Berkeley Archive

  • I am so happy right now. Really. I just ate dinner at Ippuku for the first time, and I am so happy that a true yakitori restaurant has landed right here in my town. Ippuku feels like a little piece of Japan transplanted into Berkeley. Everything from the entryway to the seating (in-floor recessed seating on one side, booths on the other) feels authentic. And pretty much everyone in the front of the house speaks Japanese, so you’re greeted in Japanese, the menu is in both Japanese and English, and the drinks have a real Japanese feel. The concept of...

    Ippuku is a Little Piece of Japan in Berkeley

    Posted on 2010.07.14 | 2 Comments
    I am so happy right now. Really. I just ate dinner at Ippuku for the first time, and I am so happy that a true yakitori restaurant has landed right here in my town. Ippuku feels like a little piece of Japan transplanted into Berkeley. Everything from the entryway to the seating (in-floor recessed seating on one side, booths on the other) feels authentic. And pretty much everyone in the front of the house speaks Japanese, so you’re greeted in Japanese, the menu is in both Japanese and English, and the drinks have a real Japanese feel. The concept of...

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  • Gather Restaurant in Berkeley has been well-received by both “official” critics and local food bloggers. Located across Oxford from UC Berkeley, it’s got the corner spot in the David Brower Center, a recently-completed LEEDS certified building with the mission of housing non-profits with an environmental bent. So Gather’s a great fit – with a focus on fresh, local and sustainable ingredients, and This Week’s Farms featured prominently on a chalkboard. From the beginning it has been Gather’s goal to offer breakfast, lunch and dinner with local sustainable fixin’s at a reasonable price. I’ll leave the dinner review for another time...

    Breakfast and Lunch @ Gather

    Posted on 2010.04.09 | 2 Comments
    Gather Restaurant in Berkeley has been well-received by both “official” critics and local food bloggers. Located across Oxford from UC Berkeley, it’s got the corner spot in the David Brower Center, a recently-completed LEEDS certified building with the mission of housing non-profits with an environmental bent. So Gather’s a great fit – with a focus on fresh, local and sustainable ingredients, and This Week’s Farms featured prominently on a chalkboard. From the beginning it has been Gather’s goal to offer breakfast, lunch and dinner with local sustainable fixin’s at a reasonable price. I’ll leave the dinner review for another time...

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  • When I made plans to meet up with @BasilLeaf, I suggested dinner and she responded with an enthusiastic, “I LOVE FOOD!” So I decided to take the opportunity to try out a new restaurant I’d kept forgetting to visit — one that I first spotted in The Perfect Spot back in February. Opened by a married couple, Chris and Veronica Laramie, the restaurant hints of an elegant, modern meal with two (prix fixe) courses at $25 and additional courses (say, dessert) at $11. BasilLeaf and I found ourselves tucked into the restaurant on a rainy evening. The restaurant was a...

    Dinner @ eVe Restaurant

    Posted on 2010.04.01 | No Comments
    When I made plans to meet up with @BasilLeaf, I suggested dinner and she responded with an enthusiastic, “I LOVE FOOD!” So I decided to take the opportunity to try out a new restaurant I’d kept forgetting to visit — one that I first spotted in The Perfect Spot back in February. Opened by a married couple, Chris and Veronica Laramie, the restaurant hints of an elegant, modern meal with two (prix fixe) courses at $25 and additional courses (say, dessert) at $11. BasilLeaf and I found ourselves tucked into the restaurant on a rainy evening. The restaurant was a...

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  • Today I hit Gregoire for lunch. If you don’t know Gregoire, it’s the East Bay’s premiere take-out place — a little tiny postage stamp of a place, but which churns out great food. For dinner, gourmet French food (my first visit there I had seared duck breast… to die for… I will have to review dinner separately).And for lunch, sandwiches, salads and lavash wraps. Both the lunch and dinner menus change monthlyAlways offering a selection of various potato products (don’t miss the crispy potato puffs… little poofs of crispiness surrounding surprisingly light “mashed potato”), and a choice of desserts (anything...

