"San Pedro Square has plenty of places to start the night and not many built to hold it," Hima Adusumilli said when she opened Ignite in the former Sushi Confidential space, according to the Mercury News. Her line describes more than one restaurant. Since late summer, several downtown spaces have changed hands. The new tenants are a restaurant and a day-to-night bar that are already open, plus an Indian dining room announced for fall. The two that have posted hours stay open later than a typical dinner spot, and the latest of them closes at midnight.
That pattern points to where downtown's evenings are going this fall, toward businesses built for dinner and then a second round.
Three spaces, one kind of business
Here is what changed in the space of about two months.
| Address | Previous tenant | New tenant | Format | Status in mid-October |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 N. San Pedro St. | Sushi Confidential | Ignite | Fire-grilled skewers and cocktails | Soft-opened in September |
| 17 N. San Pedro St. | Olla Cocina | The Silk Route | Upscale modern Indian | Announced for fall, website reads "Coming Soon" |
| 30 Fountain Alley #170 | New opening | Bitterbuck | Coffee by day, amaro and aperitivo later | Opened in September |
The Ignite space turned over fast. The Mercury News reported that the restaurant moved in "just two weeks after" Sushi Confidential closed. Sushi Confidential spent about a decade on the square. In July, owner Randy Musterer told the Mercury News the move was a "transition out of San Pedro Square, not a departure from San Jose." His restaurants in Campbell, Morgan Hill, and Willow Glen are still open. He said the downtown decision was about expansion and corporate catering, and he plans five new restaurants in the next five years.
Ignite's opening hours show how it plans to use the space. It's open 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and 3 to 9 p.m. on Sundays. Chef Felipe Chen runs the kitchen. The opening menu has chicken skewers in Korean Heat, Nashville Hot, or Tandoori, a chimichurri steak skewer, garlic herb shrimp, and Hariyali Paneer and Street Corn skewers for vegetarian and vegan guests. The large patio opens onto the car-free part of the square. In mid-September, NBC Bay Area reported that a grand opening was expected in the following weeks.
The space that took three tries
The space at 17 N. San Pedro St. shows how hard it can be to land the right tenant. Before Olla Cocina's run from summer 2016 to fall 2025, it was La Piñata, and before that Blake's Steakhouse for many years. This past spring, a temporary concept called Bar Tako filled the room while the operators planned a Mexican steakhouse. The pop-up closed before the World Cup watch parties began, and the steakhouse plan was dropped.
The new operators already work on the block. Jasbir Singh and his partner Mandeep Jandir have run The Brit Sports Pub and Patio on Santa Clara Street for several years. "I believe downtown San Jose has been missing a high-quality, modern Indian dining experience, and that's exactly the gap we're hoping The Silk Route will fill," Singh told the Mercury News group in August. He said he sees more young Indo-Americans downtown, whether they're attending SJSU, catching shows at the Improv, or spending time in San Pedro Square. Speaking with NBC Bay Area, he said World Cup crowds made the decision easy. "It went so quick, and now we are here."
The restaurant's website names chef Mohammad Danish and describes a menu based on Old Delhi and North-West Indian cooking. As of mid-October, the site still says "Coming Soon," so check it before you plan a dinner around the opening.
Coffee at 7, amaro by afternoon
Bitterbuck, around the corner in Fountain Alley, is built around a day-to-night schedule. Columnist Sal Pizarro wrote in the Mercury News that the bar "emphasizes coffee drinks in the morning and in the afternoon switches over to amaros and bubbles," along with craft cocktails made with either. The Bitterbuck site lists café hours from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., with evening service on some days.
Owner Cache Bouren told Pizarro the name comes from Arlen Bitterbuck, a character in "The Green Mile." The décor includes a mounted deer head and a lot of small stuffed white mice. Bouren also has stakes in Cash Only on Santa Clara Street and Haberdasher in SoFA. That makes Bitterbuck one more downtown spot from an operator who already runs places within walking distance. A similar spot opened last December: Courage, Anyone, upstairs from Petiscos in the SoFA district.
Where the city set its late-night limit
A few weeks before Ignite and Bitterbuck opened, the San Jose City Council ruled on a different kind of late night. On August 25, the council voted unanimously to deny San Pedro Social, on Santa Clara Street near the square, a conditional use permit to operate as a nightclub open until 2 a.m. The venue's owners then said it would close for good because it could not survive without late-night business, the Mercury News reported. City staff told the council the business did not meet San Jose's standards for late-night and nightclub operations, including noise mitigation and patron queuing. The owners' representatives disputed the staff report and said the business had made changes.
Councilmember Anthony Tordillos, who represents downtown, said he wants the area to be the center of the city's nightlife. He also said venues must follow the rules in place, and the city should keep a path open for businesses with violations to come into compliance.
Taken together, the decision and the new openings show what downtown's later hours look like this fall. The new businesses lead with food, Ignite has a large patio, and of the two with posted hours, the latest closes at midnight. Ignite's "second round" and Bitterbuck's afternoon switch to amaro both offer a late evening built around dinner rather than a club.
The timing matters to the block. The city says the World Cup watch parties drew nearly a million visitors downtown this summer, yet earlier this year residents rated downtown's vibrancy as low. San Jose Downtown Association CEO Brian Kurtz told NBC Bay Area the turnover reflects "incredible investments by local San Joseans who are making intentional decisions to support their local economy, to hire local."
What's still on paper
A few blocks south, a larger plan is in the early stages. Hines has proposed reactivating 11 empty ground-floor storefronts at 150 South First St., where the Paseo Place storefronts together total 31,000 square feet, and adding outdoor dining, shade, lighting, and a lit clock tower along Paseo de San Antonio, the Mercury News reported in September. The city has received an application to review. Hines consultant Erik Schoennauer described plans for tenant recruitment and incentives, but there are no named tenants or opening date yet. For now, San Pedro Square is where the new businesses are actually open.
An evening on the block, starting this week
If you want to try the new places, here are the regular events around them through early November.
- Friday, October 23, 7 to 9 p.m. History San José's adult pumpkin-carving night, Slash and Sip, at the Peralta Adobe, 87 N. San Pedro St. Pumpkins and carving supplies come with the ticket. Check availability before you go.
- Every night. San Pedro Square Market hosts live music seven days a week, with 6 to 9 p.m. sets on its calendar for October 20 through 24. The Market's October 31 listings show live music.
- Mondays and Tuesdays. Market Beer Co. runs Chess Night on Mondays and its Jeopardy Bar League on Tuesdays, with both on the November calendar.
- Thursday through Sunday. The Old Wagon Saloon, 73 N. San Pedro St., offers beginner line dancing with BootKickinKayla on Thursdays at 8 p.m. for $10, Country Clubbing on Fridays from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. for $5, Country Stepping with Johnny on Saturdays from 8 p.m. to midnight for $10, and country swing with Mav Maxx on Sundays from 4 to 7:30 p.m. for $10.
- Saturday, November 7, noon to 4 p.m. San Jose Roots at San Pedro Square Market.
For a full evening, you could start with skewers on Ignite's patio, catch a set at the Market, and finish with a round wherever you like, all on one walkable block.
I love watching local business owners like Hima Adusumilli, Jasbir Singh, and Cache Bouren invest in spaces close to home, and I'm happy to share what I know about how downtown San Jose's evenings are changing. If you're thinking about how close you'd like to live to a block like this one, or you just want to compare notes on where to eat, Lori Robitaille Biasca would love to hear from you. Let's Connect.
