Latest quarterly printed OMV Newsletter went out (by postal mail this time — experimentally — sent Nov 6, so neighborhood residents should have it by now) with my report of downtown-area restaurant news. Once again, more changes happened after press time, and even after mailing. This version incorporates updates I have:
• Why does 124 Castro’s Joyous Cuisine, open for 20 months, display a new “Soft Opening” banner? The ownership changed and the menu expanded. Which includes very fresh fish offerings (kept live on-site), and an appealing new “dumpling and bun” menu section.
• Revised: Johnny and Sanny’s (110 Castro), Doppio Zero’s expansion site (with similar menu) that replaced Vida in May, closed: https://www.paloaltoonline.com/mountain-view/2025/11/12/mountain-views-johnny-sannys-shutters-owners-redirect-focus-to-doppio-zero-expansion/ Original: If you haven’t visited Johnny and Sanny’s, I suggest at least looking around inside. The interior is dazzling, with colorful bottles creating a light show up front, and a more intimate semi-separate dining section in the rear.
• Four Seasons Tea House Hot Pot opened in September at 134 Castro, replacing 3 Kingdoms Hot Pot. Some information describes Four Seasons as a China-based chain. It features unusual tea-infused broths (such as jasmine tomato) in tabletop “hot pot” main courses. (134 Castro is a significant address in regional Chinese-restaurant history. Built 1968 as the “new” second site of Qui Hing Low, founded 1935 at 156 Castro. Details in the article by Li Zhang and me, pages 6-8 of Summer 2023 MVHA Newsletter: https://viewer.joomag.com/mvha-summer-2023-newsletter/0806990001688022883 )
• Revised: NAR, the new restaurant tenant at 286 ECR (at Ehrhorn) featuring cuisine of the Cuscasus region, “soft-opened” Fri Nov 7 and officially opened Nov 8. Embarcadero Media’s detailed article: https://www.almanacnews.com/food/feature-food/2025/11/12/inside-the-peninsulas-first-azerbaijani-restaurant-nar-restaurant-offers-caucasus-region-flavors-alongside-original-takeout-concepts/ Original: Embrace Luck, the four-year-old upscale Chinese restaurant, closed recently. Remodeling is underway for NAR, a sit-down restaurant promising “the rich culinary heritage of the Caucasus” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia), from the local Olivia Brothers Group. Partner Hikmat Babayev told me that kitchen facilities in the building will also supply the Group’s more casual food services, which include food trucks.
• Steins Beer Garden, 895 Villa at Bryant, so far is “hanging in there” with the same restaurant concept and tentative new menu under this year’s new owners.
• No change as of late October at the four pending-restaurant sites (“Works-In-Progress”)mentioned at the end of August’s report.
• Related news: In late October Mi Tienda Supermarket replaced JL Produce at 311B Moffett Blvd (Shana Thai restaurant is at the Central Avenue corner, in front), continuing JL’s tradition of both Latin and (somewhat scaled-down) Eastern European specialties. That 311-Moffett commercial complex, three blocks past Central Expressway, is outside Old MV boundaries, but within the “greater downtown MV” area whose restaurant news I follow. Mi Tienda is running “Soft Grand Opening” specials through tomorrow (Oct. 18) — that was in a recent weekly postal advertising mailer. I visited; incredibly, Mi Tienda seems to pack even more into the compact space than JL did. The full-service butcher counter is revised and extensive. The business has general groceries and fresh produce, Latin specialties, and, I was happy to see, frozen Pelmeny (Russian meat-filled dumplings, a vice of mine) in chicken, lamb, beef, and Siberian (beef-pork) versions. And sour cream (as crema Mexicana) to garnish them. Pelmeny selection is small compared to Samovar’s (with an entire wall freezer devoted to Eastern European filled pastas), but Samovar is farther away, on MV’s “Costco” block. (At this writing, Google Maps still shows JL Produce at 311B Moffett, which is obsolete.)
