02 February 2026
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Look at the branding for Super Bowl LX, and you’ll see illustrations of San Francisco iconography — the Golden Gate Bridge, the Transamerica Pyramid. Attendees of the game may be surprised, then, that kickoff on February 8 will be taking place about 50 miles to the south of the city, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
San Francisco may be home to more globally iconic attractions than Santa Clara County — best known as the epicenter of Silicon Valley and the home of tech giants such as Apple and Google — but for those who choose to stay near the South Bay for the weekend, options for dining and entertainment abound. The nexus of the area is San Jose, a diverse city that’s actually the Bay Area’s most populous, and the county stretches across a wide valley, from the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west side to the Diablo Range on the east.
“The South Bay and Santa Cruz Mountains are a rare dual world: global innovation just down the hill, and a landscape of redwoods, fog and rugged coastline minutes away,” says Eric Prahl, winemaker at Rhys Vineyards, a decorated winery in Los Gatos, a scenic town about 15 minutes’ drive from downtown San Jose. “There’s a strong culture of craft, and people care deeply about quality, but without much pretense.”
“The South Bay has matured significantly,” says Anthony Secviar, chef and co-owner of the MICHELIN-Starred Palo Alto restaurant Protégé. “There’s a greater sense of confidence now — more chefs cooking from a personal point of view, rather than trying to replicate what’s happening in San Francisco or elsewhere.”
Locals are often keen to point out the region’s lack of affectation, but the financial might of the tech industry has boosted culinary expectations, attracting world-class chefs.
“The South Bay has matured significantly,” says Anthony Secviar, chef and co-owner of the MICHELIN-Starred Palo Alto restaurant Protégé. “There’s a greater sense of confidence now — more chefs cooking from a personal point of view, rather than trying to replicate what’s happening in San Francisco or elsewhere.”
Combine this growth with the area’s natural beauty and the underrated art scenes in Palo Alto and San Jose, and you have an exciting, vibrant region ripe for exploring — whether you go to the game or not. Here are The MICHELIN Guide’s recommendations for what to eat and drink, where to stay and what to do in Santa Clara County.
Where to Eat in Santa Clara County
For more than two decades, David Kinch has been the South Bay’s standard bearer. He earned Three MICHELIN Stars at Manresa, and though he closed that restaurant in 2022, he still operates The MICHELIN Guide Bib Gourmand The Bywater in Los Gatos and is a partner in Manresa Bread bakery, which has locations in Los Gatos, Los Altos, Palo Alto and Campbell.
“The South Bay was kind of forgotten, even though there was a lot of great food down here, although it tended to be ethnic cuisines — great Vietnamese, great Indian food,” Kinch recalls. “Over time, it has really expanded, I think, because the growth of Silicon Valley created a customer base that really wanted options and fine food. I remember, back at the beginning, it was difficult to sell things like squab and sweetbreads, but it has changed dramatically.”
Kinch’s current restaurants lean casual, but with careful focus in the kitchens. The Bywater serves New Orleans classics — broiled and fried oysters, beignets, po’ boys — as a tribute to the chef’s beginnings.
“I grew up in New Orleans, and that's where I fell in love with cooking, and I wanted to open a restaurant that reminded me of that place and time,” Kinch says. “We worked hard on a lot of little things. We spent about a year and a half trying to perfect a classic New Orleans po' boy loaf. It's what makes the sandwich special, and also quite authentic.”
At the other end of Silicon Valley, Palo Alto has long been a worthy destination, thanks in part to the presence of Stanford University. As Kinch noted, the South Bay’s Indian cuisine is excellent, and at the fine-dining end of that spectrum is Ettan. Chef Srijith Gopinathan opened this festive Cal-Indian spot in downtown Palo Alto in 2020, using locally sourced ingredients in standout dishes such as kulchas (North Indian flatbreads), Goan tora tiger shrimp and paneer kalimirch (black pepper curry).
Just a couple of blocks away from Ettan is Ethel’s Fancy, which Chef Scott Nishiyama — a former executive chef of Chez TJ, a longtime MICHELIN-recommended South Bay favorite — opened in 2022. Dedicated to Nishiyama’s mother and grandmother, the Pacific-Hawaiian-French-influenced restaurant serves creative plates such as Meiji tofu custard with chanterelles and shrimp, yellowfin tuna on koshihikari rice with sweet onion schmaltz, and katsu-style swordfish.
Just south of the Palo Alto’s main drag, University Avenue, diners will find the MICHELIN-Starred Cal-Med restaurant Protégé, which chef Anthony Secviar and Master Sommelier Dennis Kelly, two French Laundry alums, launched in 2018.
“At the time, the South Bay didn’t have many chef-driven restaurants, and it felt like we could play a part in building something,” Secviar says. “One thing that’s unique about Protégé is that we offer both a tasting menu and an à la carte menu, with little to no crossover. On one hand, we might be deboning a quail, stuffing it with black truffle mousse, brining it for 10 hours, drying it for three days and cooking it through a multistep process as part of the tasting menu. Meanwhile, in the lounge, we’re serving hush puppies — albeit with braised duck neck, Brentwood corn and a charred scallion ranch.”
