Pub naming is an exercise in obscurity. Combine two usually unrelated, but whimsical words—The Rugged Beaver, Bog N’ Porridge, The Goat’s Goggles—and you have a memorable christening fit for a quaint neighborhood hangout. But this inventiveness in nomenclature rings phony when it’s not rooted in…
Articles by Kathy Manlapaz
Hey, we get it. Going to the folks’ house for the holidays isn’t for everyone. But whether dining out is a family tradition or a completely foreign experience, Silicon Valley restaurants don’t skimp on serving up great fixings. Here’s just a few of some of…
The story goes a speakeasy sold tickets to see a striped pig. After seeing the crudely painted swine, entrants received a free cup of rum and mingled, safe from the watchful eye of prohibition agents. A Redwood City gastropub, The Striped Pig, gets its name…
The streets of Saratoga around the holidays are picturesque, like a postcard of New England. Strings of lights adorn the tree-lined streets. On a Saturday night, downtown is remarkably empty—in stark contrast to the general bumper-to-bumper pace of Silicon Valley. Nearly everyone is inside a…
Joe Cirone weighed the odds of survival and knew his Willow Glen farm-to-table restaurant, Haymarket, had reached a crossroads. “We were at about four years of operation,” he says, “and it was either I lock the doors, start putting white tablecloths out, take all of…
Hubris kills, but I possessed plenty of it as I looked to prove the hardiness of my tastebuds against the “angry sauce” served by the repetitively named Wings Dip: House of French Dip. Located in a strip mall on Meridian Avenue in San Jose, the…
Many things will happen in an almost two-hour wait for a dinner at Gen Korean BBQ. The late autumn breeze will waft the teasing scent of marinated grilled meats through the front doors. People will open these doors frequently to check the status of the…
I love meat. It’s a selfish thing to consume, and I don’t require animal flesh to survive. My refusal to stick to veggies causes all sorts of queasy moral, physical and environmental problems. At the Green Barn in Milpitas, owner Jenny Phan wants customers to…
Pintxo Pote, a Spanish tapas bar in Los Gatos, feels like a well-kept secret. Small plates dining has taken off in recent years, but the restaurant, almost hidden in a modest strip of stores, keeps it authentic with Basque-style tapas. The small plates leave guests…
The massive line outside Sushirrito in Palo Alto is the first indicator of its popularity. Located near trendy neighbors on University Avenue like Blue Bottle, Umami Burger, and CREAM, the opening of a Sushirrito in the South Bay gives foodies easier access to experience the…
