Genuine heroes has long been one of the best kept secrets in the San Jose sandwich game. Their house-cured meats, locally made bread and quality cheese and veggie selections made for one of the best sandwiches I’d ever had. Unfortunately, they closed last June—likely due to their crummy location, tucked away in a mostly empty strip mall in south San Jose’s Edenvale neighborhood.

But lucky for us, father and son co-owners Danny and Caleb Orozco have resurrected the business. Their newly opened restaurant is called
The Last Round Tavern
. With bigger and more centrally located digs in downtown San Jose—at the former Nick’s Pizza at Eighth and Santa Clara streets—they now have room to expand the menu beyond sandwiches. They now serve pizza as well as liquor and craft brews on tap.

Last Round’s house specialty pizzas will essentially be their signature sandwiches in pizza form. Think a meatball sub pie; brisket and arugula pizza; or even a Cuban pie—complete with a delicious mustard-based sauce.

New Beans
Voyager Craft Coffee recently opened a second location at the San Pedro Square Market, though the bleary eyed and uncaffeinated may not realize it. The new Voyager has essentially taken over the former location of B2—located inside the Garage Building at the corner of San Pedro and W. St. John streets. This should come as a relief to java connoisseurs, considering the last few months have also seen the shuttering of SoPo and The Proper Cup.

Voyager is known for their single-origin beans, latte art and worldly signature drinks, which transport coffee lovers around the world—such as the Santiago which features cinnamon, chocolate, ginger and cayenne.

Soup’s On
The popular S.F. Korean restaurant Daeho Kalbi Jjim & Beef Soup has opened a new location in Milpitas—replacing another similar soup spot, Soup by Parks BBQ. The SF location is known for two-hour-plus waits, but devotees swear by its meat sweat-inducing soups, like the galbi-tang (beef rib soup) and seolleong-tang (ox bone soup). So far the Calaveras Boulevard location is flying under the radar, but my guess is it won’t take long before South Bay foodies hop onto the kalbi-train.

Bao Down
Downtown Willow Glen’s food cachet expands with Bao Chinese Eats. Located inside the Garden Theater, it replaces the now defunct boba and Asian fusion spot Sip N Bowl. Their menu focuses heavily on various riffs on pork belly, including what they dub a Chinese pork burger, but there are also some veggie-friendly options. They are still in a soft opening phase, so hopefully the menu will continue to grow.

Juiced
For those looking to clear their systems, a Clean Juice is now open in Campbell. They serve fresh juices, smoothies, açaí bowls, wellness shots, coffee and small bites. But a major draw is their juice cleanses. Advertised as a way to flush the body of toxins, give vital organs a rest and reset the entire immune system, Clean Juice offers to take the work out of the cleanse trend by selling everything from single day to five-day packages.

Road Trip
It’s a classic good news-bad news situation for fans of Yumeya Sushi, which closed up shop last year. First, the good news. They’ve reopened in a new location. The bad news is it’s in Walnut Creek. Now fans of their fresh sashimi and rolls will have to schlep up to Contra Costa County.

Bubbling Up
Word on the street is that Nick’s Next Door founder Nick Difu will be opening a new, grown-up soda shop right next door to… well, Nick’s Next Door. Los Gatos Soda Works will take the place of the former cigar shop that once occupied the neighboring space. They will be featuring small plates, classic cocktails and a new line of signature craft cocktails put together by Nick’s award-winning master bartender, Jason D. Seele—who used to front the bar at Jack Rose Libation House. Seele is renowned for his innovative, boundary-pushing cocktails, and one look at the upcoming menu shows that trend continuing with ingredients like a Japanese whiskey, apples and Lillet Blanc wine in their Golden Age cocktail. No hard date has been set for the opening, but last I heard was late summer.