Bella and I are off on a business trip to San Jose but as usual we’ll do our best to “sniff in” on some good eating and maybe visit some of our peeps.

Domain Hotel: Lobby

After our brief flight from the John Wayne Airport we grab a rental car (2014 Nissan Sentra) and meet Bella’s cousin and family and head to Cascal (cascalrestaurant.com) in Mountain View.  This is a “spirited pan-Latin cuisine” restaurant per their site.  The food was above average but definitely not spectacular.  There is a nice vibe on the patio albeit a lack of protection from the sun.  We ordered a tomato shredded beef dish and a fairly typical Cuban pork shoulder with sweet potato mash and black beans.  The beef was a tad dry and the pork dish didn’t compare with the more traditional Bella Cuba restaurant in Costa Mesa.  The best thing here was the flan which was soft, tasty, creamy with an airy appearance.  There was a nice orange flavor via sliced miniature pieces of fresh orange (on top) with juice rolling over the edges of the dessert.

The service was adequate but even on a Saturday I don’t recommend bringing young children here.  You could tell on the staff’s face (right out of the gate) that they weren’t thrilled with having youngsters in their establishment.  You could sense the impatience on the server’s face as the mother and father were distracted several times catering to the demand for attention from their children.  My assumption is that they are much more accustomed to serving corporate clientele given their location.

The worst thing here was the seating.  The chairs were oddly shaped similar to a triangle albeit not pointy at the end.  Unbelievably the small portion of the chair is where your “posterior” was supposed to fit.  Truth-be-told my gluteus maximus isn’t the width of an MTA bus but “baby got back” would be a very accurate statement.  As a result, I was never comfortable and wished I could temporarily be as petite as the Asians I was currently dining with.

Downtown Mountain View looks way more appealing than I recall but I only recall visiting this area twice during my college years.  There are some great looking condos and lots of restaurants and cafes nearby.

Domain Hotel: Lobby

We booked the Domain Hotel (jdvhotels.com) because it had the appearance of a boutique hotel yet had an affordable rate.  I examined the photos carefully and my perception was that a brilliant businessman had purchased run down antiquated apartment buildings and working “largely” on a tight budget converted them into “aesthetically pleasing to the eye” boutique hotels.  Upon arrival, my observations and suspicions were confirmed.

Our Sleep Number Bed

The founder/designer has creatively cut corners by using sheer panels and drapes to conceal items which aren’t that pretty and would be costly to remove and replace.  They spent money in what in my opinion is the right areas: fresh lime water in the lobby; Sleep Number brand beds (65 being our magic #); attractive porcelain tile in the lobby; quality linens and bath products; granite counters in the bathroom; fitness center with quality equipment; Keurig coffee system in-room; stylish sun coverings and furniture at the pool; modern quality carpeting.

Bathroom with Granite

In addition, the hotel has a small bar with a variety of hip modern seating and nice drink options.  These hotels are perfectly designed for those artist/musician types who want to stay somewhere with a cool vibe but don’t have a big travel budget.  At check-in, the front desk clerk made a point to ask if we wanted our room in a more lively section of the hotel or a quieter section.  Being married seven plus years, I stated the obvious — “quiet please”.

Modern Drapes

We were able to take a very short walk down the street to Tanto (1063 E. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA  94087) for a delicious dinner featuring Japanese cuisine.  Their sashimi salad was one of the best we’ve had.  The salmon sashimi consisted of big, fat slices of soft and buttery textured fish.  Another winner was the stir-fried veggies with green beans, sprouts, broccoli, onions and mushroom.  Their tuna tataki had a delicious fatty taste and was stunning to look at.  We closed the meal with the shizen ice cream with a substitute of green tea ice cream.

Nightstand Lamp

The next day it was to reach a very uncommon 97 degrees Fahrenheit in Los Gatos, CA so we decided to keep things simple by having breakfast in their downtown area and then exploring and shopping until we needed to head to the airport.  Los Gatos was my old “stomping ground” during my college years.

Los Gatos Cafe: Downtown

The Yelp reviews were high for the Los Gatos Cafe (losgatoscafe.com) so we “sniffed in”.  We opted to sit at the counter to save time.  The wait was lengthy and the sun was already doing some damage as we hid under trees.

Elfie’s Eggs Benedict

Bella was a definite fan of the dish.

Side of Corned Beef Hash

I’ve just begun eating corned beef hash (I know, rather pathetic) and already love it.

Amazing Carrot Walnut Bread

I also ate a Maple Pecan Muffin which was good with strong maple flavor but it needed more nuts to make it “over the top” (so-to-speak).

Shopping Near Downtown

The shopping here is mostly women’s fashion, culinary and antiques.  There weren’t as many cafes, wine bars and bakeries as I’d hoped for.  Monterey, Cambria and Carmel definitely offer more diverse shopping options for couples.

Los Gatos: Victorian Home

Charming and historical homes are largely standard fare in this town.  I would’ve taken more photos of our day in Los Gatos but once it hit 97 degrees Fahrenheit the brain wasn’t working properly so we rode out the heat wave via brews and ice cream in the Los Gatos Brewing Co. (lgbrewingco.com) to further lead to “the brain not working properly”.  I had a really good “Impish Stout” (Imperial Oatmeal Stout) which was lightly bitter (odd for an Imperial) with some creaminess , dark coffee, caramel and chocolate.  The “Hue Hefe” (Hefewiezen) was of a German style and had a cloudy peach tea color, a waft of cloves, slight sourness and a taste of bananas.  It was good, not great.

We wrap up our visit in Los Gatos with a sniff of gelato at Dolce Spazio (dolcespazio.com) where I used to frequent while in school.  The gelato is still as good as I had recalled.

THE END!!