Six months is usually considered the earliest a new restaurant, craft cocktail lounge or coffee bar can receive a fair review. By then the kinks should have been worked out, the bad apples fired and the best dishes and drinks refined. But who’s got time…
Articles by Kathy Manlapaz
Kali Greek Kitchen is not the average gyro stand. That much is clear just upon setting foot in the cleverly designed space, which opened doors this past June on Palo Alto’s California Avenue. Boasting a minimalistic, Instagram-worthy aesthetic with a bright blue-and-white color palette reminiscent…
Named for the legendary battalion of Irish immigrants, European expats, former slaves and U.S. Army defectors who fought alongside Mexico in the Mexican-American war of 1846, Irish pub San Patricios juxtaposes its multi-layered cultural influences while keeping things simple. It’s not the oldest bar on…
On a hot summer evening, the living wall inside of Steins Beer Garden is a leafy green reprieve from the South Bay’s sweltering heat. The vertical garden, stacked to the ceiling with philodendron, is one of the many unique details found inside Steins’ new 6,500-square-foot…
With hip-hop playing overhead and candied bacon served on Fridays, Academic Coffee is not a basic coffee shop, and nor is its history. Starting as a pop-up shop inside of downtown San Jose cocktail lounge Five Points, the coffee shop has since expanded to a stand-alone…
On an unassuming corner of Saratoga—an area heavy with traffic but sparse for eateries—a new restaurant has taken root, bringing the fresh flavors of the Mediterranean to the South Bay’s Saratoga-Cupertino border. Opened less than six months ago by brothers Esam and Milad Shaquir, Saratoga…
Thaddeus Campbell had an epiphany in the desert. After attending the Greater Palm Springs Pride festival for several years, he noticed a not-so-subtle difference when the event moved from a daytime affair to an evening celebration. There were more people—lots more. After returning home to…
Roger Springall has heard the questions for years, but he never had a good answer. New residents would come into his downtown San Jose coffee shop, Caffe Frascati, and ask where to shop for groceries. Apart from the limited offerings of Safeway and Grocery Outlet,…
Near the point where The Alameda becomes El Camino Real, the slow cooking method of Southern barbecue has found a home in the tortilla-wrapped concoctions of Mexican cuisine. Asadero, a type of cheese that can also be loosely translated from Spanish to “hot spot,” offers…
Sitting on a sleek wood finish, a specialty coffee in hand, I perused the nature-inspired artwork on the wall and remembered what it’s like to truly appreciate a morning cup of joe, when taste is king to our neurotic consumption to satisfy a caffeine fix….
