Original Joe's ★ 4.0
Original Joe's is a San Jose cornerstone since 1956 where the Rocca family delivers prime steaks, veal scaloppini, and classic Italian-American pasta.
Order: 27-oz Kansas City NY strip steak or veal scaloppini
History
The Santa Clara Valley and Pajaro Valley corridor around Gilroy became the garlic capital of the United States in the 20th century, building on a Chinese immigrant farming tradition that began in the 1880s. The Gilroy Garlic Festival, launched in 1979 by writer Don Christopher and local growers, turned the crop into a regional identity: it now draws 100,000 visitors annually and has inspired garlic versions of dishes from ice cream to pizza. San Jose restaurants routinely source directly from Gilroy farms, and the festival's garlic bread and garlic fries have become templates that spread through every class of South Bay cooking.
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 4 whole heads of garlic
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 baguette or sourdough loaf
- 2 tbsp soft unsalted butter
- Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)
Method
- Preheat oven to 200C. Slice off the top 1 cm of each garlic head to expose the cloves.
- Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil over each head. Season with salt and pepper. Wrap each head loosely in foil with a thyme sprig.
- Roast 40 to 45 minutes until cloves are golden, soft and caramelised. Cool 10 minutes.
- Squeeze roasted cloves from papery skins into a small bowl. Mash with a fork. Mix with butter.
- Toast baguette slices under a hot grill 1 minute per side. Spread roasted garlic butter while bread is still hot.
Tip from the editors. Gilroy garlic roasts sweeter and less aggressively than standard supermarket garlic. If using regular garlic, reduce the roasting time by 10 minutes to avoid bitterness.
Where to eat gilroy garlic
Gilroy garlic in San Jose
Back A Yard Caribbean Grill Downtown ★ 4.2
Back A Yard has anchored Downtown San Jose with Caribbean cooking since 2004, with smoky jerk chicken and oxtail stew drawing a loyal midday crowd near SJSU.
Order: Jerk chicken plate with rice and peas and plantains
More cities are in research. Want gilroy garlic covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.