Restaurants in Los Gatos

To maintain the authentic flavors in their Mexican and Salvadorian specialties, the kitchen staff at Olé Taqueria sticks to traditional cooking techniques and ingredients. They shape and bake their own tortillas for each dish, including burritos packed with marinated beef and tacos loaded with shredded pork. Their Salvadorian plates include tamales and quesadillas, as well as pupusas—thick tortillas wrapped around meats and cheeses, much like a last-minute Christmas present from a Mexican restaurant's chef.

Dotted with circles, squares, and rectangles, Olleh Sushi and Tofu House looks a bit like a geometry classroom. Though these wooden shapes could be used for math instruction, they’re instead used as tables topped with Japanese meals and Korean specialties such as tofu soups and barbecued short ribs. More than 75 types of sushi, such as salmon nigiri and crab-and-avo rainbow rolls, pair fresh flavors with vibrant colors that are delivered on plates or in wooden boats. At the bar, mixologists pour Sapporo beer from the tap and deliver bottles of chilled sake in flavors ranging from sweet and fruity to floral and nutty. Nearby, a private dining room welcomes groups with long communal tables and cushy red booths.

For over a quarter of a century, chefs at Sun-Ly Chinese Foods have charmed a stream of loyal customers with colorful meals of East Asian cuisine and warm, friendly service. Like a beloved childhood cartoon dubbed into an obscure dialect of Estonian, the voluminous menu is simultaneously familiar and exotic, plying patrons with classic dishes, such as general chicken and broccoli beef, as well as rare treats, such as honey-walnut shrimp, salt-and-pepper calamari, and peking ribs.:

Wood- or charcoal-heated tandoors imbue traditional Indian dishes with smoky, yet succulent, flavor by roasting skewered meats and vegetables at temperatures as high as 750 degrees. At Emperor of India, the menu features a variety of tandoori entrees, including vegetable kebabs as well as yogurt-, herb-, and spice-marinated chicken.

After 15 years spent honing his restaurateur skills across Mexico, San Francisco, and San Jose, Julian Rios was ready to open the doors to his own eatery in 1992. According to the Sunnyvale Sun, there was just one problem: he didn't know how to cook. That's when his sister stepped in, crafting a menu of Mexican favorites that flourished in the hands of Julian's experienced chef, who is well versed in the secrets of Mexican cooking. Julian eventually learned his way around the kitchen thanks to this chef, adding cookery to a litany of skills that already included bussing tables, manning the register, and dicing sombreros. "If you don't do these things, you could lose your business," Rios told the Sunnyvale Sun, "I have worked too hard to let my business go down."

Low-cholesterol vegetable oil anchors every dish on the approximately 50-item menu, which incorporates loads of veggies and lean meats into traditional Mexican and seafood dishes served à la carte or on the buffet line. Vibrant margaritas and creative desserts scrawl an appetizing epilogue across the evening's menu, where cheesecake chimichangas drown in strawberry sauce, sugar, and whipped cream.