San Jose near Lundy Ave.), Marina Foods (for Chinese breakfast and dim sum), and Los Altos downtown.

Some restaurants I recommend (this is completely biased!) Please send me your favorites too.
Comments and recommendations?

AFGHANI

Kabul Afghan Cuisine (Sunnyvale, San Carlos)

CAJUN

Creo LA (San Carlos)

CAMBODIAN

The Cambodiana's (Berkeley),
Chez Sovan (Campbell, San Jose)

CHINESE

Joy Luck Place Cantonese Cuisine (Cupertino) ---the dim sum is fantastic!
House of Yu Rong (Cupertino) , delicious Sichuan place close by!
Little Sichuan (San Mateo, Fremont has Little Sichuan Express) ---make sure to try its Sichuan Traditional dishes,
Chef Chu's (Los Altos),
Hot Pot City (Milpitas),
Fu Lam Mum (downtown Mountain View)---I don't care what others may say, but I love this seafood place, which also stays open later than most other restaurants on Castro St.,
Hong Fu (Cupertino)

ETHIOPIAN

Blue Nile (Santa Clara, Berkeley)---try its sampler of several dishes if you are a beginner. Also, check out the honey wine!

FILIPINO

Barrio Fiesta (Milpitas). Have not tried yet, but Ben says it's good in the Philippines and authentic! Also it's really hard to find ANY Filipino restaurants here!

FRENCH

Mistral (Redwood Shores)---actually, French/Californian

GREEK

Yianni's (Burlingame)---click link to see the menu. You must try the feta and other cheeses, which they offer as an assortment,
Evvia (Palo Alto)---I tried its lamp chops and salmon

INDIAN

Here's a list of Indian restaurants in Silicon Valley.

Mayuri (Santa Clara). Have not tried yet,
Swagat (Mtn View, Milpitas)---an Indian place that teaches tango and swing must be nan but currageous!
Sneha (Santa Clara),
Amber India (Mtn View)---this one is especially well-known to Indians, but any Thai or Indian restaurant is delicious to me!

ITALIAN

Osteria (Palo Alto),
Rivoli (Berkeley)---actually is Italian/French

JAPANESE

Sushi Sam's Edomata (San Mateo)---I have not tried it yet. Reviews say it's very crowded and may be better for ordering takeout instead of enduring a 30 minute wait,
Todai (Cupertino, San Jose, Daly City) , all you can eat Japanese seafood buffet. 160-foot buffet counter. 13 locations throughout California. This is where you can eat enough to become a Sumo wrestler!
Buffet House (Fremont)---for low price, you get all you can eat sushi and Chinese dishes!
Seto Sushi (Sunnyvale),
Tomo Sushi (Mtn View)---I've not been here but hear it's good. This link is for the S.J. branch.

KOREAN

Gaesung House of Tofu (Santa Clara)
Korea House (Santa Clara)

MALAYSIAN

Banana Leaf (Milpitas).

MEXICAN

Pedro's (Santa Clara, Los Gatos, Campbell, San Jose),
Rosa's Taqueria (listed as the "Best Burrito on Wheels," Rosa's is my favorite quick lunch, a cheap and delicious lunch from a truck, downtown S.J. I love the man's beef tongue tortas.)

NEPALESE

Mt. Everest (Belmont)---absolutely delicious! Similar to Indian food. Order directly from Waiters on Wheels. [Restaurant closed. Replaced by Indian restaurant Surahi, same address.]

SPANISH

Picasso's (downtown San Jose). God, this was orgasmically good. It was my first time trying a Spanish restaurant and I loved it. We tried the tapas. The article's address is wrong. Correct address:

Picasso's
62 W. Santa Clara St.
San Jose, CA
(408) 298-4400

THAI

Thai Satay (San Mateo). My friend recommended but I have not tried,
House of Siam (downtown San Jose),
Krungthai (San Jose, 2 locations)---always packed and delicious! Try the roast duck curry.
Thai Basil ("downtown" Sunnyvale, 2 locations)---click to see menu. One of the THE best Thai places here, bar none.
Amarin Thai & Thai Noodle House (Mtn View),
Cha Am (Berkeley)---best Thai place in Berkeley, but any Thai or Indian restaurant is delicious to me!

VIETNAMESE

Vung Tau (San Jose, Milpitas)---not the best, but Vietnamese I know like it.

COMEDY

If you love intelligent humor, take a look at this. Some of the best live comedy I've seen is at ComedySportz, on the second floor of Bella Mia restaurant, in downtown San Jose. It's not a traditional club with one guy telling jokes. This is competitive comedy, with two teams of 3 people each working to tickle your funny bones within 4 minutes.

