PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 45 PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF EL JARDIN / JOHANNA HARLOW tic selection of manatee tea infusers, kitty chopsticks and adorable plushies (smiling avocados, dinos and mermaid cats, oh my). When you and your credit card need to catch your breath, visit the Santana Row Park deck. Settle into a wicker patio chair and listen to live music under a hulking oak festooned in lights. Holiday Feast After all that shopping, you’ll have worked up an appetite. Fortunately, just about everywhere you turn, you’ll find restaurants (30 of them) with ample indoor seating and lamp-heated European-style patios. For sushi in a sophisticated setting, Ozumo serves all the traditional classics and an array of innovative entrees to satisfy both Grandma and the Gen Z crowd. With its dedication to quality ingredients (meaning snow crab rather than imitation filler in even the California rolls) as well as some playful wrestlingtitled items on the menu, Ozumo pins down a win in the sushi scene. You might also nibble your way through Meso Modern Mediterranean’s fluffy pita and flatbreads or Zazil’s sizzling fajitas and carnitas. Or sink your teeth into L.B Steak’s boneless ribeye, tomahawk, porterhouse and Wagyu in a swanky space swathed in red with cheeky cowhide chairs. For more casual (but still satisfying) venues, dine at Dumpling Time or Pizza Antica. Afterward, enter El Jardin, an enchanting al fresco bar overflowing with live music, plants and trellises. For wines buttery to bold (or 180 kinds of whisky curated by an in-house whisky sommelier), head for Vintage Wine Bar. (You can’t miss it: Look for the building resembling a medieval limestone church.) Here, you’ll have plenty of savory, sweet and salty bites to tease your tastebuds with pairings so explore how the tang of roasted tomatoes, the smokiness of the meat pâté and the earthiness of the truffle chips dialogue with your palate. Got room for dessert? Stop by Smitten Ice Cream for exploratory scoops with flavors like Cinnamon Toast or Earl Grey with chocolate chips. Or swing by Cocola, a longstanding French-style patisserie, for macarons and a mocha.
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