For a cuisine that’s a bit more off the beaten path, check out LeYou, a stylish Ethiopian place in a quiet San Jose strip mall. Chef Aida Taye expresses a contemporary vision of East African cuisine, serving classic teff injera and doro chicken (fried drumstick and hardboiled egg in a spicy stew), along with a variety of vegetarian options, in a vibrant space lined with Ethiopian artwork.
A South Bay standby for fine dining is the Plumed Horse in Saratoga, which has carried a MICHELIN Star every year since 2008. Chef Peter Armellino crafts tasting menus featuring ingredients such as Monterey abalone, Liberty Farms duck and Mount Lassen trout, all paired with excellent wines.
Where to Drink in Santa Clara County
Speaking of wine, oenophiles may consider a trip to Napa a must, but they can save the two-hour drive and visit historical wineries right here in the Santa Cruz Mountains. First among these is Cupertino’s Ridge Vineyards, an entrant in the famed 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting. (Its legendary Monte Bello bottling actually won a 30th-anniversary tasting in 2006.) Nearby, there’s also Mount Eden Vineyards, a pioneering winery that’s only open to visitors during the week, and Rhys Vineyards, which makes sensational Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
“Long before California wine became synonymous with the valley floor, the Santa Cruz Mountains proved that cool, marginal mountain sites could make wines with real longevity and world-class stature — something our neighbors, like Ridge and Mount Eden, have helped establish for over a century,” says Rhys Vineyards winemaker Eric Prahl, who also points out that the tasting programs at South Bay wineries are more intimate: “Visiting Rhys is the opposite of a choreographed, corporate luxury tasting. We host guests at Skyline Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, perched at 2,300 feet, and the experience is built around the site.”
Where to Stay in Santa Clara County
The last few years have seen the caliber of boutique luxury lodgings in Silicon Valley improve dramatically. The rapidly expanding Nobu brand planted its flag here in 2020 with Nobu Hotel Palo Alto. The 73-room property styles itself as an “urban ryokan,” with modern design and a Japanese-style garden that hosts a weekend afternoon tea service. The hotel also recently launched a partnership with the onsen-inspired Watercourse Way Bath House Spa, just a five-minute walk away.
“[Silicon Valley] has a little bit of a hustle culture,” says Nobu Hotel Palo Alto general manager Chris Suarez. “I think a lot of [business] deals are happening in and around the hotel. You enter on the first floor, it's a lively scene, but then you go upstairs, and it transitions into more of a calm, serenity kind of thing.”
A central location — less than 10 miles from downtown San Jose and Levi’s Stadium, in the middle of the upscale Santana Row shopping center — makes Hotel Valencia Santana Row another appealing option. The 213-room, Spanish-influenced property offers an outdoor pool, a rooftop bar and a Burke Williams spa.
For those seeking a more playful experience, there’s the Treehouse Hotel Silicon Valley, which opened in Sunnyvale this past May. The treehouse-inspired concept features lots of greenery, quilts on the walls, firepits and amenities for children (kid-size robes, tents) and pets (a canine concierge). For Super Bowl attendees, it has the added plus of being only about four miles from Levi’s Stadium.
What to Do in Santa Clara County
Art lovers will want to start on the Stanford campus, which is home to the Cantor Arts Center and the B. Gerald Canter Rodin Sculpture Garden. The latter is open 24 hours a day and has manicured grounds and 20 Auguste Rodin works, including a cast of “The Gates of Hell.”
Contemporary art fans will enjoy downtown San Jose’s SoFA (South First Area) District, which is home to the Institute of Contemporary Art San José and several independent galleries that band together to put on a First Friday Art Walk each month. The first Friday of February happens to fall on Super Bowl weekend, and Cherri Lakey, the cofounder of Anno Domini gallery and the producer of the Art Walk, says visitors will find a non-commercial scene that reflects the area’s diverse local population.
“Because of the supposed lack of arts and culture here, artists have nothing to pander to,” she observes. “They look for their connection through their heritage or through their history, and they create really unique work out of that.”
Those looking to explore the region’s technological legacy will be interested in the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, the Intel Museum in Santa Clara and The Tech Interactive in San Jose, all of which offer hands-on exhibitions that dig into the scientific roots of Silicon Valley’s rise to global prominence.
Finally, no visit to the Bay Area is complete without an excursion into its natural environment. On the east side of San Jose, Henry W. Coe State Park (the largest state park in Northern California) offers hundreds of miles of hiking trails, plus mountain biking, horseback riding and fishing. Across the valley, the redwood-studded Santa Cruz Mountain foothills are rife with open space preserves — including Monte Bello, Rancho San Antonio and Saratoga Gap — crisscrossed with trails. And just a stone’s throw from the VC offices on Sand Hill Road rises the Stanford Dish, a giant radio telescope ringed by a popular walking and jogging trail.
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Hero image: Santa Clara Valley at dusk as seen from Lick Observatory in Mount Hamilton east of San Jose, Santa Clara County, California. © Yuval Helfman/Adobe Stock
