Cataldi, San Jose, CA

In San Jose, Cataldi is really two things in one polygon: a settled residential tract at its western end and a big band of undeveloped Diablo Range foothill above it to the east. On the valley side, it is flat, former-orchard single-family stock in the Berryessa Union school area near the Cataldi Drive and Morrill Avenue streets, with the neighborhood park just over the line and the schools close. The valley side of Cataldi is former orchard land, now flat blocks of single-family houses laid out around Cataldi Drive and Morrill Avenue. The streets are calm and entirely residential, and the hills stay in view above the rooftops. The eastern part of the map is mostly grassland and slope rather than more subdivisions. Cataldi Park, across the boundary in neighboring Morrill, is the park most people walk to. It has tennis courts, a sand volleyball court, several playgrounds and a water play area for summer days. For longer outings, the Boccardo Loop Trail heads up into open country, and Alum Rock Park is where the Penitencia Creek trail begins its run down toward the valley. Meals and errands point north and west. Pho Mai #1 on Landess Avenue is the late-night standby, serving pho, grilled pork plates and Filipino adobo and pancit until the small hours. Farther along Landess in Milpitas, Seafood City is a big Filipino supermarket with a full fish counter. B Cafe on Berryessa Road covers the coffee and tea run, from fruit teas to boba milk sweetened with brown sugar. Nearly every errand takes the car, since the tract has no shops of its own. The BART station at Berryessa is a short drive southwest, with the Rapid 500 bus there for trips downtown, and I-680 follows the valley floor to the west. But for a buyer who wants a north-side home with real foothill open space at the back edge, Cataldi offers an unusual mix of settled suburb and hillside trails at an accessible price, and the eastern hills give it a wilder edge than its Berryessa neighbors.