Dine Downtown: San Jose's restaurant week includes new flavors, delicious deals

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) - San Jose’s version of Restaurant Week called 'Dine Downtown' kicked off Friday night. If you like deals, some restaurants are offering prix fixe menus, chef specials, and food and drink pairings, all to lure customers in.

Inside SuperGood Kitchen, chefs are perfecting the menu described as home-style cooking. The owners are local and just opened the restaurant in February hoping to bring new flavors to downtown.

“We are trying to reinvigorate it, bringing new things, new styles, new cuisines,” said Chef Jon Solis of SuperGood Kitchen.

SuperGood is one of 22 restaurants participating in Dine Downtown. Now in its 11th year, the Restaurant Week showcases the city's diverse culinary experiences and unique concepts not found elsewhere as San Jose competes with other Bay Area cities for diners and dollars.

At family-owned Elyse Restaurant, chefs are serving up a fusion of Vietnamese and French cuisine.

“The cuisine we are creating is more of a traditional cuisine but with a modern twist with it,” said Chef Bao Vu of Elyse Restaurant.

“Dine Downtown is really designed to help bring more people out to our restaurants during a time that's traditionally slower for restaurants across the industry,” said Bree von Faith of the San Jose Downtown Association.

The San Jose Downtown Association said the city has seen significant growth with more than 200 restaurants in downtown and anticipates an influx of new restaurants as the population of the Bay Area’s largest city gets bigger.

“We are in a development cycle,” said von Faith. “We have over 50 projects in the pipeline in downtown and seven cranes in the sky. We have several new residential offerings in the next few months.”

With that growth, foodies said they've seen San Jose’s food scene evolve in recent years but the city still remains true to its culinary roots.

“I love going to San Francisco, the Mission District and North Beach but San Jose has more of a sense of a community,” said Leticia Elias of San Jose.

Dine Downtown starts Friday and lasts until July 28. 

The restaurants participating include 71 Saint Peter, Café Stritch, District, Elyse Restaurant, Enoteca la Storia, The Farmer’s Union, The Grill on the Alley, Hawaiian Poke Bowl, Il Fornaio at the Westin, Lobby Lounge at the Fairmont, Loft Bar & Bistro, McCormick & Schmick’s, Mezcal, Mosaic, Nemea, Nomikai, Olla Cocina, Ozumo Santana Row, Scott’s Seafood, SP2 Communal, SuperGood Kitchen and Sushi Confidential