Best of 2015 – Metro Silicon Valley | Silicon Valley’s Leading Weekly

It’s time to admit that Silicon Valley is a bit of a freak. A paradoxical place where self-driving cars, drones and presidential visits are so common they barely merit a second thought. Yet we steal elections with licked stamps and feed ballots into counting machines by hand. From $100 million mansions to a now-disassembled plywood and canvas favela that was ready for its own Zip code, the valley incubates diversity and embraces unconventional thinking. Our normal is never the norm.

This issue celebrates our exceptional existence. This is Metro’s 29th go-around of the original Best of Silicon Valley. We track the ramen joints and the Michelin star recipients, the local traditions and the new arrivals. We survey our readers and draw upon our own experiences to compile a useful roadmap to many of the valley’s noteworthy offerings. And, in a nod to the culture of invention, we built this year’s logo with the Tesla font by Lexi Griffith, and the script used in this issue is a typeface based on Nikola Tesla’s handwriting.

Over the coming weeks, winners will post announcements to websites and social media pages, and framed certificates will be hung on walls. Our mission, simply, is to recognize exceptional efforts and enable readers to discover and enjoy what’s here. We hope you like this issue and take advantage of the many amenities in the valley it salutes. (DP)

Short List

MetroActive Archives — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Hay Market

Most Innovative Restaurateur

Hay Market‘s Joe Cirone, Willow Glen

This has been a good year for some of the valley’s top chefs. David Kinch reopened the celebrated Manresa after a kitchen fire closed the establishment for six months. Jeffrey Stout rebounded from his unceremonious booting from Alexander’s with a big hit at Orchard City Kitchen. And Jim Stump recovered from the closings of two established restaurants to expand his successful The Table and concept an upscale burger-and-dogs joint, Stumpy’s. While those three dominated the culinary news, Joe Cirone’s Haymarket quietly emerged as the new star of the local farm-to-table movement. Developing relationships with suppliers so close he is on a first name basis with the pigs he butchers, Cirone eschews chatty menus and high concept themery for flavors, ingredients and kitchen craft. He has built a solid following that has attracted notice from the culinary cognoscenti. This year’s restaurateur to watch, we expect to see his team soon on the food shows, and the Hay Market or its spinoff in a bigger, high profile venue in the near future.

The Tech Awards

Best Proof Silicon Valley is Changing the World

The Tech Awards, The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose

Sure, the technology community gave us personal computers and search engines, and now smart watches and electric sports cars. Those are all nice things to have. But how about toilets and stoves? For the 2.6 billion people people who have no access to modern sanitation—1.7 million of whom die every year from disease and pollution—that’s a pretty big deal. The Tech Awards 2014 recognized an initiative to get toilets out to places that don’t have them, a project to convert organic waste to biogas for cooking and heating, a way to deliver anesthesia to off-the-grid hospitals and a system to deliver antibiotics to tuberculosis patients in rural India. These transformative efforts remind us of a higher purpose that can be achieved through applied science and that saving human lives may be more worthwhile than inventing the next social chat app.

Best Luxury Shopping

Luxury Collection at Westfield Valley Fair shopping center

Has anyone noticed that Valley Fair has slid ahead of Stanford and Santana Row for luxury brands? First Cartier left Stanford Shopping Center and opened one of only five West Coast stores. Ferragamo moved across the street from Santana Row. Then Armani and Prada joined Tiffany and Louis Vuitton. And Balenciaga? The brand has only six other US locations. So if you have too much money, or just want to look like you do, now you know where to go.

49ers Museum

Best Billion Dollars Spent

Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara

The Gates Foundation has spent billions to eradicate disease, and Mark Zuckerberg spent $19 billion on WhatApp, a company no one over 17 had ever heard of until it was purchased. Still a billion dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to. Back in the old days, you could buy Instagram, Tumblr or Waze, the Israeli mapping company, for around the billion mark. But now even a thermostat maker like Nest flips for triple that. Still, the best billion spent recently would have to be on the 49ers stadium in Santa Clara. The gorgeous white structure with high-tech bells and whistles has definitely elevated the region’s profile. We’ll host the Super Bowl next year, and with a little luck, the Grateful Dead will play one of their final concerts at Levi’s. And even those who can’t afford a seat license can still visit the new 20,000-square-foot 49ers Museum or enjoy a beer at Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak & Pub and watch a youth soccer game across the street.

Rotary Playgarden

Best Park That Excludes
No One

Rotary Playgarden, Coleman Avenue at Highway 87

One of the best affirmations of the power of people working together for the community good was the completion of the Rotary Playgarden. The new $6 million park, which allows kids with physical disabilities to play alongside able-bodied peers, opens this spring. $2 million came from members of the 100-year-old San Jose Rotary Club, who conceived of and spearheaded the project. Additional funding came from foundations, the City of San Jose, the County of Santa Clara and the county board of education. Sure, it helped that it was a mayoral election year, but this is not the time for cynicism. The fundraising blitz and equally speedy construction was an amazing feat, and Metro was proud to support this project.

