Two pieces of good news amidst all the insanity. First, there’s a new “it” place on Santana Row, called Augustine, which really delivers the goods on ambience and amazing food. Second, they also have a coffee and pastry shop next door called Café Augustine.
Both are reasons to be bullish in what feels like a bear market. And it’s an especially good thing for Santana Row, as it looks to increasingly compete with the ever upscaling mall across the street.
There’s some irony here. Valley Fair was once the bastion of a pretty mediocre food court, which made the Cheesecake Factory and Nordstrom’s Bazille look high end. No more. Now they’ve got King’s Fish House, Massimo’s, Eataly, Din Tai Fung and Mastro’s, with Asia Live and Joey on their way.
I’ll confess to having a soft spot for Santana Row. Before it was even built, it was on my radar, courtesy of my former stockbroker, whose office was on South Winchester. He was dating my best friend at the time and was planning to invest in a condo at The Row, thinking it would be ever so convenient for those late nights after dining out and catching a movie. The excitement around a place with lots of shops and chichi dining spots combined with high-end apartments, was electric. Everyone knew this would change the neighborhood and give Valley Fair a run for its money.
So many restaurants have come and gone, in both places, since then. When Sino on The Row went dark two years ago, I figured a similar restaurant would take its place. But Augustine is a step completely beyond the current trend at Santana Row, which has lately seemed to lean toward more casual food. The refresh of El Jardin and now the debut of Taqueria Parranga accentuates that.
But Augustine convincingly bucks the tide. Not surprisingly, it’s from the serious-about-dining folks from Bacchus Management Group, who most recently brought Selby’s to Atherton, and whose debut establishment was none other than the Village Pub in Woodside. It must be noted that Bacchus Management Group was very bullish on Santana Row and actually installed the first restaurant there in 2003, after the disastrous fire of 2002 that nearly extinguished momentum for The Row. Pizza Antica has been a beloved staple and standard of measure for casual, upscale dining for over two decades now.
Augustine not only brings next-level dining to Santana Row, it also offers a sanctuary for escape.
The oasis-like ambience feels intentional and well thought out, from the marble-topped cocktail bar to the crystal chandeliers and gold lighting elements poised over the white table cloth-draped tables. Blue velvet bench seating flanks the perimeters. The mood here, inside and out, is coastal vacation, as if you’d just stepped off the busy sidewalks of a bustling city and arrived at a beachfront resort, perhaps on the Riviera.
While there is no ocean in view, the menu clearly echoes seacoast inspiration, with items like crab donuts, fried chicken and caviar, fisherman’s mussels with Calabrian chiles, roasted branzino with anchovies and capers, and the stunning grilled whole Maine lobster. The small beet and tangerine salad with watercress and warm goat cheese was lovely, but the spring vegetable cocotte—a creamy polenta topped with roasted root vegetables, mushrooms and cauliflower—is a standout. The garlic shoestring fries are a huge hit. Land-raised proteins include duck leg cannelloni, spiced lamb sausage with minted yogurt, the Augustine burger and roasted half chicken with herb butter and lemon-Dijon. An order of grilled bread is served with an intriguing spread called muhammara, which brings a taste of the Middle East. It’s made of roasted red peppers, walnuts, sherry vinegar, cumin, olive oil and pomegranate molasses.
Brunch, available on weekends, stars fresh baked croissants and crullers, smoked salmon tartine, Croque Madame, pancakes with lemon butter, French toast with whipped ricotta and Tonka bean, and a simple but oh-so-tasty breakfast sandwich on a housemade tigelle, the Alpine version of a raised flatbread that is cut into rounds and cooked on a flat skillet or in a special tigelle pan. Here, it features scrambled egg, a sausage patty and melted cheddar cheese. The Augustine breakfast comes with toasted tigelle and potato rösti (a fried potato cake said to have originated in the Swiss Canton of Bern).
All the dishes, served on scallop shell plates, are modestly proportioned. The menus are foil-stamped with the logo and all the servers wear neatly embroidered aprons. “We have over 100 staff here so far. We are actively training more and looking for others,” GM Juan Barajas told us, as he explained that his hospitality background includes over a decade at Michelin-starred Village Pub in Woodside, the first of Bacchus Management Group’s many success stories. This is bound to be another.
Options at Augustine include weekend brunch, weekday lunch, nightly dinner and private dining options, as well as a secret speakeasy. Fuel up for shopping with a coffee and a butter-laden pastry at Café Augustine, daily from 7am. The coffee cake is killer, and the Cowboy cookie, packed with oats, raisins, chocolate chips and coconut, is a marvel. They also serve lemon poppy seed bread, opera cake, Basque cheesecake and apple turnovers.
Augustine is open Mon–Thu 11:30am–10pm, Fri 11:30am–11pm, Sat 10am–11pm and Sun 10am–10pm. The cafe is open Sun–Thu 7am–10pm and Fri–Sat 7am–11pm. 377 Santana Row, No. 1000, San Jose. 408.785.7700. augustinerestaurant.com
For events or private parties, email ev****@au*****************.com or phone 650.785.8800.
