A Michelin‑starred closure

Chez TJ, a longtime fine-dining restaurant in downtown Mountain View, closed this week after more than four decades in business. (mv-voice.com) Owner George Aviet announced the shutdown in an Instagram post on April 15, and the restaurant stopped taking reservations the same day, according to local reports. Chez TJ operated at 938 Villa St. in a Victorian house built in 1894. (padailypost.com) (whatnow.com) (guide.michelin.com) The restaurant opened in 1982 and built its reputation around contemporary French tasting menus served in a small, formal dining room. Its website described the business as family-run and said it had welcomed guests for “over four decades.” (whatnow.com) (cheztj.com) Chez TJ spent years as one of Silicon Valley’s best-known special-occasion restaurants, in a downtown better known for casual tech-corridor dining than white-tablecloth meals. Mountain View Voice said the restaurant helped define the city’s fine-dining scene and trained cooks who later spread across Bay Area kitchens. (mv-voice.com) (eastbaytimes.com) Its Michelin run was unusually long for a single Peninsula address. What Now reported that Chez TJ first won a Michelin star in 2007, reached two stars in 2007 and 2009, and held at least one star through 2024 before dropping out of the guide in 2025. (whatnow.com) Michelin’s current listing still shows Chez TJ in the 2025 guide at 938 Villa St., describing it as a “doyenne of Mountain View fine dining” in a 19th-century Victorian. The guide page also lists the restaurant’s cuisine as contemporary and its price level at four dollar signs. (guide.michelin.com) The house itself carried nearly as much identity as the menu. East Bay Times reported that the property was once home to banker Julius Weilheimer, who later became Mountain View’s mayor, before Thomas J. McCombie and Aviet acquired it in the early 1980s; the restaurant’s name came from McCombie’s initials. (eastbaytimes.com) Aviet continued the business after McCombie died in 1994, preserving a restaurant that outlasted several waves of Peninsula dining trends. In its farewell message, the restaurant thanked diners for “memorable evenings” and “meaningful milestones,” closing the book on one of Mountain View’s longest-running upscale tables. (whatnow.com)