Thrillist: 15 Essential Restaurants You Need to Know in Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is, of course, all about tech. And perhaps it’s in keeping with this theme that the area is more of an idea rather than an actual city or county. There are no hard lines delineating where it starts and ends, though most agree that it centers in and around Sunnyvale—home of Atari in the 1970s— and includes surrounding areas like Palo Alto, Mountain View, Santa Clara, and San Jose. San Franciscans may be deterred from the idea of going to the sterile suburbs full of engineering nerds, but SV is also home to sizable immigrant enclaves. Taiwanese, Mexican, Indian, Vietnamese, Polynesian, and more communities have brought amazing culture and food to the area for years, and many are worth the trek from up north. Here are 15 of the most exciting restaurants to jump start your tastebuds and showcase the South Bay’s culinary chops.

It’s not the first restaurant in SV to utilize the iPhone naming convention (looking at you, iTalico), but aside from that questionable practice, the opulent iChina opened in August to great reception. Drenched in a dreamy turquoise color palette, a paneled glass chandelier anchors the main dining room, with translucent blue floor-to-ceiling room partitions and art deco-inspired gold wall panels surrounding the commanding long center dining table. There’s also the JiuBa cocktail lounge and several private dining areas in the two-story space. And, oh yes, the food. It’s a New American Chinese concept, combining executive chef Eddie Lam’s Chinese and pan-Asian American cooking sensibilities with local ingredients. The current $88 Tasting Menu with a $30 A5 Wagyu substitute option features seven dishes. Museum-worthy plates include a pampered lobster dumpling topped with scallop brûlée and curated caviar selection, and a triple-rich XO rice with duck confit, duck egg, and duck breast…

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