Best Upcycling Support Team

Eleven months ago, when Metro relocated into a rehabilitated building in the SoFA District, we sought to reuse and upcycle spent objects. We built partitions out of old computers and newsracks, desks out of slabs of discarded steel from Sims Metals and tables out of reclaimed wood from Jim Salata’s Buccaneer Demolition warehouse. We lit them with LED lighting from Tal Mashhadian’s Lite Line Illuminations in Los Gatos. The locally-produced glass tiles in the bathrooms were fired from melted CRT monitor glass at Fireclay Tile on Julian Street. We fabricated coffee tables at TechShop, and Yes Welding crafted an amazing desktop. All of them will be getting BOSV certificates because we’re sure that each of them is the best at what they do.

Arts & Culture | Editors’ Picks

MetroActive Archives — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Best Interdisciplinary Art Powwow: Two Buck Tuesdays at Kaleid

Best Wild Boar Hunt

Almaden Valley

Southeastern San Jose

Feral hogs have roamed the South Bay for centuries, usually skittish enough to keep a wide berth of civilization. That changed in 2013 for reasons still unclear, when passels of pigs from the east hills bombarded past whatever invisible barrier that once kept them in the wild and into one of San Jose’s most affluent enclaves. The hulking 200-pound boars ripped and rooted through the manicured lawns of Almaden Valley looking for food, inflicting thousands of dollars in property damage. The district’s councilman, Johnny Khamis, declared war—not a “pig genocide,” he clarified—on the offending animals, leading to one of the most incongruous laws for a city that bills itself the “Capital of Silicon Valley.” With Khamis leading the charge, San Jose now allows the trapping and shooting of the hoofed pillagers. (JW)

Best Place to Cultivate Your Inner Donatello

School of Visual Philosophy

425 Auzerais Ave., San Jose

Husband-and-wife artists Yori Seeger and Dana Harris Seeger founded the School of Visual Philosophy in 2013 as a way to teach their chosen professions of sculpting, painting and printmaking. The school, situated near a corner cafe and an auto mechanic in San Jose’s offbeat Delmas Park neighborhood, offers workshops, courses or drop-in studio sessions in blacksmithing, home-brewing, screen-printing, stone carving, metal spinning, linocuts, bronze casting, jewelry making, joinery and so much more. The sunny, garage-like facility also functions as a co-op, with 13 separate rooms to rent as private studios. Ultimately, the Seegers want to forge their own accredited MFA program. (JW)

Best Free-for-All Hackathon

VTA Innovation Center

3331 N. First St., San Jose

Silicon Valley’s regional transit authority has taken a clever tack in harnessing the region’s patent ingenuity. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority—VTA, for short—set aside a small cut of office space in its San Jose headquarters for the public to use as a “living laboratory” to drum up ideas and test new technologies that improve public transit. The VTA Innovation Center opened with all the fanfare of a startup launch in February, inviting the community to use the space as an open coworking hub. The space includes several workstations where the public can develop, test and display their ideas. Already, several projects are underway, including an open-source trip planner and ridership analysis tools. (JW)

Girafa

Best Convicted Felon Paying His Restitution in Keychains

Girafa

In 2009, San Jose resident Steven Free—better known by his graffiti name, Girafa—was busted and slapped with more than $60,000 in fines for emblazoning walls, train cars and other surfaces all over the Bay Area with his signature giraffe character. Girafa’s yellow-and-black icon can still be seen everywhere from the Caltrain tracks just north of Diridon Station to the streets of San Francisco. Free no longer paints illegally, but he never gave up his art, either. In fact, he now makes money painting murals and selling original works of art—such as paintings on canvas or tiny Girafa keychains. He uses the money to pay his bills, which include monthly restitution installments. “It still boggles my mind,” Free told Metro this past summer. “It was never my intention to have to flip what got me in trouble to get me out of trouble.” We call that poetic justice. (NV)

Frenchman’s Tower

Best Gothic Landmark

Frenchman’s Tower

A few minutes’ drive from Stanford, just off of Old Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, sits a medieval-looking citadel with crumbling crenels and bricked-up windows—an unusual Old World monument shrouded by California oaks. Since a French aristocrat erected the tower in 1875, it has remained cloaked in rumor, cast over the years as an unsolved mystery. Historians say self-exiled French aristocrat Peter Coutts built the two-story structure as an unusual combination of water tower and library. In 1969, Frenchman’s Tower, as it came to be called, was registered as a California Point of Historical Interest. Locals consider the tower one of Peninsula’s most striking landmarks. (JW)

Best View of the Valley

Joseph D. Grant Park

18405 Mt. Hamilton Road, San Jose

Yes, the pinnacles of Mission Peak and Communications Hill offer stunning views of the region. But they’re also bombarded by visitors who take up all the parking, carve their initials into rocks, chuck empty water bottles along the trail and, generally, take away from the sense that you’re getting away from the hustle-and-bustle of the city. For some reason, Joseph D. Grant Park has managed to retain its bucolic calm, despite its convenient proximity to civilization. The 10,000-acre expanse of Santa Clara County parkland, a quick drive into San Jose’s east hills near Mt. Hamilton, boasts a 52-mile trail system, picnic spots, campgrounds and several small ponds for warm-water fishing. Trek about an hour upward and eastward for a vantage point that, on a clear day, extends across several counties and out to the ocean. (JW)

