When Vila Pho emigrated from the Banteay Meanchey province in Cambodia to the U.S. in 2003, she knew no one and took a job as a computer technician. It wasn’t her ideal job, but it paid the bills. She took English classes while she dreamed of opening a Cambodian restaurant with dishes steeped in lemongrass...
The Biz Beat: San Jose restaurant wants to highlight ‘California lifestyle’
There is a studied minimalism at The Club on Post that gives way to whimsy at times. Old movies and cartoons are projected on the wall. Picnic tables and umbrellas are set up down the middle of the closed-off street in front of the restaurant. A full bar runs half the length of the place,...
The Biz Beat: San Jose’s Burger Bar is a 1950s classic
Burger Bar in San Jose might have been what musician Chuck Berry was thinking about when he rhapsodized in “Back in the U.S.A.”about a place where “hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day.” The restaurant, founded in 1953 by Albert Berger, predates the classic song by six years and was the first of...
The Biz Beat: San Jose drive-thru serves authentic Mexican food
Who among us has not had a late evening or early morning craving for great Mexican food? Happily, San Jose’s Jalisco Taqueria is there to serve, with a drive-thru open until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays with a wide selection of authentic dishes cooked fresh daily. “I don’t know a lot of places where...
The Biz Beat: Jun Bistro in Milpitas offers natural fusion of Chinese cuisine
The recently opened Jun Bistro in Milpitas has its improbable origins in co-owner Amy Duan’s “Chihuo” — slang for “foodie” in Mandarin — a Chinese-language food blog that currently boasts more than 1.8 million followers and a full-time staff. “I didn’t realize it at the time,” she told San José Spotlight, “but I was using...
The Biz Beat: San Jose restaurant serves dishes from southern India
If all you know about Indian food is butter chicken or chicken tikka masala, the training wheels of the cuisine, a trip to Saapaaduu is in order. Specializing in the dishes of southern India, the San Jose restaurant offers diners a unique rotating menu prepared with no food dyes, MSG or seed oils — homestyle...
The Biz Beat: One Fish Raw Bar in Campbell pairs fresh fish with fine sake
The ever-changing selections at One Fish Raw Bar in Campbell offer a daily adventure for customers, not to mention for chef and owner Trent Lidgey and General Manager John VanBuhler, who finalize the menu half an hour before they open. “We have standing orders for lots of things,” VanBuhler told San José Spotlight, “but for...
The Biz Beat: Poor House Bistro is a bit of New Orleans in San Jose’s Little Italy
There’s something improbable about the existence of Poor House Bistro in San Jose, as if the fates were playing a game of chance with unlikely twists and turns that made this stellar New Orleans-themed restaurant land in the center of Little Italy. Take the building itself, built as a sorority house in the 19th century....
2023 in review: The top 10 Biz Beat stories
One of the great pleasures of compiling stories for The Biz Beat is meeting remarkable restaurant owners and soaking up their enthusiasm. Having the chance to stand in a corner of a kitchen and watch them prepare their dishes is a joy and an education. Their stories are diverse, from those who learned recipes by...
The Biz Beat: Midtown San Jose restaurant puts a spin on breakfast
Groucho Marx once said he would not care to belong to any club that would have him as a member. But if he’d seen the fantasyland of selections at The Breakfast Club at Midtown San Jose, it is likely he would have made an exception. While the menu is broken down into traditional breakfast and...