• Vito's Pizza Vito's has regular New York-type pizza. It's not a schwanky place. We like to go there and get a couple of pies to take home, and I get to play pinball while we're waiting for the pies.
• Thai Basil on Murphy Street. We just got carryout from this place, because it's tiny and there's no way we could eat there with the rambunctious two-year-old. Best Thai food I've had in years, including when I lived in Chicago.
• Halted Specialties, off Lawrence Expressway and Central Expressway in Sunnyvale. When I make a low-budget sci-fi (and I *do* mean sci-fi, not SF) movie, I'm going to get my props there. In the meantime, it's just a great store for electronics stuff, kind of like a computer junkyard.
• SeaScapes on Castro Street in Mountain View. Definitely the best marine reef aquaria store around, IMHO. Very knowledgeable and conscientious people, great stuff, just an all-around great place to go ogle amazing aquaria or do real shopping for that kinda stuff.
• Cosentino's is a great grocery store. There's one on Homestead and Lawrence Expressway in what I think is Santa Clara, and one on Bascom and I forget what in San Jose.