Girafa

Best Hikes That Social Media Ruined

Mission Peak/Communications Hill

Fremont and South San Jose, respectively

Fremont’s Mission Peak and San Jose’s Communications Hill used to be havens for locals—tiny pockets of isolation in the suburban sprawl of the South Bay where you could get away from it all, collect your thoughts and take in a great view. Then social media ruined everything. Daytripping tech yuppies from San Francisco followed the geotagged Instagram pictures of their East Bay friends to Warm Springs and the crossfit set off for South San Jose after seeing all those magnificent stairs on Facebook. Now you can barely go a single day without seeing a picture taken at one of these picturesque locales. What’s worse, these once-sparsely visited destinations are now crowded IRL. Yet another perfectly good thing ruined by social media. (NV)

Best Internationally Acclaimed Math Genius

Maryam Mirzakhani

Stanford University

While some mathematicians solve problems at a breakneck pace, Maryam Mirzakhani admits she works slowly, diving deep rather than racing forward. Her willingness to ruminate for years on some of the most confounding questions in her field has led to breakthrough analyses, “the kind of mathematics,” a colleague said, “you immediately recognize belongs in a textbook.” The 37-year-old Stanford University professor’s sophisticated and highly original contributions to geometry earned her the 2014 Field Medal, making her the first woman in history to win what’s widely regarded as the Nobel Prize of math. (JW)

Yosimar Reyes

Best Spoken Word Activist

Yosimar Reyes

Yosimar Reyes first felt the indelible power of words when people used them against him. Reflecting on their force as an expression of spirit, he realized that he could use words instead as agents of healing. The 26-year-old Guerrero, Mexico-born, East Side San Jose-raised queer poet-activist has since built a life around language, both spoken and penned. In 2009, his first self-published chapbook For Colored Boys Who Speak Softly gained a national audience. Reyes’ spoken word calls attention the plight of queer immigrant youth and has been featured in documentaries, including 2nd Verse: The Rebirth of Poetry and The Legalities of Being. His written work has been anthologized, while he lends his spoken word to galvanize conversations about politics, culture and the struggles of gay, working class and immigrant people. (JW)

Best Private Art Collection Open to the Public

Anderson Collection

314 Lomita Drive, Stanford

It’s safe to say that Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson, or “Hunk” and “Moo” as the couple are often called, have a more extensive art collection than you. Hunk, who made millions as a co-founder of the food-service company Saga, and Moo, started buying art in the 1960s, ultimately amassing a huge collection. Lucky for us, the couple has generously donated 121 sculptures and paintings from their collection—all works by American post-WWII artists including Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Frank Stella—to Stanford University. All of it can be viewed, admission free, at the recently constructed Anderson Collection building on the Stanford campus. (NV)

Best Community College Radio Station Broadcasting Live From Overseas

KFJC

KFJC

89.7 FM

KFJC’s low-wattage frequency (89.7 FM) can be hard to get a fix on—especially for those outside of the South Bay. But with it is definitely worth wrapping your antenna in foil, as the station delivers eclectic programming that you can’t get anywhere else on the terrestrial radio dial. Last September, KFJC sent a crew to the United Kingdom to broadcast live from the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia. Eric Johnson, KFJC’s general manager, has been with the station since 1991. “I think it’s kind of been a mission of college radio to be an alternative to mainstream,” he told Metro. “We’re looking to draw attention to bands that may not otherwise get attention.” (NV)

Best Fighter Taking on UFC’s Corporate Overlords

Cung Le

Like Curt Flood in his historic legal bout with Major League Baseball, MMA fighter Cung Le is suing the Ultimate Fighting Championship for name image and likeness rights in a case that industry insiders say could unravel the multibillion-dollar league. The San Jose mixed-martial artist and a cohort of plaintiffs argue that the UFC has made its meteoric rise from a $2 million enterprise to a $3.5 billion empire at the expense of fighters who work, effectively, as indentured servants with little to no bargaining power. Antitrust lawsuits often take years to play out, but this one will be interesting to watch. Even if Le loses, his complaint could force UFC to disclose sensitive information about fighters’ salaries that could give them leverage to negotiate better pay. (JW)

Best Grammar Scold

Bryan Henderson

A 51-year-old software engineer on an obsessive quest to rid the world—or at least one of the most trafficked websites in the English language—of his grammatical pet peeve has become something of a legend among WikiGnomes. Bryan Henderson, who lives in San Jose and goes by the username Giraffedata, has made more than 47,000 Wikipedia edits in the past eight years to rid the online encyclopedia of the phrase “comprised of.” He’s worked the practice into his daily routine: bike to work at 7:30am, lunch in the cafeteria, bike home at 5:30pm and then spend an hour waging all-out war against an obscure quirk of the English language. While Merriam-Webster and a few centuries of serious writers vet the phrase, Giraffedata wrote a 6,000-word screed explaining why he thinks that those two words combined are such an egregious mistake. Whether he’s correct or not is a matter of debate. What’s impressive, and somewhat amusing, is his resolve. (JW)

Food & Drink | Editors’ Picks

MetroActive Archives — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Manresa Bread

