Big cookies arrive to big lines, plus more new Peninsula and South Bay food
Pudgy cookies, late-night Korean barbecue, Laotian smashburgers: The Peninsula and South Bay food scene saw exciting additions in recent weeks.
Fans lined up for cookies in Los Gatos. A popular dim sum chain opened a shiny new outpost in Palo Alto. A new sweets shop specializes in Persian-inspired desserts.
There's a lot of new food out there; read on for more on eight new Peninsula and South Bay food businesses.
Hit cookies get their own home
Batch 22, a popular South Bay business known for its oversized cookies, opened a bakery in Los Gatos to much anticipation in May. Co-owner Amy Wong, who left a marketing job to start the cottage food business in Cupertino in 2020, built a loyal following for her thick, 6-ounce 'pudge' cookies, inspired by New York City's famous Levain Bakery. The rotating menu includes flavors like chocolate chip, earl grey milk chocolate and dark chocolate-orange (as well as a few smaller, thin cookies). The best-seller is the ube dulcey, made with the purple Filipino yam, caramelized white chocolate and toffee. The Los Gatos bakery is airy and colorful, with one wall carved in the shape of a cookie with bites taken out of it. Batch 22 often sells out; check Instagram or call 408-827-4184 to find out what, if any, flavors are left.
15466 Los Gatos Blvd., #113, Los Gatos. batch22bakery.com
Dumplings descend on Peninsula mall
Bay Area mini dim sum chain Dumpling Time brought its latest outpost to the upscale Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. With it came a slew of new dishes, debuting here and then rolling out at all Dumpling Time locations, like pho-flavored xiao long bao filled with beef broth and a twist on mapo tofu with deep-fried batons of tofu served over a shiitake mapo sauce. The new menu is courtesy of Dustin Falcon, who comes with experience at the three-Michelin-star French Laundry and now serves as corporate executive chef for Omakase Restaurant Group, which runs Dumpling Time as well as Niku Steakhouse and Prelude in San Francisco. The new restaurant has an ample outdoor patio, dumpling bar and view into the dumpling-making process in the open kitchen. Dumpling Time became known first in San Francisco for handmade dim sum and oversized soup dumplings, and has since steadily expanded throughout the Bay Area.
Sunnyvale now has an outpost of popular East Bay Korean barbecue restaurant. Don Blanc, one of the Chronicle's picks for the Bay Area's top Korean restaurants, is known for meat cooked on cast iron grills (including a specialty in beef intestine) and a lively vibe. The menu also includes Korean specialties like marinated raw crab, fried chicken and beef tartare. While the Oakland original stays open until 2 a.m. on weekends, Sunnyvale closes at midnight daily.
Plus, a Korean kimbap specialist arrives
A local kimbap shop just opened, devoted to the Korean sushi rolled with fish cake, spicy beef, Spam, pickles and other fillings. Bibimmate, located inside a San Mateo ghost kitchen, comes from Seonghye Park-Kwak, a local veterinarian who's long wanted to open a kimbap shop, according to a social media post.
66 21st Ave., San Mateo. instagram.com/bibimmate
Lao food truck debuts
Enter: A rare Lao smashburger. It comes courtesy of Szn N Spice, a new food truck parked in Redwood City. The burger comes with double beef 'sai oua' patties (made in the style of the Lao sausage), pickled onions and cucumbers, American cheese and a Thai chili crema. Also on the menu are chicken satay, truffle fries and beef croquettes.
A sweet new dessert shop
Petal's Creamery is now scooping ice cream and serving desserts in Los Gatos. The new shop, elegant with pastel-green walls, black-and-white checkered floors and tufted banquette seating, serves creative, Persian-inflected ice cream flavors like orange blossom creamsicle, cardamom-chocolate and 'rozu' (rose plus yuzu). Toppings come in the form of saffron brittle or sour cherry sauce. A glass case is also stocked with Persian-inspired desserts.
Con Azucar Cafe's calling card is an Instagrammable giant concha, and it's now available in Redwood City. The San Jose cafe's second location just opened on Middlefield Road with coffee, iced horchata and conchas in a colorful, almost arcade-like space.
A nostalgic Italian-American joint
Mountain View is home to a new Italian-American restaurant from the team behind popular Peninsula pizzeria chain Doppio Zero. Johnny & Sanny's — a twist on the names of co-owners Gianni (Johnny) Chiloiro and Angelo Sannino (Sanny) — is serving Italian-American classics like chicken parm and housemade pastas, plus Roman-style pizza.
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