The South Bay
46 open around The Peninsula
Palo Alto to Los Gatos around the bottom of the bay, the towns San Jose grew around without absorbing.
The towns
Restaurants34
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.
Saigon Seafood Harborjust added
Solid · Chinese · Sunnyvale · $$
walk-in
Carts and paper order slips at lunch, then live lobster picked out of the tank at dinner.
Sumika
Solid · Japanese · Downtown Los Altos · $$
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
Solid · Bakery · Mountain View · $$
walk-in
Mac McConnell mills 3,000 pounds of organic grain a week on 40-inch granite stones and bakes it into loaves that are half to fully whole wheat.
Dittmer's Gourmet Meats & Wurst-Haus
Listed · Provisions · Los Altos · $$
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
Listed · 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.
Orchard City KitchenBib
Listed · International · The Pruneyard · $$
book ahead
Jeffrey Stout cooks hamachi under avocado-dill puree with persimmon, out of a unit in a Bascom Avenue shopping center. Bring people.
Ramen Nagi
Listed · Japanese · Westfield Valley Fair · $$
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.
Amandine Lounge
Listed · Bar · Los Altos · $$$
walk-in
Jean-Luc Kayigire opened restaurants from San Francisco to Japan for fifteen years, then built the small cocktail room he wanted in his own town, in the old Honcho space on First Street.
Essential Spirits Alambic Distilleries
Listed · Producer · Mountain View · $$$
booking essential
A hand-made French copper alambic still has run in this Mountain View industrial unit since 1998, and Dave Classick Jr. is now the distillery's only employee.
Manresa Bread (Los Altos)
Listed · Bakery · Los Altos · $$
walk-in
The bakery grew out of Manresa, David Kinch's three-star Los Gatos restaurant, and outlived it. The State Street counter runs 8am to 3pm.
Manresa Bread (Los Gatos)
Listed · Bakery · Los Gatos · $$
walk-in
Manresa's bakery still bakes in Manresa's town. The restaurant closed with three stars at the end of 2022; the counter on N Santa Cruz Ave runs 8am to 3pm.
JangTu Restaurantjust added
Listed · Restaurant · Sunnyvale · $$
walk-in
This Sunnyvale Korean room runs soondae four ways, from the $20.99 soup to the gopchang stir-fry for two. Nobody with a byline has written it up yet.
Myungrang Hot Dog 명랑핫도그
Listed · Restaurant · Cupertino · $
walk-in
Myungrang fries Korean corn dogs at Main Street Cupertino, $5.99 for the original up to a squid-ink version, with spicy rice cakes on the side.
Pints of Joy
Listed · Dessert · Sunnyvale · $
walk-inthe room’s own account
This Sunnyvale parlor churns egg-free, small-batch ice cream in Indian flavors, malai kulfi to gulab jamun to falooda, and stays open until midnight on weekends.
Sushi Kuni
Listed · Japanese · Cupertino · $$
walk-in
The city's restaurant directory still carries it at 10211 S De Anza. Its own blog stopped in March 2010, and nobody with a byline has written about the counter since.
Taplands
Listed · Bar · Santa Clara · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
This Santa Clara taproom wants to be the neighborhood's bar and its beer-discovery room at once, open daily until 9, deviled eggs to pastrami rolls in support.
Madras Café
Listed · Indian · Bernardo Shopping Center · $
walk-inthe room’s own account
Madras Café cooks South Indian in the Bernardo Shopping Center behind the McDonald's on El Camino, and it opens at 8:30 in the morning and serves until 10 at night, seven days.
Azuma Japanese Cuisine
Listed · Japanese · Portal Plaza · $$
walk-in
Azuma cooks Japanese in Portal Plaza on Stevens Creek. The address checks out and nothing else about it is on the record.
Home Eat汉家宴 - Cupertino
Listed · Chinese · Cupertino Crossroads · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
It opens at 11:15 in the morning and serves until 11:15 at night, 365 days a year. The group started in 2015 as Fashion Wok, doing Taiwanese-style small hot pots.
XLB Kitchen
Listed · Chinese · Cupertino · $$
walk-in
Jeff saved this De Anza address, and no newspaper or guide has written about it. The domain is parked and no publication has written about the kitchen.
Ritual at Manresa
Listed · Tasting menu · Downtown Los Gatos · $$$$
booking essential
This is not a restaurant. Kinch and the Caviglia brothers hand the old Manresa kitchen to one visiting chef a month, five dinners at a time, and you have to be a member to sit down.
Provisions1
MoreBeer! & MoreWine!Jeff ★★★★☆ 2017
Listed · Provisions · Los Altos · $$
walk-in
Grain, hops and yeast rather than finished beer. Jeff rated the Los Altos shop four stars in June 2017 and called it one of the best local homebrew supply stores.
Craft beer2
Loma Brewing Companyjust added
Listed · Brewery · Los Gatos · $$
walk-in
Kevin Youkilis reopened the old Los Gatos Brewing Co. space as Loma in 2016, and a year later it was California Commercial Beer Brewery of the Year at the state fair, two golds and a silver.
Barebottle Brewing Company - Santa Clara
Listed · Brewery · Santa Clara · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
This homebrew-born San Francisco brewery prints its five-gallon recipe on every can, and its Santa Clara door runs 20 to 30 taps beside Detroit-style pies.
Pubs & cask1
The Rose & CrownJeff ★★★★★ 2017
Listed · Pub · Palo Alto · $$
walk-in
Palo Alto's oldest bar by its own account, and the first in town to pour craft, on Emerson Street. Jeff gave it five stars in 2017 for exactly that combination.
Coffee4
Red Berry Coffee Bar
Listed · Coffee · Los Altos · $
walk-inthe room’s own account
Red Berry pours coffee on Main Street in Los Altos, seven days until 5:30pm. Nobody with a byline has written the room up.
Voyager Craft Coffee
Listed · Coffee · Santa Clara · $
walk-inthe room’s own account
Sameer Shah and Lauren Burns opened this Santa Clara roaster in 2016 and have grown it to five doors across the valley. Every door closes at 5.
Voyager Craft Coffee - Cupertino
Listed · Coffee · Cupertino · $
walk-inthe room’s own account
The Voyager group runs its Cupertino door, the COOP, on Stevens Creek daily 7 to 5. The company's story lives at the Santa Clara original.
Verve Coffee Roasters (162 University Ave)just added
Listed · Coffee · Palo Alto
162 University Ave. Details to come.
Producers4
Ridge Vineyards
Solid · Producer · Cupertino · $$$
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
Solid · Producer · Saratoga · $$$
booking essential
The Martin Ray estate pours its Pinot, Chardonnay and Cabernet at 2,000 feet above Silicon Valley, weekdays only, by appointment.
Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards
Listed · Producer · Saratoga · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
This Saratoga mountain winery pours $35 walk-in tastings in its historic barn, Thursday to Sunday, with piano most Saturdays. Its own homepage promises it will stay open "for years to come."
Wrights Station Vineyard & Winery
Listed · Producer · Los Gatos · $$
book aheadthe room’s own account
This six-acre estate halfway between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz pours its own Pinot and Chardonnay, Friday to Sunday, last tasting 4:30. Bring your own picnic; the dog can come.
Elsewhere around The Peninsula