Los Gatos is not known for "affordable dining", but here and there we find hidden gems with good food and very reasonable prices. That's the case with Jasmine Chinese in downtown Los Gatos, a modest restaurant in an upscale part of town. 

Lunch at Jasmine Chinese is a very good deal if you keep to the specials menu. For $7.25, you can enjoy one of the house lunch combination dishes, such as sweet & sour pork,  plus soup, rice and hot tea, of course. If that's too much for for a midday meal, there are smaller lunch specials for $6.25, including a heaping plate of Chinese Chicken Salad, a dish of almond chicken and rice or several other selections. Dinners are more expensive, but still very affordable by downtown Los Gatos standards.

Variety is abundant here, so Jasmine is a great place to bring children, vegetarians, those with special diet constraints, folks preferring mild or spicy food and even picky eaters. I have eaten there dozens of times, mostly at lunch but also for dinner, and have found the staff to be consistently conscientious about "food issues" and special needs. Service is uniformly good and the staff very pleasant.

My own favorite menu items include the eggrolls, the chinese chicken salad, tangerine chicken, hot & sour soup, any of the kung pao dishes and any of the eggplant dishes.

Like many Chinese restaurants, Jasmine will prepare food "to go" as well.

This restaurant can be a little difficult to find for some people, but it's actually in a great, central location. It is in the Lyndon Shopping Center (which is where the old Lyndon Hotel used to stand and where famous people like Charlie Chaplain and John Steinbeck used to drop in for a drink). That building is a bit of a maze, but Jasmine is on the outside, facing Main Street, just in from the corner of Main and Santa Cruz Avenues. There's free valet parking, and also a public lot off Main Street that backs up to Mountain Charlie's and St. Mary's School, so it should always be possible to park. 

Jasmine Chinese Restaurant is open for lunch and dinner weekdays, and open for dinner on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, see their website, http://www.jasminechinese.com/.

Jasmine Chinese
20 South Santa Cruz Ave.
Los Gatos, CA 95030
408-395-2373

 

Last Friday, my teens and I stopped for lunch at The Purple Onion, a new Los Gatos restaurant, which opened April 18th at the former site of Caffe Siena (Main Street and College Avenue, across from The Penthouse Apartments).  We enjoyed outside dining and experienced prompt, polite service and great food, so it is something I wanted to share here on "Live in Los Gatos".

As with its predecessor, at The Purple Onion, customers order at the counter, pay (they do take credit cards, though there's no logos for them on the front entry), and find a seat. Servers will bring the food to you. Tables and chairs are available both indoors and out.

My kids each ordered sandwiches and I ordered a salad. Brian's was a hot sandwich, and it was so good he had a hard time keeping it on his plate between bites. Clair had a french roll with salami or prociutto and she, too, savored hers. For me it was the Cafe Salad, a wonderful mix of chicken, cranberries, a soft cheese, pistachios, greens and even a few flower petals - which made the presentation lovely - with a sweet vinegarette dressing.   We ordered soft drinks as well and our total, with tax (before tipping) was about $41.00.

This morning I returned with camera in hand to take a few pics and hopefully to meet the proprietors. (I came away with coffee and sweet rolls for home.) I was in luck and met Steve Angelo, the chef/owner, and Lisa Hanson, pastry chef & party planner. I had not realized, the week before, that The Purple Onion offers catering too, but overheard a patron inquiring about it. The store's website has information on catering, too.

The Purple Onion is open Tues-Sun from 7am to 4pm, closed on Mondays.  It is located at 26 E Main St
Los Gatos, CA 95030. Tel 408 354-4124. Or visit their catering site online: www.purpleonion-catering.com.

Parking is easy. There's a lot behind the Soda Works shopping area. Just don't park in one of the 15 minute zones. You'll never want to leave that fast.