Recs for Sunnyvale and San Jose

[caitlink]

Planning on the following:

Arcadia
Sawa sushi
Orenchi for ramen

Any others in San Jose or Sunnyvale that i should not miss?
read some reviews about Gombei
What about casual Korean choices in Sunnyvale? Or Malaysian? Thx.

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Gombei
193 Jackson St, San Jose, CA 95112

[rosiella1]

I'd skip Arcadia and try Alexander's instead. Alexander recently won a michelin star for 2011!
Gombei is good ole' home cooking. Can't go wrong with the specials on the board.
I'd also recommend dish dash in Sunnyvale - specifically the mansaf. Mmmmm. My mouth waters as I'm typing this.

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Gombei
193 Jackson St, San Jose, CA 95112

[rosiella1]

Oh I forgot to add.. if you you're looking for a lunch place - try La Villa in Willow Glen. It's absolutely the best ravioli's ever! Order the cheese raviolis!

[caitlink]

Thinking of trying Morton's happy hour as well.
Any recs for San Jose/Sunnyvale restaurant week?

[openhelix]

Uggh, the Morton's in SJ is the WORST I've been too and I was never a big Morton's fan to begin with!

Sent Sovi would be a good spot. I'm actually disappointed in the list of restaurants this year.

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Sent Sovi Restaurant
14583 Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070

[arlenemae]

Second Sent Sovi. Parcel104 is good as well.

Restaurant week is a great time to sample pricey restaurants. :)

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Sent Sovi Restaurant
14583 Big Basin Way, Saratoga, CA 95070

[budnball]

Avoid Morton's like the plague!

[openhelix]

I would definitely say Alexander's over Arcadia. Not a cuisine you mentioned, but Lion & Compass is old school but still a great spot. Kaygetsu in menlo park over Gochi if your budget can handle it.

For asian, I recommend Straits at Santana Row. If the weather holds, check out the sunset at Cielo the rooftop bar down the street.

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Kaygetsu Restaurant
325 Sharon Park Dr Ste A2, Menlo Park, CA 94025

Santana Row
355 Santana Row, San Jose, CA 95128

Lion & Compass Restaurant
1023 North Fair Oaks Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089

[arlenemae]

Indian - Amber India (Their Mountain View one is more famous but they have one in Santana Row if you're limited to Sunnyvale/SJ) or Turmeric (Sunnyvale)
Korean - I've always enjoyed Palace BBQ in Santa Clara, it's definitely casual as it's an all-you-can-eat buffet and you cook your own food. SGD Tofu House (also in Santa Clara) is great for spicy tofu soups
Steakhouse - Alexander's in Cupertino can't be beat (if your budget can accomodate it), but I thought Arcadia was decent as well (I like their truffle mac&cheese)
Malaysian - The closest good one I know of is Banana Leaf in Milpitas, worth the trek though if you really want Malaysian and other Southeast Asian
Vietnamese - Vung Tau in SJ. Authentic and good, my Vietnamese coworkers love this place

Second on Orenchi! Love their tonkotsu ramen!
Second on Gochi as well, creative and unusual menu, but also very tasty!

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Banana Leaf Restaurant
182 Ranch Dr, Milpitas, CA 95035

Amber India Restaurant
2290 El Camino Real Suite 9, Mountain View, CA 94040

Santana Row
355 Santana Row, San Jose, CA 95128

Vung Tau Restaurant
535 E Santa Clara St, San Jose, CA 95112

SGD Tofu House
3450 El Camino Real # 105, Santa Clara, CA

[ankimo]

santa clara korean -- i like jang su jang, secret garden
also so gong dong tofu house in palo alto el camino (the better one)
people usually talk about layang layang for malaysian, but i thought it was ok
orenchi is one of the best ramen
kitsho is another fine place for sushi specials (flown in fish)
alexander's is top notch
gochi has pretty awesome fusion pizza
sumika and gaku (new) have amazing yakitori
vung tau is more upscale vietnamese -- the good sj stuff is also found at bun bo hue an nam, pho y#1, pho ha noi, thien long, nam vang, thanh huong banh mi, etc depending on what dish you're looking for...
also anh hong in milpitas
dishdash is definitely worth it too.

[Melanie Wong]

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?i...

Hi ankimo, you're the first to mention Gaku. How would you compare it to Sumika or its sibling, Sumiya?

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Sumika
236 Central Plz, Los Altos, CA 94022

Sumiya
2634 Homestead Rd, Santa Clara, CA 95051

[ankimo]

Gaku been open a couple weeks -- same owners as sumiya. sumika is basically my yakitori gold standard around here (plus who can resist their amazing oyako-don), and the last time i went to sumiya, it was good but i wasn't super impressed. somehow gaku has it right though. the salt level, the smokiness, the tender juicy meat with crisp skin, it was excellent like sumika. (basically i use momo (thigh) with salt as my baseline, standardized test). guess smaller simpler menu $3/up per skewer = affords better execution and quality.
momo salt -- excellent, like sumika
momo sauce -- good, not quite as strong flavor as sumika
teba salt -- excellent
tsukune -- very good, different style from sumika
tontoro -- very good, not quite sumika, good with lemon
beef -- not as good as sumika
yaki onigiri -- could use more added shiso flavor

[vis]

DishDash is great middle eastern - in DT Sunnyvale
for Korean, i think Santa Clara is the spot - do not know any great spots but others do.

Gochi in Cupertino is a great spot for Japanese tapas...

[Gumbogirl]

You can't go wrong with Dish Dash. The food is excellent and the service is warm and friendly.

[jsaimd]

Indian is another good cuisine in Sunnyvale.