It is complete improvisation---they make up humor on the spot, based on suggestions from you, the audience. They are clean, extremely clever and witty and use a lot of physical humor, so your English does not necessarily have to be good (of course it helps). They even sometimes speak in the language they call "gibberish"!

Another thing I noticed was they were very considerate of the audience. They did not make fun of or try to embarrass any of us, unlike what I saw before in a traditional standup club in Irvine. One time they collected different items from the audience and brought them onstage. One of the items was a wallet. Some of the comedians started taking the credit cards, etc. out of the wallet as a joke... but the referee immediately stopped them all and told them to move to the next item. I was impressed.

Just to warn you, the crowd was pretty young (high school and college), but the comedy was timeless.

Comments?

CULTURE

People say this place has no culture. Well take a second look, you snobs!

Drama---San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Saratoga have their own musical theaters. The American Musical Theater of San Jose puts on musicals. We have the San Jose Repertory Theatre and Sunnyvale Community Players. I've gone twice to the Saratoga Civic Theater near West Valley College to see Broadway-style musicals put on by the Saratoga Drama Group. Only twice the price of a movie--$15---and much better! That place also has performances by the West Valley Light Opera Co.---more musicals. A girl I knew at I-House sang in Sunnyvale's Gilbert and Sulllivan operettas regularly. The Stanford Savoyards produce 2 Gilbert and Sullivan operettas a season.

Concerts---Flint Center, at DeAnza College in Cupertino, has had many of the world's greats perform there, including Pavarotti and Itzhak Perlman. They say its acoustics are better than those of the Center for Performing Arts (well known for its annual Nutcracker performances, in downtown SJ. Janet Jackson came to the Shoreline Amphiteater in Mtn View. For big performances, like the ice skating of Stars on Ice, check out the San Jose Arena. The Arena also has hockey games of our own team, the SJ Sharks, and has fe atured singers like Barbara Streisand. We also have the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Villa Montalvo, and the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts.

Music, Dance---San Jose has its own Symphony, Opera, and Ballet.

Comments?

DANCE

For fast disco music, we have The Lime Light, in downtown Mountain View, and Backbeat, in Santa Clara.

Check out SalsaCrazy, an amazing, complete guide to salsa dancing in the Bay Area! Search for dance partners here!

For salsa, two places come to mind---Alberto's, a fast and spirited place near downtown Mtn. View, and Club Miami, in downtown San Jose. They have no cover charge Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

The 4 big ballroom dance halls around here are the Starlite Ballroom in Sunnyvale (north of Hwy 101 and Fair Oaks), Cubberley Pavilion in Palo Alto, the Imperial Dance Club in Redwood City, and Premier Ballroom in Fremont (founded by a Taiwanese couple, it has many Asians). For on-campus action, check out the Stanford Ballroom Dance Club. They offer very cheap seven-week classes! Also, see San Jose State University's Ballroom Dance Club, which dances Wednesdays at 7 pm during the school year, in the P.E. building SPX 89 near the Events Center. They have lessons too!

For beginning social dancers, my favorite teachers have been Bud Ayers and his fiance Deborah Borlase. Bud started Shall We Dance several years ago and teaches at the following locations. I have been going to the Sunnyvale Community Center to learn from him. I highly recommend him. First, he taught several of the teachers at the Starlite Ballroom! Second, he goes at an easy enough pace that even the most inept beginners must catch on. His classes aren't so big and he really takes time to give you personal attention. Unlike most teachers, he does not rush through a move or pattern without making sure most of you have first understood it. I love how he goes slowly, stopping every few moves, and how he demonstrates both men and women's parts. Please start with him, especially if you have no experience! You'll appreciate his low-pressure, relaxing, and humorous class. Another thing is your fellow students, at least at Sunnyvale, are equally patient and understanding when you mess up. Most other places may have impatient or stuck-up students, unwilling to give you a second chance, or rudely trying to push your body the right way. I cannot praise him enough, especially for true beginners!

Other ballroom places I know of but have not tried include: Bihtau Dance Studio in Cupertino and Germania Restaurant & Ballroom in downtown S.J.

If you tire of all the refinement and want some down-home action, try country dance at California's largest country nightclub, The SaddleRack, now reopened in Fremont. Besides the couples stuff, you get to see all these tall "cowboys" with big white hats, line dancing, a bar where you can down several maragitas to a bell, and a must-see---their bucking mechanical bull. I stayed on it for 4 rounds before getting thrown, but my limbs will be sore for 4 weeks!

Comments?

