I grew up in Sacto, graduated high school in '61, went to Santa Clara, then SF State. Tommy's Joynt was *always* part of my recreational life, just as much as Sam's Hof Brau in Sacto.

Gottseidank, there are a few, really rare special things, that resist the heraclitean world of time and tide.

Geo
https://www.originalsamshofbrau.com/about-us

A few highlights from my trip to SF. Random tangent: no idea why they built Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara. Great place to watch a game, but it's definitely much easier to access from SJ than SF.

Tsuta - first US outpost of a michelin starred ramen joint in Tokyo. Their main dish is a shoyu broth ramen using soba noodles. It was nice and light and excluded all of the overpowering flavors that are present in US ramen spots.

El farolito - immediately after, took a trip to the mission for a burrito. La taqueria was closed so I decided to wait in line here. Al pastor super burrito was delicious, but friends mentioned that Taqueria El Castillito is better. Unfortunately didn't get a chance to hit up both.

Rintaro - upscale izakaya joint that was fantastic. Ended up going w a set tasting menu and everything was great. Chicken thigh and heart skewers, sashimi and fresh made udon were the stars.

Tartine Bakery - took a walk to tartine to try the croissant and it was great. The walk back to the mission from downtown was much needed

kin khao - lunch was at kin khao and it was exactly what I was hoping for. A well executed papaya salad and chicken rice hit the spot

the progress - 2nd restaurant from the folks at state bird provisions and it happens to be next door. Didn't think Rintaro could be topped but this ended up being the meal of the trip. There was a squid ink pasta that had a dashi based sauce w mushrooms (among other things) that was one of the best things I've eaten this year. I happened to be solo and the server mentioned that half portions were available for most items. That was a huge benefit as it allowed me to try a large portion of the menu.

San Jose dining was kind of a bust, but we did find a good ayce Korean BBQ joint. YakiniQ was pretty damn good and a great bargain for 26.99 a person.

I personally think Farolito is a solid notch or two above El Castillito. IMO the issue is that the latter is located in a neighborhood without a lot of good food options, so it gets an inflated rep. La Taqueria uses better meat, but the salsas are not as good and I've had the occasional severe oversalting incident there that I've never had at Farolito. I used to generally get the pastor at EF, but recently my craving in general has been for a carne asada burrito with lots of pico de gallo inside. Taqueria San Jose, under the highway in San Rafael, makes a very respectable version of that as well.

San Jose is mostly known for Vietnamese food; I unfortunately haven't explored that as much as I'd like to. If I'm down thataways I usually fall for the *excellent* Indian restaurants in Sunnyvale.