Japantown finally getting its first-ever pizza joint with the opening of Jtown Pizza Co. Occupying 625 N Sixth St, a historic building that once served as a Japanese boardinghouse, it takes the place of the outgoing Wenzhou Fish Noodles.

They’ll be serving a thin New York-style pie (there’s even a vegan option), draught crafts and traditional apps like wings and garlic bread, as well as some Asian-inspired appetizers to match the new digs like meatball egg rolls and shishito peppers in a lemon-garlic aioli.

Ethiopian cuisine is underappreciated and hard to find in the South Bay. But the small pool of options just got a little bit bigger with the recent opening of LeYou Ethiopian in San Jose’s Hyde Park neighborhood at 1100 N First St. LeYou features a modern, chic décor with chandeliers, wood accents and brilliant Ethiopian folk art paintings adorning the walls. As with all Ethiopian spots the vegetarian options are plentiful with lentils, chickpeas, eggplant and collard greens. There’s also the kitfo (aka steak tartare) for adventurous carnivores, and the slow-cooked Ethiopian standard sauces of k’ey wot and alicha that come with diner’s choice of proteins, including beef, lamb, chicken, whitefish and Portobello mushrooms. They also have local beer from Hapa’s Brewing Co. and Ethiopian honey wine to help round-out the menu.

Anchors Fish & Chips is planning an expansion as they prepare to move beyond their stall at San Pedro Square Market. Unfortunately, they are taking the place of Willow Glen mariscos favorite Mavericks Mexican Grill—located at 1111 Meridian Ave—to do it. This will be Mavericks’ final week in business, as they plan to close up shop for the imminent takeover. Only a few more days to say adios to their breaded halibut tacos, massive chimichangas and tasty housemade chips and salsa.

Locavores rejoice, as downtown favorite Our House is finally planning on expanding their weekday lunchtime hours. Our House is known for their high-quality, but reasonably priced, chef-driven menu that features non-GMO, organic ingredients sourced from within a 500-mile radius of the restaurant. Starting this week they’ll be open until 7pm Thursday through Saturday.

Pizza My Heart continues its expansion toward total South Bay pizza dominance with a brand-new location at the Cambrian Park Plaza Shopping Center. It’s slated to open this Thursday. They’ll have the usual: salads, beers on tap and their award-winning pies, like the Big Sur, served up by the slice. But this location will also be home to the “country’s largest horizontally suspended clock with real surfboards for hands.” Cowabunga!

Two longtime downtown San Jose favorites, Bo Town and Grande Pizzeria, both closed up shop recently.

For over 30 years Bo Town was known for their Americanized Chinese cuisine that included favorites like the General’s chicken and shaking beef. They also had a massive interior that many families used over the years to host birthdays, graduations and celebrations of the Chinese New Year.

Grande Pizzeria was located next door to the original La Victoria, on San Carlos Ave., right next to San Jose State University. This was not by accident. For a time, it was actually owned by the Barrita family—founders of La Vic’s. There used to be a bottle of the famous Orange Sauce at every table, which went great with any of their pizzas or, my personal favorite, their Philly cheesesteak sandwich.

Despite being open only four years, Jack Rose Libation House was a consistent favorite of Metro readers. Jack Rose claimed the top spot in the Craft Cocktail category three times. They took second place once, in 2017. They were also recognized for their patio in this year’s #BOSV issue. Despite all their successes, they were forced to close up shop to make room for a new 36 single-family home housing development. I reached out to one of their former bartenders, Erik Rivera, and asked if he had heard of any plans to relocate. “Nothing’s been mentioned from higher up,” Rivera said. “Everything related to the company has been thrown out—including us, unfortunately.”

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