Sumika brings a taste of Japan to Los Altos, with recipes from a sister restaurant located in Saitama, Japan. Since 2006, the izakaya has served high-end charcoal grilled skewers with meat, seafood, and vegetables. The chicken, Kobe beef, and soy sauce scallop skewers are some of the most popular, while the mushroom is a solid option for vegetarians. Aside from the esteemed yakitori, Sumika’s menu boasts an array of classic appetizers like agedashi tofu, karaage, and tempura, which can be enjoyed with sake, beer, or wine. 

A longtime Bay Area institution, Chef Chu’s has been serving Chinese cuisine since 1970. The restaurant has been loved and visited by many Bay Area personalities, as well as advocates of the Asian American community. Even today, chef Lawrence Chu can be found in action in the kitchen, preparing his signature Beijing-style roasted duck, which is slow-cooked and barbecued in a traditional iron-cast Chinese oven. Regulars also rave about the Sichuan village-style clay pot, filled with meat that’s braised with a spicy sauce, as well as potstickers that are handmade daily. 

For a blast to the past, Chez TJs offers a dining experience that feels both homey and upscale. The Michelin-starred French restaurant is housed in a historic Queen Anne-style house originally built in 1894. The house boasts four elegant and intimate rooms, as well as a serene outdoor garden patio, complete with string lights and a fire pit. The first dinner at Chez TJ was served in 1982 with a focus on local ingredients. Today, the prix fixe menu is personally tailored by the chef to feature fresh, in-season fruit, vegetables, and herbs from the restaurant’s on-site culinary garden. 

Fine dining fans know Plumed Horse for its sleek, sophisticated approach to contemporary California cuisine, with dishes that harmoniously balance meat or fish with seasonal vegetables grown on the restaurant’s local farm. Since 2009, the Plumed Horse has received a Michelin star each year. The restaurant’s three-story wine cellar houses 1,800 selections and more than 20,000 bottles. Chef Peter Armellino created the black pepper and Parmesan souffle — with uni and Dungeness crab fondue — 15 years ago and it remains a staple on the menu today.

For quality Middle Eastern fare, Dishdash offers a slate of family recipes with a modern twist. Owner Emad Ibrahim is a Palestinian immigrant who moved to the U.S. from Jerusalem before opening the restaurant with his wife Nadiah Mshasha. The mansaf and kebabs are clear favorites, while the toasty lavash and homemade pitas with protein and vegetables are also popular choices. The restaurant aims to ensure the quality of its dishes using free-range chicken, dry-aged American lamb, and sustainably sourced seafood. After founding the original Sunnyvale location in 2001, the team has since opened a few additional casual outposts — similarly called “Dish N Dash” — throughout the South Bay.

For more than 20 years, Zeni has brought a true Ethiopian dining experience to Northern California. With traditional seating on low stools, family-style dishes, and the sharing of food from mesob straw baskets, Zeni is an expression of culture that seems to transcend the boundaries of its four walls on the west side of San Jose. The restaurant’s unleavened bread, or injera, is made from teff, which is a staple of Ethiopian cuisine. The notable specialty dishes are served with kitfo, meat that’s been seasoned with an array of aromatic spices.

In the charming downtown area of Los Gatos, Dio Deka serves sophisticated, Greek-inspired Mediterranean cuisine. The menu leans heavy on the protein, with an emphasis on fresh seafood, lamb chops, and steaks that are prepared on a mesquite-charcoal grill. The name of the restaurant translates to “210” and signifies the area code of Athens. Fittingly, the specialty dishes mirror a strong Greek influence with their ingredients including cheeses, olive oil, oregano, and thyme-scented honey. Dio Deka also offers an extensive wine list featuring 1,500 labels spanning Greek, Spanish, and Italian selections.

Le Papillon first opened in the heart of Silicon Valley in 1977 as a “continental-style” restaurant. While the it’s mostly stayed true to its roots in French fine dining, today’s Le Papillon feels rather contemporary. The tasting and prix fixe menus have kept offerings fresh as they change to reflect the season’s prime ingredients at their peak. Dining at the restaurant wouldn’t be complete without foray into the extensive wine list with more than 500 selections. Even with menu options that frequently evolve, the Grand Marnier souffle with fresh berries and cream has been on the menu since day one and is still the most popular dessert.

New Krungthai opened its doors in 1988 in San Jose, aiming to bring Thai cuisine to the Bay Area through a series of family recipes. To this day, the restaurant has stayed true to distinct flavors from Thailand, serving a menu of nearly 120 dishes and offering a casual dining experience. Unsurprisingly, pad thai is the most popular menu item, followed closely by the house specialty satay, marinated meat skewers. The fried rice dishes are also fan favorites, and most customers can’t resist ending their meals with sweet mango sticky rice.

Family-owned Falafel’s Drive-In has been cooking its staple dishes for nearly six decades. The menu offers casual favorites like hamburgers, salads, and pitas, but the restaurant’s forte is the falafels, which are based on a recipe that’s been passed down through generations. Visitors most frequently order “The Special,” which consists of a pita pocket stuffed with falafel balls, an array of vegetables, and homemade sauces. Many customers also gravitate toward the banana shake, which serves as a refreshing complement.

