From recent staycations in the Silicon Valley town of Sunnyvale to the coast in Half Moon Bay, for 21 years I’ve researched and written of hotels, food and drink across the Peninsula. The Bay Area’s “south Bay” is yet another rich and diverse county in our wonderland of NorCal food. It’s the region holding much of our best Indian food from our biggest Indian populations, as well as a swath of Mexican, Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese treasures and beyond.
Palo Alto is heavily influenced by Stanford school and hospital campuses, while its walkable downtown holds quite a bit of mediocre food, punctuated with gems, if you know where to look. The historic Stanford Theatre is set to reopen June 2023 as they currently install an HVAC system: it’s my favorite pastime post-meals in Palo Alto for a blessed daily lineup of classic films, a regular outing I miss desperately at the Castro Theatre at home here in SF.
My 10 Time Out dining recommends in Palo Alto still stand — as does a totally different getaway off the 101 freeway in Palo Alto, Four Seasons Silicon Valley. But here are three key newcomers in dining and a boutique hotel worth a local getaway.
Stay (and Eat)
el PRADO Hotel and tapas bar, Palo Alto
In the walkable center of downtown Palo Alto, el Prado Hotel opened in 2021 in the Cal-Spanish-style, 62-room boutique hotel and courtyard that formerly housed the popular Garden Court Hotel. In August 2022, el Prado opened their second-floor tapas lounge.
Heading down from the City for a little overnight staycation, my husband Dan (“The Renaissance Man”) and I checked in, immediately appreciating the kind service and California-Spanish look of the lofty entrance and two-story glass solarium leading to the upstairs lounge areas, marked by teal blue chairs. Our room was in soothing whites and navy blues with a balcony overlooking a courtyard that felt like modern-day Europe, bright blue skies singing above it, a full moon at night.
The tapas bar is basically an all-day lounge with no kitchen in sight, so you can linger with a drink, tea or coffee under solarium glass and potted plants on the long, velvety, burgundy window couch or assorted printed chairs and navy blue couches. The space is chic, current, inviting, as is the soothing fireplace. We cozied up for an easy meal from chef Enrique Michel, turning out plenty from a more limited kitchen, including a cheeseburger and filet mignon entree.
We stuck with the tapas, from a grilled sourdough variation on classic pan con tomate toasts to beef and pork albondigas (Spanish meatballs) in guajillo sauce with manchego cheese. Spanish mahon cheese croquetas dipped in piquillo aioli were a highlight, as were tempura green beans and charred lemon dipped in sriracha aioli. Both are the right kind of bar snacks with Spanish wines, easy drinking cocktails like Perfect Strangers (tequila, cucumber celery lime syrup, Port wine, egg white, jalapeno) or a pleasing non-alcoholic cocktail, Good Morning, Sunshine! (basil, house orgeat, orange juice, soda water).
While solid, I preferred the above tapas to the gambas negras al ajillo (shrimp dish in cajun black garlic sauce) or sesame-crusted tuna in ginger sauce and chili aioli, but it all was impressive for a reduced kitchen and made for a cozy night in at the hotel. Just around the corner, the rooftop bar with sweeping views of hills and trees at the also romantic-chic Graduate Palo Hotel is an ideal sunset or afternoon spot for sips.
Feeling like a California-Spanish-chic retreat just over 30 miles from SF, el Prado is a soothing retreat and ideal home base in downtown Palo Alto… and place to crash when those double feature old movie nights start up again at the Stanford Theatre.
// 520 Cowper Street, Palo Alto; www.elpradopaloalto.com
EAT & DRINK
Austrian Feasts: Naschmarkt Palo Alto
I’ve long appreciated the original Naschmarkt in Campbell (nearby in the Peninsula), especially as a rare Austrian (vs. German) restaurant in the U.S. (Leopold’s in SF, still shows “temporarily closed;” please come back!) So I was delighted to hear a new Naschmarkt Palo Alto was opening in May 2022. I finally made it down on an overnight at el Prado.
Thankfully, they’re open for lunch and dinner, also hosting Austrian winemaker dinners that swiftly sell out. Austria is one of my beloved countries I’ve traveled through a couple times, including driving around the country amid its stunning mountains, farmland, wineries and schnaps distilleries. I welcome the nuance of Austria’s cuisine, where legendary dishes like wiener schnitzel come from (Vienna, per its name). I was bummed Naschmarkt Campbell’s Salzburger knockerl — a dessert I loved in Salzburg and around Austria — was not on the menu here, but there are plenty of treats.
Owner Dino Tekdemir ran Anatolian Kitchen formerly in the space, working tightly with the Campbell location for synergy between the two. Chef Sedat Balkan hails from Turkey (and was Turkish Airlines’ head chef for 11 years), but was a chef in Vienna, Austria, for four years.
Though a touch sweet, I appreciated cocktails like Pear of Roses (Absolut pear vodka, pear nectar, rosemary syrup, grapefruit juice, which would have been more nuanced with local St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur), and a drink list heavy on Austrian and German beers on draft and Germanic wines, like a beautiful 2021 Maria Hick “Glauberkreuz” Smaragd Gruner from Austria’s Wachau.
