The Peninsula.
loading the map…
121 places
Rooms you can walk into, ranked the way I would send you.
Key: what the badges mean
★ Michelin star · Bib Bib Gourmand · Green ★ Michelin Green Star · Michelin in the Michelin guide, no distinction · J Jeff's own note · Jeff ★★★★☆ 2019 his own rating out of five, and the year he gave it · new the venue itself opened recently · just added recently added to Jeff's list, whatever its age · 2◆ independent chef/industry recommendations · ! hygiene caution in force · ? no current public hygiene record, not a caution · keep walking Jeff has been and would walk past it · the line under a name says when to go: Destination (plan around it) / Solid (the dependable send) / Listed (on the radar). Under it, where the entry states one: how the room takes bookings, and the date I last checked the entry.
Go here first.
Where I'd actually send you first: the rooms I'd put a visitor in on night one, in town rather than an hour down the highway, spread so six cards are six different answers. Producers, markets and the rest of the city are below.
The BywaterBibjust added
Solid · Creole · Downtown Los Gatos · $$
book ahead
David Kinch spent a year and a half on the po' boy loaf before he was happy with it. Robbie Wilson of Bird Dog named the yaka mein here in The Six Fifty's chefs' bucket list in 2018.
10 Butchers Korean BBQ
Solid · Korean · Sunnyvale · $$$
book ahead
The beef is broken down in a butcher room on the premises and the wagyu sits in a fridge where you can see it. The Chronicle ranked it 74th in the Bay Area in 2025.
Gourmet Haus Staudt
Solid · German · Downtown Redwood City · $$
walk-in
Joe and Lucie Staudt opened a flower shop on Broadway in 1975, and the family turned the same premises into a Bavarian Bierstube with a German market and a bottle shop behind it.
Saigon Seafood Harborjust added
Solid · Chinese · Sunnyvale · $$
walk-in
Carts and paper order slips at lunch, then live lobster picked out of the tank at dinner.
The Rose & CrownJeff ★★★★★ 2017
Listed · Pub · Palo Alto · $$
walk-in
Palo Alto's oldest bar by its own account, and the first in town to pour craft, on Emerson Street. Jeff gave it five stars in 2017 for exactly that combination.
Red Berry Coffee Bar
Listed · Coffee · Los Altos · $
walk-inthe room’s own account
Red Berry pours coffee on Main Street in Los Altos, seven days until 5:30pm. Nobody with a byline has written the room up.
Somewhere tonight.
One tap hides everything shut today and everything that needs a booking, then sorts the rest by how close it is to you. I don’t publish opening hours, because they go stale faster than anyone can check them. Check the door before you go.
The dependable sends
Good cooking needs no occasion, and these are the ones I hand out on a normal Tuesday. 4 here.
Ridge Vineyards
Producer · Cupertino · $$$
booking essential
Monte Bello went to the Judgment of Paris in 1976 and won the 30th-anniversary re-tasting in 2006.
Mount Eden Vineyardsjust added
Producer · Saratoga · $$$
booking essential
The Martin Ray estate pours its Pinot, Chardonnay and Cabernet at 2,000 feet above Silicon Valley, weekdays only, by appointment.
Sumika
Japanese · Downtown Los Altos · $$
walk-in
Kuniko and Gary Ozawa opened this in 2006 so local Japanese Americans had somewhere to sit. The grill in the middle of the room burns binchotan shipped from Japan.
The Midwife and The Baker
Bakery · Mountain View · $$
walk-in
Mac McConnell mills 3,000 pounds of organic grain a week on 40-inch granite stones and bakes it into loaves that are half to fully whole wheat.
On my list
These are on my list; I haven't been yet. 111 here.
The Manufactory Food Hall
Food hall · SFO Terminal 1 · $$
walk-in
Tartine, Cala and Kin Khao each run a counter past security in SFO's Terminal 1, open 7am to 11pm, and the morning bun is the thing worth the walk to Boarding Area A.
Dittmer's Gourmet Meats & Wurst-Haus
Provisions · Los Altos · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
Dittmer's has cut, smoked and stuffed everything on site at this El Camino counter since 1978, and its own site lists the lamb merguez as 2026 Grand Champion at the California Association of Meat Processors competition.
Chicha San Chen
Coffee · Cupertino · $
walk-in
The Taiwanese chain brews tea from Lishan Mountain cup by cup on a pressure machine, in a Cupertino strip mall that drew hours-long lines on opening day in September 2023.
The RefugeJeff ★★★★☆ 2017
Restaurant · San Carlos · $$
walk-in
The pastrami is what this San Carlos pub is known for. Jeff's four stars from May 2017 call the burger decent and the beer list large, and he puts the pastrami first.
Orchard City KitchenBib
International · The Pruneyard · $$
book ahead
Jeffrey Stout cooks hamachi under avocado-dill puree with persimmon, out of a unit in a Bascom Avenue shopping center. Bring people.
Ramen Nagi
Japanese · Westfield Valley Fair · $$
walk-in
Satoshi Ikuta founded Nagi in Tokyo in 2004, and Valley Fair was the brand's second American shop. You build the bowl: base, seasoning, noodle, toppings.