EXPANSION MODE: Grilled-cheese specialist The Melt is finally oozing into the South Bay, and there are new menu options since we last checked in. Look for the Shorty (braised short rib with pepper jack cheese) and the Mac Daddy (mac ‘n’ aged cheddar) on the special sandwich menu; salads with grilled-cheese croutons; breakfast melts offered all day long; and kettle-cooked oatmeal served until 10:30 a.m. This new location opens Saturday, Nov. 2, at El Paseo de Saratoga in West San Jose. Hours will be 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Nearby is Smashburger’s latest — its second restaurant in San Jose, after the Coleman Avenue location. That opened at Westgate Shopping Center, 1600 Saratoga Ave., in West San Jose. Hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.
And in Sunnyvale, Halloween was an appropriate choice of opening day for Chick-fil-A’s second location in Silicon Valley. More than one Chick-fil-A fan dressed up in the chain’s signature cow motif (his sign says, “Eat Mor Chikin,”) and camped out overnight to get free meals for a year. The new location is at 550 W. El Camino Real. Longtime Sunnyvale residents will remember that Chick-fil-A originally came to town nearly 30 years ago, then closed a decade later.
NEW TOQUE IN TOWN: John Gurnee has become the new chef at LB Steak in Menlo Park. He most recently worked for Tyler Florence at Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco; he previously was with Mason’s, the Paragary group and Kupros Craft House in Sacramento. Meantime, chef Brendy Monsada heads back to his home base, sister restaurant Left Bank in Menlo Park.
TOSCA REDUX: We don’t usually write too much about San Francisco restaurant openings — there are too many exciting things happening at this end of the bay. But we’re making an exception for the resurrection of North Beach’s iconic Tosca Cafe, now under the direction of noted New York City chef April Bloomfield and co-owner Ken Friedman. The wine list is being curated by Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon fame and Ceri Smith (SF wine shop Biodivino), and they’ve got Bourbon & Branch’s Isaac Shumway doing cocktails, including a spiked cappuccino homage to Prohibition.
They’ve replaced the 93-year-old venue’s naughahyde banquettes with red leather, restored the murals and introduced an actual Italian menu — Tosca had been a food-less bar since the 1960s. And yes, the piano is still there. People, it’s Tosca’s. There has to be a piano. Foodwise, think oxtail terrine ($11), bucatini with guanciale ($18) and grilled short ribs ($32) — and cannoli with fennel seed praline ($7).
Open Tuesdays through Sundays from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., which is way past our bedtime but we like to pretend we still party like champs — or at least like Herb Caen, a Tosca regular back in the day. Details: 242 Columbus Ave.; 415-986-9651; toscacafesf.com.
Send South Bay, Peninsula dining tips to Linda Zavoral, lzavoral@mercurynews.com.