The housemade pretzel is just what you want from a pretzel, especially with that dreamy fondue-meets-queso beer cheese sauce to dip it in. When it comes to some of my Germanic faves, like spaetzle (Germanic “pasta”) and aforementioned wiener schnitzel, I much prefer both versions at SF’s decades-old treasure, Suppenkuche, finding the first a bit neutral, the latter a touch dry. But Naschmarkt’s smoked pork bratwurst and spicy paprikawurst — with braised sauerkraut, caramelized onions, Dijon mustard — are as juicy and delicious as at Suppenkuche and Radhaus in SF.
I appreciate multiple soups — sunchoke hazelnut or knoblauch suppe (creamy garlic soup) — and hearty classics like chicken paprikash (chicken thigh braised in paprika and cream) and Hungarian beef goulash. Their apfel strudel transported me straight back to the enchanting Austrian village of Mondsee about 20 minutes outside of Salzburg where I had the best apfelstrudel of my life. Naschmarkt’s is smartly packed with apples and hazelnuts, teeming in whipped cream, toasted almonds and vanilla bean ice cream. Trying all their desserts, we appreciated housemade sorbets and a sacher torte (Austrian chocolate cake) subtle with apricot preserves.
// 2323 Birch Street, Palo Alto; https://naschmarktrestaurants.com/palo-alto-venu
Japanese American Creativity: Ethel’s Fancy, Palo Alto
Opening September 2022 in downtown Palo Alto, Ethel’s Fancy looks big city-worthy. In fact, chef Scott Nishiyama hails from none other than three-Michelin-starred Daniel in NYC and the French Laundry nearby in Napa, so he has the pedigree for major food cities. But after years of him and his wife hosting pop-ups from their home, he wanted to open this restaurant on the Peninsula and kept searching until they found the space.
Lofty, bright and playful, the restaurant is lined with blue-and-white wall fabric, custom manga wallpaper in one bathroom of Nishiyama and his mom cooking (Ethel’s is named after Nishiyama’s mother and maternal grandmother) and 1960s-esque, retro tiling on the bar and entrance floor.
Nishiyama’s first-generation Japanese American roots are honored on the menu, with whispers of France and Italy. Salt and pepper fried broccolini is straightforward in green garlic, benefitting from sweet chili currants. Their popular toasted coconut tapioca fritters draped under wagyu beef in pickled green peppercorn vinaigrette taste almost like tropical wagyu nigiri. It was divisive at our table, with some not loving the sweet coconut tapioca dessert element with beef and peppercorn. Ever seeking contrasts and bold combinations, I appreciated it.
With lightly fried corona beans in a bowl with marinated golden beets, strips of spaghetti squash bringing much-needed acid, sprouting kale, rosemary togarashi, we opted for the add-on of country ham as longtime lovers of cured hams. The dish was more interesting than it was ultimately gratifying on the palate, but I like its ambition. I felt similarly about hiramasa tartare in charred Jimmy Nardello pepper dressing on one giant sesame seed senbei (Japanese cracker), especially compared to the ubiquitous (dozens of) seafood tartares I taste in any given year.
Thick black, short sesame “noodles” laden with Dungeness crab and spicy chili tomato yuzu sauce was the most gratifying dish, the dense noodles nice and chewy, with yuzu the “secret” ingredient that makes this rich dish pop.
Rancho Llano Seco pork chop “Tonkatsu” more than a little recalls chef Brandon Rice’s varying loaded “tonkatsu” pork over the years — currently at his superb Ernest, previously the five years he was chef du cuisine at the great, then Michelin-starred Rich Table. Ethel’s Fancy’s version wasn’t as seamless as Rice’s, but was comforting, layered with tonnato (my beloved Italian condiment of tuna, anchovies, lemon juice, olive oil, mayo), chrysanthemum greens, Fiore Sardo pecorino cheese and thinly-sliced mushrooms. Our server told us it was mimicking Caesar salad components and the tonnato especially delivers on that front.
Almond cookie soft serve in banana toffee chef is a fun finish, tasting of Chinese almond cookies, though a topping of cocoa nib meringue sticks felt distracting, not adding much flavor-wise. While a low ABV Spumoni cocktail (Contratto apertivo, grapefruit, pink peppercorn) just tasted like grapefruit juice without much nuance, the wine and sake list is delightfully strong, especially for the Peninsula. I could be in SF with their heavier focus on sakes and interesting natural wines, like a funky-yet-elegant, organic 2020 Viteadovest Catarratto from Sicily.
Overall the meal was hit-and-miss, with ambition exceeding flavor cohesion in some cases. Unevenness does not survive in SF with so much excellent competition in every neighborhood. But from design, ingredients, drink list and friendly vibe, to creative flavor combinations, Ethel’s Fancy is a standout in the Peninsula (and certainly in Palo Alto, where there’s nothing like it). I hope it settles in to become as great as it looks and feels.
// 550 Waverley Street, Palo Alto; www.ethelsfancypa.com