Best New High-End Bakery

Manresa Bread

276 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos

While most celebrity chefs focus on empire building, David Kinch has buckled down and turned his two-Michelin-starred Manresa restaurant into one of the world’s most acclaimed eateries. But Kinch had enough faith in his head baker, Avery Ruzicka, that he teamed up with her to launch his first spinoff: Manresa Bread. The bakery offshoot celebrated the opening of its first storefront in downtown Los Gatos this year. This is no hipster cupcake joint. Manresa’s bakery embodies the haute-cuisine spirit of its namesake, producing imaginative and labor-intensive baked goods. Orange-chocolate brioche. Marzipan-almond croissants. Sticky-sweet cinnamon monkey bread. Gruyere-onion tarts. Seasonal variations both savory and sweet, served with a side of Verve coffee. (JW)

Best Gourmet Ghetto

Downtown Mountain View

Castro Street, Mountain View

Sure, the original “Gourmet Ghetto” was in Berkeley, but the East Bay is so far. Where can you go in Silicon Valley for an abundance of eating options all in one place? If you don’t have access to Google’s world-class cafes, don’t sweat it—just head to Castro Street in downtown Mountain View. Choose from excellent (and cheap) street food, like ramen at Shalala, pho at Pho To Chau, or fish tacos at Fiesta Del Mar; grab a great cup of joe at the neighborhood’s two independent coffee houses, Red Rock or Dana Street Roasting Company; class things up at the Shell Shock oyster bar or with Mixx’s fusion menu, and satisfy your decadent side with foie gras at Chez TJ. There is plenty of tasty beer, too: check out the craft brews at Bierhaus, Steins Beer Garden, or grab a sixer to go from Jane’s Beer Store. (NV)

Good Karma Artisan Ales & Cafe

Best Beer Bar Posing
as a Vegan Restaurant

Good Karma Artisan Ales & Cafe

37 S .First St., San Jose

For the better part of a decade, Good Karma Vegan Cafe has been the go-to vegan spot in downtown San Jose—especially for the fixed-gear set. That’s not going to change any time soon. However, the restaurant is keeping patrons in their seats longer since adding a bevy of craft beers to the menu and rebranding itself Good Karma Artisan Ales & Cafe. With a newly installed rustic wood bar and expanded seating—both indoor and outdoor—Good Karma is a colorful place to grab a quick bite or kill several hours while enjoying industrial strength beer. (NV)

Best Place to Kill Your Hangover

Agave Mexican Grill

17 S. Fourth St., San Jose

Dude É it’s Sunday and you’ve done it again. You went too big and now you’re hurting the kind of hurt that only the hair of the dog can fix. Your buddies want you to hit up Flames with them, and while those bottomless mimosas are a great deal, you need salt—not sweet—and in the name of all things holy, you can’t deal with a crowd right now. So follow your friends to South Fourth Street, and when no one is looking, limp away to Agave Mexican Grill on the other end of the block. While you’re there you can grab some cheap tacos, menudo or just some good, old fashioned rice and beans. Enjoy the spoils of an extensive salsa bar and throw back a few savory micheladas. No one will find you and you won’t have to look anyone in the eye. (NV)

A Slice of New York

Best Wall of Shame

A Slice of New York

3443 Stevens Creek Blvd., San Jose

A Slice of New York—the hole-in-the-wall pizza joint in west San Jose—enjoys a devoted following and the four-and-a-half-star Yelp reviews to show for it. Amassing a near-perfect rating from more than 1,800 famously finicky Yelpers is an impressive feat for any eatery. Of course, most of those stars come from the fact that #ASONY (as the kids call it) serves some of the best thin-crust pizzas this side of the Big Apple. It also helps that engineer-turned-pizzeria proprietor Kirk Vartan makes a point of responding to every person who kvetches online about the food or service. But his brand of customer service isn’t all bend-over-backwards friendliness—he will draw a line and resort to public shaming if the offense merits the punishment. Punctuating the San Jose storefront’s New York City Subway decor is a Wall of Shame plastered with photos of one-time customers banished for good for unsavory behavior. Some standouts: urinating in a nearby alley (then Yelping about it), making off with a red pepper flakes-shaker, sucking on a bottle of hot sauce like a baby bottle and throwing a pizza box at the clerk. (JW)

Best Chili-Spiced Dessert in a Cup

Mangonada

United Paleteria y Neveria, 410 S. King Road, San Jose

Ramen burgers. Cronuts. Donut burgers. Quesadilla-wrapped burritos. Social media has spawned an entire genre of culinary mash-ups, inspiring chefs to whip up improbable concoctions in the hopes of creating the next “buzzfood” for people to gloat about on Instagram. For many of these creations, novelty trumps taste. Not so with the mangonada, the South Bay’s summertime obsession as evidenced by the deluge of IG photos of the icy treat every time the weather warms. The mangonada is a fiery orange-and-red Mexican dessert that’s at once salty, sweet, spicy, bitter and sour—a traditional dessert enjoying its moment as a buzzfood because of its striking mix of flavors and, maybe, because it’s so photogenic. Essentially, a parfait of mango sorbet topped with fresh cut mangoes, chili powder, lime, salt, a drizzle of fermented fruit chamoy sauce and speared with a tamarind candy-coated straw. Come any sunny day, and, without fail, an out-the-door line forms at United Paleteria y Neveria, a Mexican ice cream parlor on King Road. (JW)

