.Music & Nightlife

Introduction | Food & Drink | Music & Nightlife | Goods & Services | Art & Culture

OVERALL

Best Comedy Venue

Best Large Concert Venue

Best Small Music Venue

Best Dance Club

Best Jazz/Blues Club

Best Place to Sip Manhattans with Ms. Pac Man
Mini Boss
52 E Santa Clara St, San Jose
Opened in early February, Miniboss is downtown San Jose’s first proper video game bar. Featuring some of your favorite old-school cabinet games, like The Simpsons and Bust-a-Move, and a solid selection of pinball machines, the 21+ main floor also serves craft cocktails and draught beer. Miniboss is run by the same team behind Original Gravity and Paper Plane, so the beer and cocktail menus are on point. The attached SuperGood Kitchen admits all ages and cooks up Asian fusion dishes designed to wow discerning foodies as well as late-night imbibers.

Best Latin Music Club

Best Microbrewery/Taproom

Best Wine Bar

Best Local Winery

Best Taproom Run by a Social Justice Warrior
Camino Brewing
718 S 1st St, San Jose
When we caught up with Allen Korenstein on a Tuesday afternoon last summer, he was rushing from one office to another. Earlier that morning, he had been navigating the emotional labyrinth of foster care, handling five cases in his role as a juvenile law attorney. Half an hour after leaving the courthouse, he’d made it to the other side of downtown and was putting on his brewers cap. Korenstein and his partner Nathan Poulos have been brewing beer for a decade. Beginning as most brewers do, in a garage, they eventually gained some notoriety for their collaboration with Chromatic Coffee; the Cafe con Leche is a smooth coffee milk stout that gives imbibers a double buzz of alcohol and caffeine. Since opening up their brick-and-mortar location on South First Street in the spring of 2018 they’ve gained a reputation as one of downtown’s best places to grab a craft brew. Furthermore, their beautiful, spartan taproom—located just south of the Interstate 280 overpass—has activated a long-vacant space, right next door to the old Faber’s Cyclery. In this way Korenstein is continuing his work in the community by bringing a cultural hub to a part of town littered with empty storefronts and neglected historic properties. Here’s hoping that more follow suit; the old Faber’s building, which has been refurbished by Garden City Construction, is awaiting a new tenant, and many more structures in the Martha’s Gardens neighborhood, from beautiful mid-century neon signs to Victorian, Craftsman and Art Deco homes, could all benefit from repairs and a fresh coat of paint.

Best New Bar/Club

Best Sports Bar

Best British Pub

Best Irish Pub

Best Gay or Lesbian Bar

Best Dinner and a Movie for the Uber-Efficient
Pruneyard Cinema
1875 S. Bascom Ave, San Jose
It’s a strangely intimate thing to sit next to a person in the dark. It adds a little bit of tantalizing danger to a first date. At the same time, watching a movie in tandem is a great way to size up a person’s level of empathy. Perhaps they have none; or maybe too much. (Do you really want to spend your time with someone who wails every time they see a sad kitty?) And then there’s sharing a meal with a potential mate. (How much hot sauce does this person consume? You must know!) Feed two birds with one hand at this luxurious theater, which features an in-house restaurant, craft cocktail bar—The Cedar Room—and seven screens. Between the expert mixology, reclining seats and regularly scheduled events, it’s a great place to figure out whether to swipe left or swipe right. On Tuesdays the bar focuses on tiki drinks and the theater offers an $8 all-day admission; Drag Queen Bingo is on Wednesdays; and once a month they host their Culinary Cinema event, featuring a food-themed film and a menu to match.

Best Hotel or Restaurant Bar

Best Craft Cocktails

Best Martinis

Best Mojitos

Best Margarita

Best Bowling Alley

Best Standup Outside a Comedy Club
Super Stacked
Studio by Terra Amico, 460 Lincoln Ave, San Jose
Despite the presence of a major midsize comedy club, plenty of open mics and a vast, diverse population of prospective audience members to draw from, the South Bay has long had a reputation as flyover country for standup. But San Jose’s seeing something of a comedy revival thanks to a crop of young performers who’ve been carving a space between bar mics and big clubs. Case in point: Super Stacked, a twice-monthly showcase that routinely draws an audience of about 100, give or take, to a woodshop on Lincoln Avenue for a night of free comedy. Produced by comedians Ryan Sudhakaran, Grayson Garcia, Tyler Stannard and Austin Baylock, the show kickstarted a trend of curated comedy outside the usual venues. If you’ve never been, catch the next one this weekend. Grab a beer to go at Hapa’s Brewing Company, then walk a few doors down for the 6pm show at Studio by Terra Amico for a lineup that features the producers themselves. To stay in the loop about future shows, follow them on Facebook and IG @SuperStacked.

Best Pre-Sharks Game Spot

PENINSULA

Best Happy Hour

Best Dive Bar

WEST VALLEY

Best Happy Hour

Best Karaoke

Best Dive Bar

CENTRAL VALLEY

Best Happy Hour

Best Karaoke

Best Dive Bar

Best King of the Stage
Donny Mirassou
While drag kings have a long, rich history, they’ve never quite received the kind of broader recognition enjoyed by their femme counterparts, who feature into the latter-day pop cultural landscape thanks to shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race. Jean Batt, who spent the better part of her/his/their life bending the rules of masculinity by way of the darkly debonair onstage persona Donny Mirassou, is part of a growing number of performers hoping to change that. The South Bay artist began experimenting with the art as a preteen tomboy to explore her masculine traits before going on to master impersonations of male rock stars as a student at a parochial all-girls high school, where Batt was cast as a boy in plays. Over the ensuing decades, Batt’s sense of self has increasingly intertwined with Mirassou’s. “We have blended,” Batt reflects. “Similar aesthetics, tastes in music, style, nerdiness and cosplay—even his sexuality has blended with mine. I used to play him as a straight man, but he so isn’t anymore.” The flamboyantly male alter-ego has helped Batt come to terms with their own body, inspiring their foray into burlesque and their incorporating into the act other aspects of their identity as a goth, furry and kinkster. “He has given me a lot more confidence in myself in a lot of ways,” Batt says. “But the one thing he helped me do is deal with my gender issues head-on and to come out.” Batt-as-Mirassou has taken their singularly multifaceted act to stages throughout the nation, from the Circus of Sin at San Jose’s Caravan to the Stud Bar in San Francisco, where on April 13 you can celebrate his 30-year drag-iversary with a host of other fans.

SAN JOSE/SOUTH VALLEY

Best Happy Hour

Best Karaoke

Best Dive Bar

FREMONT & MILPITAS

Best Happy Hour

Best Dive Bar

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