Authentic Mex in Saratoga

Tacos piled high with guacamole, sour cream and tons of yellow cheese. Huge burritos packed with gloppy brown refried beans. Enormous platters of nachos with plentiful toppings.  The essence of Mexican food?  Not really.  These American creations have as much in common with authentic Mexican food as chop suey does with real Chinese cuisine.  Meanwhile, the true regional cooking of Mexico is varied, delicious and in short supply in the South Bay.  But if Andrew Welch has his way, this will change — starting in affluent Saratoga, of all places.

Mayfield Cafe: Tasty Meals for the Rest of Us

This casual new spot aims to serve all Palo Altans

Imagine t.v.’s “Cheers” bar turned into a casual neighborhood eatery with quietly ambitious cuisine and you’ll approximate the new Mayfield Bakery and Cafe in Palo Alto’s refurbed Town & Country Village kitty-corner from Stanford Stadium. Trade the lovable drunks for designer-jeans-clad soccer moms and kids, dating couples, smiling retirees and VCs gobbling up business meals, but the concept still carries: a friendly, low-key establishment where everybody might not know your name but all are welcome.  The response has been very positive, even in the midst of the troubled economy.

Nick’s on Main is All About Comfort

Owner/chef Nick Difu has it all working — food, friendliness and atmosphere — at his new restaurant in downtown Los Gatos.

Pleasure has greater currency during troubled times. For example, savoring five-cent chocolate bars helped many Americans get through the Great Depression. Self-nurturing is therapeutic and for South Bay residents seeking an antidote to today’s economic uncertainties, one of the best places to indulge is year-old Nick’s on Main in Los Gatos.

Crab Landing Delivers Coastal Views and a Huge Menu

Inside its walls of windows overlooking Pillar Point Harbor, Crab Landing features sushi, a raw bar, huge seafood menu, steaks and two cocktail bars.

The only guests who couldn’t find something appealing to eat at just-opened Crab Landing in Half Moon Bay would have to be penny-pinching vegans who disdain great coastal views. For everyone else, this huge new restaurant overlooking the fishing boats in Pillar Point Harbor and the sweeping Pacific beyond takes a greatest-hits approach to its offerings that is calculated to please the widest swath of diners. Its two levels contain an oyster bar, a sushi bar, two cocktail bars and a wine cellar while presenting a menu of popular seafood dishes from across the country and well beyond — in addition to signature cocktails (the lychee martini is a hit), soups, salads, steaks, prime rib and ubiquitous desserts. There’s also al fresco patio dining, where the edge of renowned surf spot Mavericks crashes in the distance.

Los Gatos Loves Noisy New Cin-Cin Wine Bar

New hot spot occupies former location of Cafe Marcella

Posh Los Gatos has long had the South Bay’s most convivial restaurant scent. Dining out in this cute town is about more than sustenance as patrons – local and those who wish they were – flock to the burg’s expanding array of lively eating spots to meet, greet, quaff, jabber, ogle and in general have a great time. In this spirited environment, the new Cin-Cin Wine Bar has emerged as perhaps the quintessential Los Gatos eatery, dedicated to nutrition but particularly to fun in the local style.

Cascal in Mountain View is Muy Bueno

Hopping Cascal has a gorgeous interior and pleasing Latin cuisine

The Spanish translation of “winner” in 2004 was clearly Cascal restaurant. When this hopping Latin-themed joint at the corner of Castro and California (hence the name) in downtown Mountain View opened, it made you think it was still 1999, before the economy tanked. Back then, if the dot-coms had as much business savvy as this bustling bodega displayed, maybe we would all still be using our stock portfolios to plan early retirement.

Nobu Spinoff In South Palo Alto

Jin Sho/Nobu’s Yellowtail with Jalapeno

Nobuyuki Matsuhisa – known just as Nobu – is the most famous Japanese chef in the world, running a slew of restaurants on several continents that deliver his delicious style of modern Japanese food to appreciative, well-heeled audiences. For Peninsula foodies eager to sample Nobu cuisine, air travel has been required. Until now. Two chefs from New York’s Nobu exited the Big Apple, bringing their experience, skills and many Nobu recipes to South Palo Alto. Happily, owner-chefs Ichiro Takahashi and Noriomi Kaneko set up shop at their new Jin Sho restaurant armed not only with Nobu’s cooking sensibilities but with considerable knowledge of classic Japanese cuisine.

Plumed Horse – Worthy Overhaul and No Bargains

The reborn Plumed Horse in downtown Saratoga defines how the concept of “luxury” has changed in the past half century. First opened in the early ‘50s in a location once reputed to be a stable for cart horses, this venerable spot coasted along for years as a pricey purveyor of Continental cuisine. Back in the day, this used to be what fancy food looked like: a limited repertoire of rich, “European” recipes like pepper steak, lobster bisque, Beef Wellington and other preparations that often involved furious tableside preparation by tuxedoed waiters straight out of an old New Yorker cartoon. During the era of cheap gas and small tv sets, the Plumed Horse was non plus ultra.

Lure: Killer Seafood with a Light Touch

The concept of pets often resembling their owners has a corollary in the restaurant world. Dining in an establishment run by an owner/chef, you’re likely to sample unusual, highly personal cuisine that reflects the passions and prejudices of one individual. For some chefs who spent their earlier careers toiling as an underling in someone else’s kitchen, executing someone else’s vision, the holy grail is to be The Boss in their own place. And some owner/chefs do look like their food.

Cetrella in HMB is Better Than Ever

Half Moon Bay has more going on than the traditional pumpkins and fog. Fine dining has made an appearance in this cozy seaside town in recent years and in the case of lovely Cetrella, Half Moon Bay now has a full-fledged destination restaurant. Located on the south end of the blip of a downtown, Cetrella looks like a millionaire’s Tuscan estate on the outside. Inside, it’s all clean, understated elegance and top-notch food to match. Discriminating Peninsula diners can get the twofer of an outstanding meal and glorious sunset all in the same place.

Kaygetsu: Simply the Best Japanese

In Japan, they study the art of simple perfection, as seen in their translucent porcelains, exacting calligraphy and even in the three compelling lines of a haiku poem. This same rigorous esthetic is applied to dining. However, visiting a formulaic sushi bar and sipping cheap hot sake – the typical American’s exposure to this cuisine — is not the best example of the multi-dimensional sensory experience in which the Japanese excel. Rather, to find transcendent, authentic Japanese cuisine, look behind the Shell station in an out-of-the-way shopping center in Menlo Park. There you’ll find tiny Kaygetsu, which serves what many consider the best Japanese food in the Bay Area, if not beyond.

High-decibel Greek at DioDeka

Adding more delicious fuel to Los Gatos’ standing as the sizzling restaurant town of south county is perennially packed Dio Deka. Taking over the spot in the lovely Hotel Los Gatos formerly occupied by Kuleto’s, this darkly elegant, expansive, classy spot combines addictively delicious Greek food with welcoming, skilled service. The only downside is off-the-chart decibels. Even at 10:45 at night on a recent Saturday with the crowd starting to thin, the wall of noise was still daunting. But this seems to be a feature rather than a bug to the stylish set that flocks to the restaurant.

Upscale Homey at Restaurant James Randall

“Family restaurant” and “comfort food” don’t evoke thoughts of upscale cuisine but all three terms apply to newcomer Restaurant James Randall in downtown Los Gatos. Owners Brenda Hammond and her son Ross Hanson named their cozy spot after her late brother, who left her an inheritance that was intended to be spent on some sort of life passion. The restaurant’s growing fan base can testify to the obvious zeal of mother and son in this loving enterprise.