Nothing scheduled until late afternoon — sleep in, rest, take it easy. Leave Newark around 4:50 PM for the drive south to Little Saigon. Travel times are planning estimates with buffers, not live traffic.
Dairy-free · Fully vegan — zero dairy anywhere on the menu, so Deb can order anything without a single question. Pho broth is plant-based here; tofu is house-made.
Parking · Large free lots shared across Vietnam Town / Grand Century Mall on Story Rd — park once for both dinner and the festival.
A fully plant-based Vietnamese kitchen in the Vietnam Town plaza, right next door to the festival — so dairy-free is total, not negotiated: the whole menu is safe for Deb. Homemade tofu, umami-rich pho and mock-meat bowls, and the crispy oyster mushroom in tamarind sauce. Walk-in and casual; arrive near 5:15 to beat any rush (kitchen closes 8). Google 4.6 (verified across aggregators); Yelp has 467 reviews but the exact star could not be confirmed directly this run (Yelp blocks direct fetch in the cloud), so the gate is Google-verified, Yelp-unconfirmed.
Walk·4 min·about 0.2 mi
Mid-Autumn (Tết Trung Thu) Festival — lanterns & lion dance at Grand Century Mall
1111 Story Rd, San Jose, CA 95122
The Story Road Business Association's free Mid-Autumn Festival in Little Saigon — lanterns, mooncakes, food and game stalls, and live music. Roll in after dinner for the opening ceremony (6–6:30) and evening performances, and stay for the 8 PM lion dance and children's lantern parade, the glowing centerpiece of the night. Free admission. It's the one weekend this happens.
Drive·22 min·about 19 mi
Home to Newark — wind down
Newark
Head out after the 8 PM lantern parade; home before 9, evening left quiet so Sunday stays protected.
Walk·0 min – at home·0 mi
Night time process 🕶️ 💊 ❌ 💧On your calendar
Walk·0 min – at home·0 mi
Prep bed 😴On your calendar
Why it fits
One unique-to-this-weekend cultural anchor: the Little Saigon Mid-Autumn Festival — lanterns, a lion dance and a children's lantern parade at 8 PM — exactly the only-here cultural experience Deb leans into, and an Asian festival on the single weekend it happens.
Dinner first at Green Lotus, a fully vegan Vietnamese kitchen, so dairy-free needs zero negotiation — Deb can order anything on the menu — and you're both fed before the festival crowds.
Park once: dinner (1143 Story Rd) and the festival (1111 Story Rd) share the same Story Rd plaza, a 4-minute walk apart — you drive, she never moves the car or navigates.
A lazy day by design — slow morning, unhurried afternoon at home, then one lovely evening out. The rest is the plan, not a gap in it.
Cuisine rotates to Vietnamese (fresh — the last Vietnamese date was late July), and both the restaurant and the festival are brand-new; nothing repeats inside the no-repeat window.
Warm, clear evening — high near 78°F, dropping into the mid-50s after dark — good festival weather, and you're home before 9 so Sunday training stays protected.
Bring
A light jacket or layer for each of you — it drops into the mid-50s once the sun's down and you'll be outside at the festival.Comfortable shoes for standing and strolling the festival.A little cash for mooncakes and the festival's food and lantern stalls.
Backup
If Deb's energy is low or the festival feels too crowded, skip it after dinner and grab a box of mooncakes to go from a Little Saigon bakery for a quiet evening at home — the day still lands. If Green Lotus has a wait at 5:15, Bún Bò Huế An Nam (740 Story Rd, a few minutes away, Google 4.3) is the fallback — Vietnamese, dairy-free by nature.