Yes, here in Silicon Valley (and Seattle) there’s an app for that.

Starbucks is testing an iPhone/iPod touch app in San Jose, Cupertino, Mountain View, and Sunnyvale, CA. Why here? Because we are cool, or it may be because Apple is here.

My Starbucks Card app was free. It was easy to load my account with my major credit card. I can check my balance, and view my transaction history, etc.

There is a drink and food menu – with cute little pictures. I love it, but the app is only good to use in selected stores.

There is one in San Jose, one in Cupertino (not far from 1 Infinite Loop), one in Sunnyvale, and five (!) in Mountain View. There is even a Starbucks listed for Castro High School. Do they drink more coffee in Mountain View?

There is a place on the app to let Starbucks know what we think. I wish my favorite store (14801 Los Gatos Blvd) was participating.

My iPhone is always with me, and now so is my Starbucks card!

Participating:
20520 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA 95014
5180 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose, CA 95129
1037-C El Monte Ave., Mountain View, CA 94040
1380 Pear Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043
Castro @ High School: 750 Castro St, Mountain View, CA 94041
809A Cuesta Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94040
2410 Charleston Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043
1687 Hollenbeck Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94087

As mentioned by Bill Cosby

Someone was always singing the praises of Calvin’S, so I suggested stopping there to pick up lunch. We found this little hole in the wall, at 1411 The Alameda, amazing.

As soon as we stepped through the door our eyes filled with things foreign to San Jose. We saw sodas with strange names like Birch Beer. Even stranger for ‘This is Sharks Territory’ was being confronted with reference to the Philadelphia Flyers! All was forgiven as the aroma of Calvin’S found our noses.

The menu is not the same old, same old local fare. We ordered Cheesesteak Sandmiches (not misspelled) and a soda to go. As we paid the bill the owner, Jonne Aleeson, showed off his cell phone pic of Mayor Chuck Reed.

We rushed home unwrapped our Sandmiches, split the Birch Beer, and began to sing praises.

Calvin’S - menu, map, hours, etc.

Photos

Steve Crooks Manager - 'the garret'

I have never been a big soccer (futbol) fan, but when Gary called and told me that it looked as though the USA was about to defeat Spain I had to turn on the TV. I only caught the last few minutes but, wow, it was some fantastic last few minutes. What a victory for team USA!

The FIFA Confederations Cup final match between the USA vs. Brazil is scheduled for 11:00 AM our time. I won’t pretend to understand most of the rules, I know we don’t want a red card, or what these game have to do with the 2010 World Cup, but go USA!

Sunday, June 28th
FIFA Confederations Cup championship: 11:00 AM
U.S. vs. Brazil on ESPN 38
KDTV – Univision channel 14 and digital subchannel 66.2

‘the garret’ is the place to watch the match and enjoy some great food.
Great Pizza and Sandwiches
1777 S. Bascom Ave.
Campbell, Ca 95006
408-559-7930

FIFA Laws of the Game

Since trying them for the first time a couple of weeks ago, I’m a new fan of Cafe Yolicious in downtown San Jose. They have a unique gimmick for a frozen yogurt shop. Their “orignal tart” flavor yogurt tastes like…yogurt. Like fresh homemade yogurt, slightly sour and slightly sweet.

They also have two rotating alternative yogurt flavors besides original tart, fresh fruit and candy toppings for the yogurt, more than a dozen flavors of gelato, coffee from Barefoot Coffee Roasters and tea from Harney and Sons.

Cafe Yolicious, 110 E. San Fernando Street, downtown San Jose. Open til 10:00 Sunday – Wednesday, until 11:00 Thursday – Saturday.

It was so nice to get away for the weekend. My husband and I spent Saturday night at the Colusa Casino. He put $20 into a 25¢ slot machine and won $259.00. Paid for the room and then some! I did quite well myself. In Jack’s Lounge we enjoyed good food and the music of Bobby Chitwood.

Back home today to the same old, same old blah stuff like laundry. But then there is that free Hot Dog on a Stick at Valley Fair.

June 15th   5 – 8 PM

Dine Downtown is a restaurant food festival that will take place in San Jose from June 3 – 13.  This is your chance to sample incredible food at some great prices by ordering from a prix-fixe menu available at each restaurant.  When I looked at the list I was surprised at how many fantastic eating establishments we have in downtown San Jose; there are 26 separate places participating in Dine Downtown!  There should be no complaining about a lack of places to eat downtown these days, and Dine Downtown is a great way for these restaurants to introduce themselves.

There are $20, $30 and $40 prix-fixe menus, with several restaurants offering a choice.  Each menu offers an appetizer, a main course and dessert.  If you ever wanted to try one of the upscale eateries downtown this is a great time to do so at a great price.  The event begins June 3 with $3-or-less sampler plates at the City Bites Kick Off Sampler Event.

