{"id":444057,"date":"2026-08-26T13:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T13:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/444057\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T13:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T13:42:26","slug":"step-inside-the-hedley-club-in-downtown-san-jose-a-gorgeous-new-california-bistro-at-the-renovated-hotel-de-anza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/444057\/","title":{"rendered":"Step Inside the Hedley Club in Downtown San Jose, a Gorgeous New California Bistro at the Renovated Hotel De Anza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Srijith Gopinathan and Ayesha Thapar are well known in the Bay Area for their elegant Indian restaurants, and their work at Copra<\/a>, Ettan<\/a>, Eylan<\/a>, and Little Blue Door<\/a>, earned the duo a finalists nomination in the Outstanding Restaurateur category at the 2026 James Beard Awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, they\u2019re ready for a new challenge.<\/p>\n

Gopinathan and Thapar have teamed up with the historic Hotel De Anza<\/a> in downtown San Jose to open three new projects under their restaurant group, Cal-India Collective<\/a>. The Hedley Club, a California bistro and lounge oozing Art Deco vibes and details, and Palm Court, a greenhouse-like space with trailing vines and plants with an outdoor feel, both open in September. Cal-Mexican restaurant Tejer, the third project, will follow in December, led by chef Enrique Gonzalez, with Gopinathan collaborating on the menu.<\/p>\n

The projects mark a return to hotels for Gopinathan, who led Campton Place<\/a> to two Michelin stars during his tenure there. He left the hotel in 2022<\/a> to open Copra and focus on his other restaurants, Ettan and Little Blue Door. Eylan soon followed in January 2025<\/a>, then Gopinathan and Thapar began exploring the idea of opening restaurants further into the South Bay. The opportunity to open restaurants in the Hotel De Anza came as managing member Dhaval Panchal and chief operating officer Sean Curtis of MHP Hospitality<\/a> took ownership of the hotel in 2024 and looked to restore the historic building. The owners knew Gopinathan and Thapar\u2019s collection of restaurants and approached them about the spaces.<\/p>\n

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Gino De Grandis<\/p>\n

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Gino De Grandis<\/p>\n

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Gino De Grandis<\/p>\n

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Gino De Grandis<\/p>\n

The Hedley Club serves as the hotel\u2019s cocktail lounge and comes with a food menu imagined by Gopinathan. Rather than fully leaning into his established Indian food repertoire, he\u2019s taking the opportunity to embrace influences from his 20 years of living in California. Gopinathan describes it as \u201ca good, California-style bistro menu,\u201d with references that zigzag across the state and a lot of Bay Area nuance. Think roasted black cod with kimchi butter, creamed corn, and seasonal greens; za\u2019atar flatbread served with a trio of cucumber-mint yogurt, smoked eggplant, and roasted chickpea dips; there\u2019s even sourdough pizzas.<\/p>\n

The team is making pasta, including a raviolo al uovo \u2014 typically a larger-sized raviolo filled with ricotta and runny egg yolk \u2014 that at the Hedley Club is transformed by hot chile ghee, maitakes, stewed dino kale, and pecorino. The Pommes Hedley is a take on pommes pailles, a thinner-cut french fry, served with chile crisp aioli, which can be ordered solo or as a side with the club hamburger (loaded with pickles, little gem slaw, and more of that chile crisp aioli). Gopinathan even added a butter chicken hot dog with a housemade bun to the menu. Drinks come from Merrick Rodrigues, who dived into researching grand hotel bars and created a cocktail menu of classic drinks \u201cmade with California\u2019s celebrated artisanal spirits\u201d and regional botanicals, per a press release.<\/p>\n

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Gino De Grandis<\/p>\n

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Gino De Grandis<\/p>\n

The Hedley Club space received a refresh, with a bold green-and-white checkered marble floor, but a lot of the original Art Deco details remain, such as the ornate ceiling and chandelier that anchor the room. The space is decked out in a soft rose color with plentiful patterns on the couches and chairs that give the lounge an updated feel amongst the historical bones of the hotel. The adjacent Palm Court will serve food and drinks from the Hedley Club but in a space that brings the outdoors in, thanks to the impressive glass ceiling. \u201cIt has an almost conservatory feel to it because it\u2019s got these beautiful vines and it\u2019s sitting in this inside-outside space,\u201d Thapar says. \u201cIt has this very interesting appeal that is very different from what the Hedley Club has, which is this feel of a historical classic bar-meets-lounge restaurant. So it\u2019s two totally different worlds, and you may want to sit in one versus the other.\u201d Palm Court is geared toward events, whether corporate meetings or weddings, with catering from Hedley, Tejer, or the Cal-India Collective, which can provide an Indian cuisine-focused menu on request.<\/p>\n

With Tejer, chef Enrique Gonzalez also once-again finds himself in the restaurant space working with Gopinathan. The two first met at Campton Place when Gonzalez joined the team in 2012; back then, they say, they dreamt of opening a restaurant together, and nearly a decade later, they\u2019re opening Tejer. The two traveled together to Mexico and spent time in Gonzalez\u2019s hometown, cooking with Gonzalez\u2019s mom, Margarita, and walking the farmers markets. Of the few details they could share of the upcoming Cal-Mexican restaurant, they\u2019re planning for a barbacoa that they\u2019ve named after Gonzalez\u2019s father, Pablo; sauces, like a fermented chile sauce, and salsa macha; three varieties of moles; and Mexico City-style seafood platters. \u201cIt\u2019s a challenge, because in San Jose, it\u2019s a lot of Latin community and Mexicans,\u201d Gonzalez acknowledges. \u201cBut we don\u2019t [want to] try to compete. We\u2019re just trying to create something unique with the sense from Mexico, but with the ingredients from California.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hedley Club and Palm Court inside Hotel De Anza<\/a> (233 West Santa Clara Street, San Jose) debuts in September 2026, with Tejer to open in December.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a><\/p>\n

From left, Srijith Gopinathan, Ayesha Thapar, and Enrique Gonzalez. Gino De Grandis<\/p>\n