Pizza place planned for JTown
Call it awin for both history buffs and food lovers.
Prominent South Bay restaurateur Jordan Trigg has leased one of the oldest buildings in San Jose’s Japantown and plans to open it as JTown Pizza, the district’s first such restaurant.
“It was too good of an opportunity to pass up,” said Trigg, whose Dipsomania Inc. already owns properties in Japantown (7 Bamboo and Jack’s) as well as in downtown Campbell ( Boiler Maker and Spread) and Willow Glen (20Twenty). “I’m excited to be going into the oldest building in Japantown.”
For building owners Carol Chen and Max Soloviev, who spent $2 million renovating the North Sixth Street landmark as Wenzhou Fish, Noodles & More, it’s the answer to their quandary.
The first-time entrepreneurs — he’s a computer engineer, she’s in real estate — found that running a restaurant was challenging for their family, so they had been searching since early this year for an operator who could offer both restaurant savvy and an appreciation for the building’s historic significance.
“Our restaurant was originally part of Chinatown, which is now more known as Japantown,” Chen told Mercury News columnist Sal Pizarro in January, “and we feel that if someone could take it to the next level, e.g. upscale fusion cuisine style, he or she would have high chances to make the business grow and help us maintain this beautiful landmark.”