Chef Justin Perez has jumped through a lot of hoops in recent years—a series of unfortunate circumstances that Perez said are behind him at last. For now, every ounce of Perez’s focus is directed at his new vision for fine dining, Justin’s Appetite for Expression.
Restaurants News - page 56
Greek food is, in some ways, the opposite of Indian food. Instead of blending a lot of spices together and creating complex flavors, the trick is to use just a few to achieve a simple, pleasing taste. Maria Vlahopouliotis, the owner of Souvlaki Greek Skewers in San Jose, understands this not just from growing up in a Greek household but also from spending over a decade, until 2011, living in Greece, where she saw firsthand how the food is prepared.
Flames restaurant and bar has built a loyal following since debuting on South 4th Street in 2008 with a fun Las Vegas style atmosphere, daily happy hour specials and bottomless mimosas for Sunday brunch. We sat down with the manager, Rickey Fleming, well known as a greeter at the restaurant, to find out more about the restaurant and what he likes most about working in San Jose.
Hidden in plain sight is the somewhat generic-sounding Asian Bistro in Campbell, a source for both Vietnamese and Chinese food. It’s located in an area not surrounded by other Asian restaurants, and from the outside, the building is unremarkable, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well Asian Bistro delivered on both cuisines.
Amor Cafe and Tea, the latest coffee/tea house in downtown San Jose, is able to offer in-house baked goods because it also owns a commercial kitchen in town, which it uses to make goods to sell at flea markets on weekends.
It started with a stand at the Ferry Building Farmers Market in San Francisco. Now, a little more than three years later, the idea of simple and fresh Mexican food with local, sustainable and organic ingredients has expanded to two popular brick-and-mortar Tacolicious locations and a brand-new Palo Alto site opening on Feb. 19.
Tava Indian Kitchen, opened its first location about a year ago in Palo Alto and has already opened a second spot in San Francisco with fast and affordable Indian Cuisine.
The pancakes at Michelle’s, which is actually a Chinese restaurant, are bite-size rounds with a paper-thin dough on the outside and a savory blend of meat, veggies and spices on the inside, all cooked on the griddle.
The fifth annual SF Beer Week runs from Fri., Feb. 8, to Sun., Feb. 17, and a record number of events are planned throughout the Bay Area. Among the many South Bay participants are Harry’s Hofbrau, Wine Affairs, Original Gravity Public House, Rose & Crown, Liquid Bread Gastropub, and Hermitage and Strike brewing companies.
Jen Kwapinski, a professional baker from San Jose, made it to the final round of Next Great Baker, on TLC. with competitors Gretel Ann Fischer (Colchester, VT) and Ashley Holt (Louisville, KY). The finalists will be competing in Las Vegas for the season finale in a two-part challenge special. The challenge, judging from the trailer, appears to kick off with a similar challenge as last season’s finale – bake and sell as many Carlo’s Bakery specialties to make the highest profit along with creating the best Las Vegas themed cake.