Nam Vang

Best Cambodian Noodles

Nam Vang

2477 Alvin Ave., San Jose

With the days warming up into 80-degree heat, soup season is just about coming to a close. Time to switch from belly-warming pho to dry noodles with a small side of pork bone broth to spoon over the main dish for maximum slurpability. At Nam Vang—a cash-only Cambodian-Vietnamese-Chinese fusion noodle spot in a dingy south San Jose strip mall—the Special No. 1 has endured as a perennial favorite. It comes with a mix of rice noodles and/or egg noodles, parsley, ground pork, squid, shrimp, green onions, bean sprouts and a sticky sauce. Order it with a Chinese long donut to dip in the broth. (JW)

Best Secret Coffee Spot

I Java Cafe

387 Delmas Ave., San Jose

Denizens of Delmas Park, a neighborhood bounded on one side by a roaring freeway and populated by auto body shops, forgotten modernism and slumping Victorians, worried at first that the corner lot would end up occupied by a pot collective or a tattoo parlor. Instead, much to their delight, they got I Java Cafe. Tucked away in its quirky, oddly zoned pocket, I Java lies in the heart of the city but still manages to feel off the beaten path. While some nights draw lively crowds for live music or art shows, an afternoon at the corner cafe is usually quiet, inviting for anyone who needs a peaceful place to meet over a cup of coffee or work alone to the proprietor’s preferred soundtrack of Spanish guitar. (JW)

Jack Rose Libation House

Best Literary Themed Bar

Jack Rose Libation House

18840 Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, Los Gatos

When Russ Stanley reinvented the Hacienda Inn a couple years ago, he drew inspiration from the neighborhood’s literary history. John Steinbeck penned The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men at his home on nearby Greenwood Lane in the late ’30s. Stanley renamed the place Jack Rose Libation House, named after the novelist’s favorite cocktail of apple brandy, lemon and grenadine. The cocktail-centric bar translates its writerly theme to the decor, too. Walls are scrawled with quotes and recipes, book-lined shelves separate intimate alcoves, and birds made from book pages hang from the ceiling. The drink menu pays homage to other writers, as well, with cocktails such as The Beautiful and Damned and This Side of Paradise. (JW)

Music & Nightlife | Editors’ Picks

MetroActive Archives — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

DJ Purple

Best No-Slow-Jams-Allowed Karaoke DJ

DJ Purple

The Patio, 412 Emerson St., Palo Alto

Karaoke DJ Steve Hays, better known as DJ Purple, hosts a regular Wednesday-night party at The Patio in Palo Alto, where he has just one rule: no slow songs. That’s because Hays isn’t your run-of-the-mill karaoke DJ. While most karaoke jocks are content to hand out songbooks and then let the patrons run the show, Hays presides over his parties with the care and attention of a skilled emcee. He only spins high-energy tracks with a beat—to encourage dancing and crowd participation—he plays saxophone, harmonica and sings backup harmonies live. “I want to show people around the world what’s possible with karaoke,” he told Metro. (NV)

Best Cross-Dressing Spectacle

Goth Drag Night

Club Apparition, 30 S. First St., San Jose

Goth as a fashion tends toward the androgynous, so it wasn’t much of a stretch when Albert Felix assembled a band of misfits for San Jose’s first and only Goth Drag Night, a macabre twist on traditional drag. Just last week, Felix—known to the underworld as DJ Necromos—celebrated the sixth anniversary of the cross-dressing spectacle set to a soundtrack of deathrock, darkwave or some other iteration of goth-industrial. Less diva-esque than the Vegas showgirl stylings of drag performers at nearby Splash, Goth Drag Night has cultivated its own brand of showmanship with contests to reward the more elaborate costumes—the more ghoulish the better. For the past two years these gender-bending Thursday night fetes have taken place at Club Lido, which shape-shifts into its goth counterpart, Club Apparition, when Necromos has his way with it. (JW)

Tyler Hinz

Best Attorney Moonlighting as a Comedian

Tyler Hinz

www.tylerhinzlaw.com

Tyler Hinz says he got into comedy to get over his crippling fear of the opposite sex. Maybe an eligible woman in the audience would be so enamored of his wit that she would want to marry, watch boring TV shows and grow old with him. While he has yet to sucker a woman into tying the knot—hang in there, Ty—he has racked up a fair amount of comedy credits. The 30-year-old South Bay standup known for his quirky digressions and keen, off-the-cuff observations—he’s been compared to Rory Scovel—has opened for a number of high-profile comedians at Rooster T. Feathers and the San Jose Improv, including Darren Carter, Ron Shock and Marc Curry (Hanging with Mr. Cooper). Making time for his ascendant comedy career is something of a juggling act for Hinz, a Santa Clara University law school grad who also runs his own legal practice, which he started for reasons much less self-serving, like helping people plan their estates and fend off predatory lenders. (JW)