DOWNTOWNS; CITIES

Although most of Santa Clara County is quiet and suburban, we have 6 charming downtowns---Mountain View, San Jose, Palo Alto, Los Altos, Saratoga, and Los Gatos. My friend Kenji likes Palo Alto's better than Mountain View's, but the Mountain View shops might be open later. I go to Mountain View's Castro St. when I miss Berkeley and want to recapture some of its flavor. Besides many foreign restaurants, bookstores, and unusual shops (like one with many kinds of pet fish), it has cafes which sometimes host musicians. Stores might close around 9 pm, on University Ave. I want to explore Los Altos and Los Gatos downtowns more---Los Gatos downtown looks like Rodeo Drive near Beverly Hills.

San Jose has undergone a renaissance in the last 15 years, pouring in over $1 billion into building new museums, hotels, stores, and public places downtown. It is also one of the main American centers of Vietnamese culture. My apartment in downtown was actually next to a Vietnamese area, with Vietnamese restaurants, a supermarket, beauty salon, and billiard hall all nearby. All of these places are, of course, small and aren't crowded, especially compared to Tokyo or San Francisco. During the winter, the St. Joseph's Cathedral (Bascilica) downtown has free music concerts every night the first weeks of December. Guadalupe Park, next to The Tech, shows off dozens of pine trees and mechanical elves and people in its Christmas in the Park. Also, the city sets up an outdoor skating rink next to the SJ Convention Center. Now the city plans to buy and redevelop the block near Santa Clara St., between 1st and 2nd Sts. It plans a fancy shopping and strolling area called Fountain Alley.

Also, Sunnyvale is planning to build a downtown, and at Town & Country Village in San Jose, developers are planning to build a new residential and retail community, both integrated. San Jose also has a Japantown, near Empire St and the light rail stations. It has several shops and a Buddhist temple, and they have festivals like Obon every year. A guy owns the blank combination of warehouse-like buildings at the edge of Japantown. He plans to develop this too, into a big extension of Japantown. San Jose downtown is also developing San Pedro Square, the area near Santa Clara St. and Market St.

Comments?

AGRICULTURE, CAFES

Santa Clara Valley only 25 years ago was still largely agricultural. When we first moved here in 1982, we still saw several big fruit orchards. The tall stair-like building in downtown Cupertino, at the corner of Stevens Creek Blvd and DeAnza Blvd, replaced what used to be a grain factory. Still, from the Yellow Pages, you can find orchards nearby where you can pick your own baskets of fruit and nuts, and we have many wineries in Saratoga and around Gilroy you can sample. You don't have to go to Napa!

If you like organic food, check out the weekly farmers markets in Mountain View. Whole Foods Market, in Cupertino, is all organic and has a lot of unusual food (many types of Italian cheese and bread).

If you want to feel a bit like you're in Asia, check out Cupertino Village, at the corner of Wolfe Rd and Homestead Rd. I remember when it was all American shops---now it's all Chinese---lots of young people walking around. 99 Ranch Market, several restaurants, beauty salons, bookstores, cafe, etc.. Good to just hang out.

In downtown Saratoga is one of the most relaxing cafes ever. Blue Rock Shoot, on Big Basin Way, has the normal group of tables and intellectuals in front, if you want activity. Musicians also perform there. But inside the light is dimmer and the wood is a caramel brown, good for concentration or taking your friends. In the back are balconies that overlook Wildwood Park, with its stream and eucalyptus trees. Very pleasant at night!

Another good cafe where my friend Kenji and I hang out is Coffee Society, across the street from both DeAnza College and Cupertino Memorial Park.

Comments?

FESTIVALS & FAIRS

Every summer we have our Santa Clara County Fair. If you want to have a glimpse of American country life and our County's past, you must go. Each major area has its own fair. It's great fun, with some amusement rides, animal and vegetable shows (at the Alameda County Fair one summer I saw pig racing and vegetable sculpture!) Music and martial arts performers, lots of food, shops selling jewelry and crafts.... County fairs are wonderful places to bring foreigners.

Downtown San Jose hosts many festivals---for example, for the July 4th weekend, over 250000 people may show up for the music and other events. January it has the Tet Festival, celebrating Vietnamese New Year. Summer it has a AT&T San Jose Jazz Festival, the largest free jazz festival in the WORLD! Each summer we also have the Stanford Jazz Festival. We also have the a nnual San Jose International Mariachi Festival. The world's longest running jazz festival is the Monterey Jazz Festival, two hours drive south.

