Southbay dinner?

[kloh]

Hello!

I'm trying to pick a place to have dinner.

I'm currently deciding between Chez TJ, where I currently have a reservation (thought of it first), Plumed Horse and Alexanders (steak place somewhere here). I'm open to other suggestions, but I'm not interested in anything in San Francisco.

The backstory; It's my four year anniversary so I'd like to go somewhere nice. That being said, I'm pretty new to the south bay, so I have no idea where anything is and I haven't eaten at most of the places around here. Thus, forcing myself to stay in the south bay is more of an adventure! :D

Thank you~

[rworange]

Where did you eat? If you report back we get a feeling for what you like and can make better recs in the future.

[budnball]

Unless you are really into beef, I would choose something else. For the same price of meal at Alexander's, you could have a real adventure at Manresa, or Chez TJ. Even the Plumed Horse is more fun and more romantic. Maybe its me but walking by a wall of aging meat kinda kills my appetite.

[Cary]

Many of the votes you'll see here, including mine, will recommend Manresa.

[Robert Lauriston]

Manresa's great.

[kc72]

These places were brought up when I was looking to buy a gift certificate for a wedding/anniversary

-----
Manresa Restaurant
320 Village Lane, Los Gatos, CA 95030

Trevese
115 N. Santa Cruz Avenue, Los Gatos, CA 95030

Dio Deka
210 E. Main Street, Los Gatos, CA 95030

The Plumed Horse
14555 Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070

James Randall Restaurant
303 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030

Le Papillon
410 Saratoga Ave, San Jose, CA 95129

[kloh]

Thank you, I'll check those out!

[spinn1]

My friends all highly recommend Alexander's, if you're into steak houses. It's the best in the South Bay, and one place I'm hoping to visit soon.

[kloh]

I'm a little bit iffy on Alexanders just because steak doesn't seem as "special." I know a prime steak coming out of their kitchen will be better than one coming out of mine, but unless you eat them side by side -- it's not too obvious.

Butttt, Alexander's has other stuff and they have wagyu/kobe/whatever it's properly called and my boyfriend has never had it (I think he's missing out on life). But there's also the option of driving up to Diablo Foods and grabbing a wagyu steak for $40/lb.

(I know I'm putting a ridiculous amount of thought into this and feel silly, but the boyfriend hates going to "fancy" places so I need to take advantage of the anniversary. Thanks in advance!)

[spinn1]

From what I'm told, there's much more that they offer than your standard steak. Unless you dry age your steak at home, it's going to be different at Alexander's. They do have actual wagyu beef from Japan which they can provide the docs for proof if required. My friend proposed to his fiance there. He arranged dinner at the chef's table. They had a beef sampling plate worth getting, which may only be offered as part of the Iron Chef meal. If your BF loves beef, then he should enjoy it.