Best Up-And-Coming Nightlife Hub

ThSoFA District

374 S. First St., San Jose

San Jose’s SoFA district is re-emerging from the shadows and will soon be the coolest place to hang out downtown. For well over a year, Cafe Stritch has been hosting some of the best jazz and indie rock shows in the South Bay, while the newly opened Continental Bar is classing up the block with smart house music and craft cocktails. Word is that Single Barrel is re-branding—maintaining the high-end hooch but ditching the shushing. Then there’s the mixed-use SoFA Market, which will feature street food bites, a bar and coffee shop. And finally, The Ritz: the new venture from Blank Club owner Corey O’Brien, which is slated to open in the former F/X The Club building in early April. If you’ve been spending your nights at San Pedro Square or in the center of downtown, you need to give SoFA a try. (NV)

Madera

Best Place to Meet the Venture Capitalist of Your Dreams

Madera

2825 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park

Hotel bars and restaurants are typically associated with bleary-eyed business travelers and adulterous rendezvous. But Madera is a little different. Located inside the five-star Rosewood Sand Hill hotel in Menlo Park, Madera is located in the epicenter of Silicon Valley venture capital—Sand Hill Road. Madera’s bar has become a regular hangout for some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest investors. As such, it has also attracted a crowd of singles seeking a well-to-do mate. With an all-star chef and sommelier on staff, it’s a great place to just grab a bite and a drink while enjoying the view, which overlooks the rustic beauty of the Santa Cruz mountains. (NV)

Best Comedy Open Mic

Woodhams Sports Lounge

4475 Stevens Creek Blvd., Santa Clara

At a poetry slam or a musical open mic, the audience is generally supportive enough to offer whistles, applause and even post-performance hugs, handshakes and exhortation. It’s heartwarming, really. Stand-up comedians, by contrast, practice their craft in stuffy dives populated by ornery drunks with a chip on their shoulder about some wannabe comic interrupting their weeknight booze-fest with some rant about the travails of Tinder dating. Comedy open mics have a quick shelf life. The regulars or the bar staff get sick of the whole thing and run the show out. Not so at Woodhams Sports Lounge in Santa Clara, where veteran South Bay stand-up impresario Pete Munoz has held his Monday night comedy open mics for well over a year. Instead of irking the attendant barflies, comedy night has grown into a draw unto itself, attracting local favorites like Sammy Obeid (Conan), Brendan Lynch (Adam Devine’s House Party) and resident oddball John Hoogasian (Live at Gotham). (JW)

Music & Nightlife | Reader Picks

MetroActive Archives — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Paper Plane

Best New Bar/Club

Paper Plane

72 S. First St, San Jose

Agave Sports Bar

2270 Monterey Road, San Jose

RockBar Theater

360 Saratoga Ave, San Jose

Best Comedy Venue

San Jose Improv

62 S. Second St San Jose

Rooster T. Feathers

157 W. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale

Made Up Theatre

3392 Seldon Ct, Fremont

Best Concert Venue

Mountain Winery

14831 Pierce Rd, Saratoga

Shoreline Amphitheatre

1 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View

California Theatre

345 S. First St, San Jose

Best Small Music Venue

#1 Broadway

102 S. Santa Cruz Ave # B, Los Gatos

Poor House Bistro

91 S. Autumn St, San Jose

JJ’s Blues

3439 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose

Best Dance Club

Agenda

399 S. First St, San Jose

Los Gatos Bar & Grill

15-1/2 N. Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos

Charleys LG

15 N. Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos

Best Jazz/Blues Club

JJ’s Blues

3439 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose

Angelica’s Bistro

863 Main St, Redwood City

Cafe Stritch

374 S. First St, San Jose

Best Latin Music Club

Agenda

399 S. First St, San Jose

Club Rodeo

610 Coleman Ave, San Jose

Miami Beach Club/Beso

417 S. First St, San Jose

Best Wine Bar

Artisan Wine Depot

2482 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View

16212 Los Gatos Blvd, Los Gatos

Cin-Cin

368 Village Ln, Los Gatos

Tessora’s Barra di Vino

234 E. Campbell Ave, Campbell

Best Local Winery

Black Ridge Vineyards

18550 Black Rd, Los Gatos

Testarossa Winery

300 College Ave, Los Gatos

Cinnabar

23600 McKean Rd, San Jose

Best Sports Bar

4th Street Pizza

150 E. Santa Clara St, San Jose

Double D’s Sports Grill

354 N. Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos

Rookies

1535 Meridian Ave, San Jose

Best British Pub

Britannia Arms Almaden

5027 Almaden Expy, San Jose

(TIE) Britannia Arms Downtown

173 W. Santa Clara St, San Jose

(TIE) Duke of Edinburgh

Cupertino Village Shopping Center, 10801 N. Wolfe Rd, Cupertino

Trials Pub

265 N. First St, San Jose

Best Irish Pub

C.B. Hannegan’s

208 Bachman Ave, Los Gatos

O’Flaherty’s

25 N. San Pedro St, San Jose

Katie Blooms

369 E. Campbell Ave, Campbell

Best Gay or Lesbian Bar

Splash

65 Post St, San Jose

King of Clubs

893 Leong Dr, Mountain View

Renegades

501 W. Taylor St, San Jose

Best Hotel or Restaurant Bar

Hedley Club Lounge (Hotel De Anza)

Hotel De Anza, 233 W. Santa Clara St, San Jose

Affinity (Hilton-San Jose)

Hilton San Jose, 300 S. Almaden Blvd, San Jose

V Bar (Hotel Valencia)