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GARDENS & BEAUTIFUL HOUSES

Filoli is a beautiful mansion with 16 acres of stunning gardens. When I went there in 1997, the tulips were blossoming in bright colors. It is about halfway between SF and San Jose, in Woodside, near Redwood City. Hours are about 10 am - 2 pm. If you go at the right time, you will get a tour guide! $10 admission. Take 280 N, exit Edgewood Rd, left, right on Cañada Rd.

Villa Montalvo is a smaller mansion, with a statue garden and many hiking trails behind it. It used to belong to a U.S. senator. It's usually used for concerts and other artistic events. It's in Saratoga, near the downtown. Take Sunnyvale-Saratoga Rd south to the downtown (with the small fire station), then follow the sign left. Go several blocks and you'll see the gate on your right.

Near Villa Montalvo and downtown Saratoga is Hakone Gardens, a small Japanese garden built to match one in Japan.

Santa Clara University has a beautiful garden too--we had our high school graduation there. I took a tourist there once. It also is a former Catholic mission. If you haven't seen any of California's 21 Spanish Catholic missions, you are truly missing an oasis of beauty and serenity. Built by priests and monks in the 1700s, they are scattered up and down the state.

San Jose also has its own Rose Garden. I've also been to the one in Berkeley.

Saratoga and Los Gatos are some of the wealthiest areas down here, where company presidents live. They still have more trees and plants, as well as some wineries. Some of their houses rival those of Beverly Hills.

Stanford University, in Palo Alto. It used to be Leland Stanford's horse farm, and it is around 4000 acres big. (I got lost there while jogging.) Lovely Memorial Church, in which I sang with a Stanford group. Very beautiful, especially when the eucalyptus trees and flowers are blossoming. Excellent place for biking, with many paths. Palo Alto is one of the few cities with a traffic light just for bikes. School ends about mid-June.

Comments?

PARKS and HIKING

Here are excellent links for hiking:

A guy's personal Bay Area hiking page and the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District, which covers tons of trails as well as guided tours between San Fran cisco and the South Bay.

There are still so many parks around here I've never visited!

Parker Ranch (take Saratoga-Sunnyvale Rd. south from Cupertino to the border of Saratoga, then turn right on Prospect Rd.) This nearby place gives a full view of Santa Clara Valley. Going there at night feels amazing--I can see the lights and hear the crickets. Very peaceful.

Shoreline Park, (take 101 N and exit N on Shoreline Blvd till the end) near the Shoreline Amphitheater, in Mountain View. Great for biking, rollerblading, and wind surfing. Has a pond and boats, too.

Vasona Park (take Hwy 17 S, exit at Blossom Hill Rd), near Los Gatos--- good for picnics, biking, rollerblading. Has big lake.

Rancho San Antonio. Exit 280 N at Foothill Expy. Before Foothill College, next to a monastery. Has extensive hiking trails---my dad goes there every Sat and Sun. Has a little Deer Hollow Farm with sheep, rabbits, and a vegetable garden. Nice for picnics too. Has horseriding and even two tennis courts.

Alum Rock Park. This is California's oldest city park. Berryessa area of San Jose, in the eastern hills, near Capitol Expy and Lundy. Looks beautiful from outside.

Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Near Saratoga, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Don't have to go far to see redwoods and tons of hiking trials. I may have camped there before too. California's oldest state park.

Castle Rock State Park--close to Big Basin---where my Boy Scout troop went every year for camping. The closest place here for camping.

THEME PARKS

Besides Paramount's Great America, with great roller coasters, there's Raging Waters in San Jose. I've been on its huge waterslides---lots of fun! For kids, Cupertino has Blackberry Farm.

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YOUTH HOSTEL

If you have never slept in a youth hostel, you are really missing out! Youth hostels are located close to most major tourist spots in the world and are the cheapest places to spend a night. The catch is you must share your room and the bathroom with perhaps several other travellers. But what conversations and exciting tips you may find! I've been to youth hostels in New Orleans, Atlanta, Paris, the Alps, Yosemite, and nearby in Saratoga. You always meet fascinating people. The Sanborn Park Hostel in Saratoga is a log cabin next to a beautiful hiking area, close to the Santa Cruz mountains. Each night, it costs $12 for members and $14 for non-members. It's a great retreat for a weekend. Check out International Youth Hostel Federation in the phone book or on the Net. In Saratoga I met a woman from Canada who was en route to Australia to compete in a triathalon (about the toughest sports event invented). She had come here to meet someone she had met over the Internet, but she found he was seeing someone else!

Comments?

There---now you can never tell me there's nothing to see again! If you have any delightful places or activities you've discovered, please e-mail me and I will add it to this list. Happy exploring! Also, what are the best affordable restaurants you have found?