The food scene on the Peninsula and in the South Bay continues to heat up with the addition of several exciting new restaurants this month. There’s a place serving juicy soup dumplings, a new Indian restaurant with nearly 30 kinds of biryanis, and a chic Chinese cocktail bar with mouthwatering snacks to boot. Read on to learn more about each company.
Downtown Mountain View has a new Indian option at Bay Biryanis, which took over the old Shalala Ramen space on Dana Street. There are 27 kinds of biryani, from classic versions with lamb or goat to a vegan version with chunks of soy. Curries, ghee-fried chicken, and freshly baked naans sprinkled with jalapeños and cilantro are also on offer. On weekends, look for specialties like pani puri and mutton biryani.
Indoor and outdoor catering, take-out and delivery. 698 W. Dana St., mountain view. baybiryanis.com/
Jiuba, Santa Clara
Westfield Valley Fair’s iChina, a lavish ‘New American Chinese’ restaurant with black truffle dumplings and a private VR room, isn’t open yet – but its cocktail bar downstairs is. In JiuBa, the drinks use ingredients common in Asian cuisines like shochu, lychee, and pandan. Bar snacks include shrimp toast, fingerling mala potatoes, and a Chinese charcuterie platter with salted duck breast and five-spice beef shank. The stunning emerald green bar with gold accents and green velvet chairs is an appetizer for the chic upstairs decor of iChina, which opens later this month.
Meals inside. 2855 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Suite 1891, Santa Clara. ichinarestaurant.com/jiuba
Seo Rai, Santa Clara
The owners of Santa Clara’s Korean barbecue favorite, Chungdam, have opened their second act: Seo Rai. Open since mid-July, the dark but stylish El Camino Real restaurant serves everything from marinated galbi and thinly sliced ​​brisket to pork collar steak, as well as dishes like kimchi-jjigae and corn to cheese. Each table is equipped with a grill and a huge ceiling vent. It’s not an all-you-can-eat barbecue, but the banchan is, of course, bottomless – and it’s all available late at night, until midnight most days, and until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. .
Meals inside. 3044 El Camino Real, Santa Clara. seoraisv.com
Dough Zone Dumpling House, Cupertino
Dough Zone, the popular Seattle chain, continues its dominance of Bay Area dumplings with a second outpost in Cupertino. Dough Zone is known for its juicy and flavorful soup dumplings (available in two flavors, one filled with pork and Berkshire-Duroc crab and the other with chicken), seared sheng jian bao and dan dan noodles. Dough Zone Cupertino follows a 3 month old site in San Mateo, where there is often a queue for dumplings. Join the waiting list on Yelp to avoid a long wait at peak times.
Indoor catering, take-out and delivery. 19600 Vallco Pkwyl, office n ° 130, Cupertino. doughonedumplinghouse.com
Sapore Express, San Mateo
Fans of the Sapore Italiano in downtown Burlingame can now grab the artisanal pasta from the longtime restaurant in San Mateo. The owner’s second restaurant, Sapore Express, opened in mid-July. The relaxed Italian restaurant prepares several fresh pasta dishes, such as rigatoni cacio e pepe and squid ink tagliolini with seafood, as well as polentas and finger foods. Stop by the counter to discover the fresh, uncooked pasta of the day for cooking at home.
Indoor and outdoor catering, take-out and delivery. Fourth Avenue East, San Mateo. saporeexpress.com
Roger Bar and Restaurant, mountain view
At Roger, a new hotel restaurant in Silicon Valley, a friendly robot named Servi will drink the dishes from your table. Technology is on the mark for the restaurant inside the Ameswell Hotel, which nods to the technological history of the city and nearby NASA Ames. (The restaurant is named after the message in Morse code for “received.”)
The fare is light and seasonal, from crispy avocado sandwich to labneh tarragon carrots. Shelley Lindgren, co-owner and wine director of San Francisco’s A16 and SPQR, and her husband, Greg, are behind Roger’s beverage program. Visit during daily happy hour (5-6 p.m.) to experience cocktails, wine and beer. The Fly-By is also open at Ameswell, a coffee bar offering pastries from Mountain View’s favorite, the midwife and the baker.
Indoor and outdoor meals, take-away meals. 800, boulevard Moffett, mountain view. rogerbarandrestaurant.com
Elena Kadvany is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @ekadvany