Santana Row, 355 Santana Row, San Jose

Best Craft Cocktails

Paper Plane

72 S. First St, San Jose

Single Barrel

43 W. San Salvador St, San Jose

Jack Rose Libation House

18840 Los Gatos Saratoga Rd, Los Gatos

Best Martinis

The Basin

14572 Big Basin Way # D, Saratoga

Dry Creek Grill

1580 Hamilton Ave, San Jose

Jack Rose Libation House

18840 Los Gatos Saratoga Rd, Los Gatos

Best Moscow Mules

55 South

55 S. First St, San Jose

Single Barrel

43 W. San Salvador St, San Jose

Dry Creek Grill

1580 Hamilton Ave, San Jose

Best Mojitos

Arcadia Restaurant

San Jose Marriott, 100 W. San Carlos St, San Jose

El Jardin Tequila Bar

Santana Row, 368 Santana Row, San Jose

Cascal

400 Castro St, Mountain View

Best Margarita

Aqui

1145 Lincoln Ave, San Jose

201 E. Campbell Ave, Campbell

10630 S. De Anza Blvd, Cupertino

5679 Snell Ave, San Jose

Agave Mexican Bistro & Bar

194 Castro St, Mountain View

El Jardin Tequila Bar

Santana Row, 368 Santana Row, San Jose

Best Place to Play Pool

Alex’s 49er Inn

2214 Business Cir, San Jose

South First Billiards

420 S. First St, San Jose

Santa Clara Billiards

4525 Stevens Creek Blvd, Santa Clara

Best Bowling Alley

4th Street Bowl

1441 N. Fourth St, San Jose

Cambrian Bowl

Cambrian Park Plaza Shopping Center, 14900 Camden Ave, San Jose

Bowlmor Lanes

Westfield Oakridge, 5420 Thornwood Dr, San Jose

Vallco Fashion Park, 10123 N. Wolfe Rd, Cupertino

Best Pre-Sharks Game Spot

San Pedro Square Market

87 N. San Pedro St, San Jose

Henry’s Hi Life

301 W. St John St, San Jose

Bluefin Sushi & Japanese Restaurant

National Corporate Housing, 754 The Alameda #10, San Jose

Central Valley

MetroActive Archives — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Parcel 104

Best American Restaurant

Parcel 104

2700 Mission College Blvd, Santa Clara

Armadillo Willy’s

2624 Homestead Rd, Santa Clara;

161 E. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale;

10100 S. De Anza Blvd, Cupertino

St. John’s Bar & Grill

510 Lawrence Expy, Sunnyvale

Best Business Lunch

Faz

1108 N. Mathilda Ave, Sunnyvale

Birk’s

3955 Freedom Circle, Santa Clara

Pedro’s

3935 Freedom Circle, Santa Clara

Best Chinese Restaurant

Joy Luck Place

10911 N. Wolfe Rd, Cupertino

China Stix

2110 El Camino Real, Santa Clara

456 Chinese Restaurant

2362 Pruneridge Ave, Santa Clara

Best Japanese Restaurant

Yuki Sushi

1827 Pruneridge Ave, Santa Clara

Kobe

2086 El Camino Real, Santa Clara

Gombei

3533 Homestead Rd, Santa Clara; 155 E. Maude Ave, Sunnyvale

Best Mexican Restaurant

La Paloma

2280 El Camino Real, Santa Clara

Pedro’s

3935 Freedom Circle, Santa Clara

Aqui Cal-Mex

10630 S. De Anza Blvd, Cupertino

Best Indian Restaurant

Bombay Garden

3701 El Camino Real, Santa Clara

Kabab and Curry’s

1498 Isabella St, Santa Clara

Shalimar

1146 W. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale

Best Thai Restaurant

Jasmine Fine Thai

1211 Franklin Mall, Santa Clara

Thai Pepper

103 E. Fremont Ave, Sunnyvale

Amarin Thai

4300 Great America Pkwy #180, Santa Clara

Best Taqueria

Mondo Burrito

3300 The Alameda, Santa Clara

Viva Taqueria

444 N. Winchester Ave, Santa Clara

Chavez Market

666 N. Fair Oaks Ave, Sunnyvale

Best Breakfast

Sara’s Kitchen

1595 Franklin St, Santa Clara

Hobee’s

800 W. Ahwanee Ave, Sunnyvale; 21267 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 310, Cupertino

Country Gourmet American Bistro

1314 S. Mary Ave, Sunnyvale

Best Independent Coffeehouse

Coffee Society

21265 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 202, Cupertino; 10800 Torre Ave, #100, Cupertino