Tapas-style restaurant Orchard City Kitchen serves an array of creative, flavorful bites. The shareable dishes on the menu run the gamut and frequently change due to seasonal ingredients. Most visitors opt to dine in during brunch, when OCK offers typical items like benedicts, toast, and eggs – but incorporates a twist with ingredients like kimchi. “The Cure” is a modern take on the Korean budae jjigae or “army stew,” a spicy stew with Spam, ramen, tofu, and cheese,  while another star on the menu is the tiramisu pancake,  a fluffy, coffee-forward rendition of a hot cake. The restaurant also serves charcuterie for both brunch and dinner. 

A husband and wife duo opened Ox 9 in 2017, aiming to bring their favorite delicacy of Lanzhou handpulled noodles to the Bay Area. Paying homage to the centuries-old craft of making the unique style of noodles, every chef who works at Ox 9 has learned the technique from a master chef in Lanzhou, China. The noodles are served with warm, rich broth that’s been simmered with 30 spices for more than six hours. Visitors can customize the thickness of their noodles at Ox 9, which have a specific water-to-flour ratio that garners the optimal chewiness and slurpiness. Though the restaurant began with one location in Milpitas, it’s since expanded to Cupertino and San Mateo, with another set to open in Fremont.

Since opening its doors in 1996, Koi Palace has expanded to multiple locations throughout the Bay Area, serving a variety of Cantonese dishes. The restaurant, inspired by the experience of enjoying fresh seafood from live tanks in Hong Kong, has no shortage of dim sum options, including pork and shrimp siu mai, shrimp har gow, and, of course, the iconic Shanghai soup dumplings. Koi Palace is well-suited to serve large groups, as it’s known for its bustling tea house atmosphere, banquet offerings, and large shareable entrees, including seafood dishes made with crustaceans from the tanks.

For a true Italian deli, look no further than family-owned Bertucelli’s La Villa. Though ownership has shifted since the deli first opened as La Villa in 1947, most of the current staff have been working there for more than 15 years. To this day, the shop makes all its sauces, marinades, and dressings from scratch — oftentimes from recipes that have been passed down through generations. Bertucelli’s most loved dish is undoubtedly the ravioli, which are handmade and come in five different flavors. The sandwiches are also fan favorites, particularly the “Chris Combo,” a medley of meats, cheeses, and spices served on a French roll.

As another long-time Bay Area restaurant, Henry’s World Famous Hi-Life has been cranking out slabs of dry-rubbed, hot-smoked barbeque since the 1960s. The restaurant is known for its juicy, flavorful meat, sure to satisfy carnivores and barbeque fans. Visitors rave about the baby back and spare ribs, and the USDA-choice New York steaks are also a popular choice. For those seeking poultry, barbecue chicken and teriyaki chicken are solid options. Dinner orders are accompanied by a medley of sides, including a salad, baked potatoes, and garlic bread, plus there are plenty of beers on tap.

For a top-notch plant-based eatery in the South Bay, look no further than Good Karma – a casual spot that proves eating vegan doesn’t have to break the bank. The completely plant-based menu offers a selection of filling rice plates, tacos, bowls, burritos, and nachos, with most ingredients sourced from local organic farms. The hip restaurant feels like a cross between a charming cafe and a pub, while the wall of craft beers on tap and live entertainment are sure to provide an enjoyable experience. 

As the first and only Michelin-starred restaurant in San Jose and one of the only Portuguese restaurants in the U.S. to be recognized with a Michelin star, Adega embraces a modern, elegant approach to Portuguese food that incorporates seasonal ingredients. Its name, which appropriately means “wine cellar,” is a nod to the restaurant’s breadth of offerings from the wine room — with stocks more than 500 of the top wines from Portugal. Seafood is always often incorporated into the tasting menu, and dishes with sardines and octopus tend to be a hit. The Portuguese desserts — heavy on the egg yolks and sugar — are also highly regarded.

Duc Huong has you covered when it comes to Vietnamese street food cravings. Though its first grab-and-go location in San Jose opened with a specialization in pork loaf, the restaurant’s expansion across the South Bay along with the increase in menu items has led to the popularization of its bánh mì sandwiches, which are made with freshly baked French bread that can be upgraded to garlic bread at no extra charge. The pork loaf bánh mì and grilled pork bánh mì are hits among frequent visitors, but Duc Huong offers sandwiches with an array of meat options including fish patties, meatballs, and even spicy Korean pork. 

“Back A Yard” is derived from a term in the Caribbean that represents the lifestyle, culture, spirit and aura of welcoming visitors into one’s home. Fittingly, Back A Yard has become a Bay Area destination with five different locations serving nourishing and home-style Jamaican and Caribbean dishes. Some of the most popular orders include the jerk chicken and oxtail plate, curried goat, barbeque spareribs, jerk tofu, and coconut curried tofu. The jerk sauce and marinades are all made in-house, while the braised oxtail is cooked for hours to produce a deep, umami flavor.