Visit the website to see a complete list of participating restaurants, with links to the prix-fixe menus for each.  Then choose a couple hot summer nights to give up cooking in your kitchen and come downtown for a great dinner.  You can even make your reservations online.  26 restaurants, eleven days – Don’t miss out on this culinary extravaganza!

Guru's Market today.

I was recently pointed at a discussion thread on Yelp!, on the topic of the proposed Little Italy district somewhere near downtown San Jose. The post that caught my eye was near the top, where Anthony B. says “Gurus liquor store was the first grocery store in San Jose, Jeoy Francos PW, and it was Italian owned.” Earlier investigation had led to the information that the Guru’s Liquor building was built in 1934 by the same contractor who had earlier built my house, back in the 1910’s; so I wanted to find out if he had really also built San Jose’s first grocery store, and started the Joey Franco’s chain that’s still around today.

Unfortunately, it turns out Anthony B.’s claim isn’t quite true, but there is an interesting story connecting the building and the Franco family.

First, this wasn’t a Joey Franco’s PW Market. As the story is told on the PW Markets community page, Joey Franco started out in the grocery business working for his cousins, the brothers Henry and Joseph Franco, at their Franco Brothers Markets. The 13th and Washington Street store was one of theirs, and it was known as Franco’s 13th Street Market.

Second, this wasn’t the first grocery store in San Jose. It wasn’t even Franco Brothers’ first store. Visiting the California Room at the San Jose Public Library to review the old city directories, I found out that as early as 1925 they had a store on Santa Clara Street. It might have moved in the interim, but in 1932 they were located at 5th and Santa Clara, a site that is now, I guess, buried beneath City Hall. One of the key selling points was their own “$25,000 Ice Cream Factory”. They built the 13th Street store in 1934, and by 1945 they had added a third store on The Alameda. They were still listed in the directory in 1950, but by 1960 Franco Brothers were out of business.

So, what’s now Guru’s Market and Liquors wasn’t actually San Jose’s first grocery, and it wasn’t Joey Franco’s PW Market; but it was Italian-owned and in the Franco family. And that’s still a nice piece of San Jose history to keep in mind.

Franco's Thirteenth Street Market, circa 1945.

Martin Yan

The Bay Area’s most celebrated TV chef, Martin Yan, will be appearing at San Jose’s Martin Luther King, Jr., Main Library this weekend. Chef Yan has hosted several TV programs, but is most well-known for “Yan Can Cook”, which first aired in 1978. Yan has also written numerous cookbooks. Yan lives in the Bay Area, and owns the “Yan Can” restaurants in Santa Clara’s River Mark shopping center and Pleasant Hill.

At the library, Chef Yan will present a cooking demonstration and sign copies of his latest book, Martin Yan’s China, which will also be available for sale. If you’ve seen Yan’s television programs, you know that he is a terrifically entertaining presenter, and will give not only recipes for authentic Chinese food, but also explain the history and cultural signficance of the dishes he cooks.

When: Saturday, May 30, 2009. 2:00 PM.

Where: Caret Plaza, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Main Library, 150 E. San Fernando St., San Jose.

Cost: Free.

Anybody who’s ever been to the Portland temple of cult doughnuts known as Voodoo Doughnut will instantly recognize a twisted twin sister in Campbell’s Psycho Donuts. Ranging from donut fries with dipping sauces to light airy donuts rolled in Rice Krispies, crushed malt balls or Cocoa Puffs, More traditional Banana Creme Pie or even Key Lime Pie (my favorite) the donuts are weird and not surprisingly, good. They’re very good. Crraaaaazzy good.

So besides simply being the best at what you do, how do you market doughnuts in a city saturated (pun) with doughnut shops? With a little help from your friends. And–actually even more useful–your enemies. This morning, Twitter was all abuzz about a protest. Apparently just about every weekend since they’ve opened Psycho donuts sees a troop of protesters with placards protesting against their name.(They go home around 10) It offends them and all people who are clearly… well, how shall I say it? Maybe I better not. Let’s just call them sensitive. And really good marketers for Psycho Donuts.

Better yet, let’s roll the video. To the tune of “Crazy” by the fabulous Patsy Cline. Now WHAT would they have said to her?

Keep on top of the madness (did I really say that?) by following Psycho Donut’s Twitter stream, or just drop on by. The staff, BTW are super friendly and full of fun, if somewhat stunned by all the attention.

César Chávez was born in Arizona March 31, 1927, however his family later lived at 53 Scharff Ave, here in San Jose.

At 8:30 AM tomorrow  morning, March 28, a celebration of this American hero begins at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. The walk will be followed by a festival at the Plaza de César Chávez.