Caffino Drive-thru Espresso and Tea

2790 Homestead Rd, Santa Clara

Bean Scene Cafe

186 S. Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale

Best Bakery

La Patisserie

19758 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino

Nothing Bundt Cakes

939 W. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale

Sugar Butter Flour

669 S. Bernardo Ave, Sunnyvale

Best Burrito

Mondo Burrito

3300 The Alameda, Santa Clara

Freebirds

20688 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino

Aqui Cal-Mex

10630 S. De Anza Blvd, Cupertino

Best Hair Salon

Sanctuary

790 Lincoln St, Santa Clara

Salon Blu

2251 The Alameda, Santa Clara

Saga Hair

20488 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino

Best Local Festival

Santa Clara Art and Wine

Central Park, Santa Clara, Sep 19-20

Sunnyvale Art and Wine

Murphy Ave, downtown Sunnyvale, June 6-7

Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival

Memorial Park, Cupertino, April 25-26

Best Happy Hour

Elephant Bar

19780 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino

Pedro’s

3935 Freedom Circle, Santa Clara

Paul and Eddie’s Monta Vista Inn

21619 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino

Best Karaoke

Woodhams Lounge

4475 Stevens Creek Blvd, Santa Clara

Blue Max

828 W. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale

Bogart’s

1209 Wildwood Ave, Sunnyvale

Best Dive Bar

Woodhams Lounge

4475 Stevens Creek Blvd, Santa Clara

The Hut

3200 The Alameda, Santa Clara

Normandy House

30 Washington St, Santa Clara

Best Wine Shop

The Wine Club

1200 Coleman Ave, Santa Clara

Coach House Wine & Spirits

1655 S. De Anza Blvd, Cupertino

Bobby’s Liquor

2327 El Camino Real, Santa Clara

Fremont/Milpitas

MetroActive Archives — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Fremont Festival of the Arts

Best Local Festival

Fremont Festival of the Arts

Downtown Fremont, Aug 1-2

Celebrate Milpitas

Milpitas Backyard Boogie

Summer Concert Series, Milpitas

Best Business Lunch

Zahir’s Bistro

579 S. Main St, Milpitas

Tirupathi Bhimas

11208 S. Abel St, Milpitas

Sen Dai Sushi

224 N. Abel St, Milpitas

Best Hair Salon

Ma Belle Salon

43625 Mission Blvd, Suite 107, Fremont

M Salon

39185 Farwell Dr, Fremont

Creative Concepts

150 S. Main St, Milpitas

Best Happy Hour

Jack’s Brewing Company

39176 Argonaut Way, Fremont

Dave & Buster’s

940 Great Mall Dr, Milpitas

Bully’s Grillpub

4096 Bay St, Fremont

Best Dive Bar

Kirby’s Sports Bar

42312 Fremont Blvd, Fremont

Mojo Lounge

3714 Peralta Blvd, Fremont

The Back Door Lounge

37422 Fremont Blvd, Fremont

Best Wine Shop

The Bottle Shop

40919 Fremont Blvd, Fremont

Cork ‘n’ Bottle

5200 Mowry Ave, Fremont

Milpitas Liquors

190 S. Main St, Milpitas

Best of 2015 – Metro Silicon Valley | Silicon Valley’s Leading Weekly

Fremont/Milpitas

Best Business Lunch

Best American Restaurant

Best Chinese Restaurant

Best Japanese Restaurant

Best Mexican Restaurant

Best Indian Restaurant

Best Thai Restaurant

Best Taqueria

Best Breakfast

Best Independent Coffeehouse

Best Bakery

Best Burrito

Goods & Services

Best Wine Shop

Best Hair Salon

Arts & Culture

Music & Nightlife

Best Happy Hour

Best Dive Bar

San Jose/South County

Best Business Lunch

Best American Restaurant

Best Chinese Restaurant

Best Japanese Restaurant

Best Mexican Restaurant

Best Indian Restaurant

Best Thai Restaurant

Best Taqueria

Best Breakfast

Best Independent Coffeehouse

Best Bakery

Best Burrito

Goods & Services

Best Wine Shop

Best Hair Salon

Arts & Culture

Best Local Festival

Music & Nightlife

Best Happy Hour

Best Karaoke

Best Dive Bar

The Best of Silicon Valley 2015 – Features & Columns

Short List

Most Innovative Restaurateur

Best Proof Silicon Valley is Changing the World

Best Luxury Shopping

Best Billion Dollars Spent

Best Park That ExcludesNo One

Best Upcycling Support Team

Arts & Culture | Editors’ Picks

Best Wild Boar Hunt

Best Place to Cultivate Your Inner Donatello

Best Free-for-All Hackathon

Best Convicted Felon Paying His Restitution in Keychains

Best Gothic Landmark

Best View of the Valley

Best Hikes That Social Media Ruined

Best Internationally Acclaimed Math Genius

Best Spoken Word Activist

Best Private Art Collection Open to the Public

Best Community College Radio Station Broadcasting Live From Overseas

Best Fighter Taking on UFC’s Corporate Overlords

Best Grammar Scold

Food & Drink | Editors’ Picks

Best New High-End Bakery

Best Gourmet Ghetto

Best Beer Bar Posingas a Vegan Restaurant

Best Place to Kill Your Hangover

Best Wall of Shame

Best Chili-Spiced Dessert in a Cup

Best Cambodian Noodles

Best Secret Coffee Spot

Best Literary Themed Bar

Music & Nightlife | Editors’ Picks

Best No-Slow-Jams-Allowed Karaoke DJ

Best Cross-Dressing Spectacle

Best Attorney Moonlighting as a Comedian

Best Up-And-Coming Nightlife Hub

Best Park That Excludes
No One

Best Beer Bar Posing
as a Vegan Restaurant