    Lunch at Gregoire Restaurant, Berkeley

    Posted on 2010.03.28 | No Comments
    Today I hit Gregoire for lunch. If you don’t know Gregoire, it’s the East Bay’s premiere take-out place — a little tiny postage stamp of a place, but which churns out great food. For dinner, gourmet French food (my first visit there I had seared duck breast… to die for… I will have to review dinner separately).And for lunch, sandwiches, salads and lavash wraps. Both the lunch and dinner menus change monthlyAlways offering a selection of various potato products (don’t miss the crispy potato puffs… little poofs of crispiness surrounding surprisingly light “mashed potato”), and a choice of desserts (anything...

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  • Emilia’s Pizzeria opened in the fall and from the friends & family opening onwards has been gathering the kudos. It’s a small shopfront (still no sign, although I think I saw it leaning up against the wall when I picked up my pie tonight) and Keith Freilich, the owner, mans it by himself, from answering the phones (it’s a good idea to order your pizza ahead of time if you expect to get one) to making each and every pie. And the pizza? It’s a large 18″ pie with thin crust (sort of NY style) with the edges have that...

    That Sauce Makes the Pie

    Posted on 2010.02.10 | No Comments
    Emilia’s Pizzeria opened in the fall and from the friends & family opening onwards has been gathering the kudos. It’s a small shopfront (still no sign, although I think I saw it leaning up against the wall when I picked up my pie tonight) and Keith Freilich, the owner, mans it by himself, from answering the phones (it’s a good idea to order your pizza ahead of time if you expect to get one) to making each and every pie. And the pizza? It’s a large 18″ pie with thin crust (sort of NY style) with the edges have that...

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  • Places we kept going back to again and again: Camino, Pizzaiolo, adesso, Dosa, Corso Trattoria, Gregoire, Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, Wood Tavern Fun for a special occasion: Michael Mina, Commis (actually reasonably priced, so maybe not just special occasions) For when you can't stop eating: Zabu Zabu, Espetus, farmer brown's brunch Perenniels: Yank Sing, Bette's Oceanview Diner, Cheeseboard It's New to Me: Katana-Ya Over-rated: Chez Panisse Cafe Next time: places we're looking forward to eating in 2010

    2009 Faves

    Posted on 2010.01.13 | No Comments
    Places we kept going back to again and again: Camino, Pizzaiolo, adesso, Dosa, Corso Trattoria, Gregoire, Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, Wood Tavern Fun for a special occasion: Michael Mina, Commis (actually reasonably priced, so maybe not just special occasions) For when you can't stop eating: Zabu Zabu, Espetus, farmer brown's brunch Perenniels: Yank Sing, Bette's Oceanview Diner, Cheeseboard It's New to Me: Katana-Ya Over-rated: Chez Panisse Cafe Next time: places we're looking forward to eating in 2010

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  • The Michelin star ratings for San Francisco were released back in October. I haven't exactly made it a goal to eat at all the restaurants on the list, but I thought I'd examine the list and see which I've been to, and maybe revisit some I haven't been to in a while, and put others on my radar. Turns out I haven't been to many, especially not recently, so I can't speak much to whether they've earned the stars are not… but, here goes. And lots of others to come. Eaten eat (ever) Eaten at (in the past year) Three...

    Eating at San Francisco’s Michelin Stars

    Posted on 2009.12.01 | No Comments
    The Michelin star ratings for San Francisco were released back in October. I haven't exactly made it a goal to eat at all the restaurants on the list, but I thought I'd examine the list and see which I've been to, and maybe revisit some I haven't been to in a while, and put others on my radar. Turns out I haven't been to many, especially not recently, so I can't speak much to whether they've earned the stars are not… but, here goes. And lots of others to come. Eaten eat (ever) Eaten at (in the past year) Three...

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  • OMG, every weekend for weeks (I say weekend because I travel during the week, but sometimes even more than 1x a week) when I’ve been in town, I’ve gone to Tacubaya on 4th St. in Berkeley… ordering up a couple of tacos de lengua. Yes, beef tongue tacos. Tongue is not necessarily one of my favorite beef cuts – texture can be a little weird – but here it works in the taco’s favor… super moist and tasty chunks, with a green tomatillo salsa, and covered in onions and cilantro. Plus a little squeeze of lime. It’s like going to...

    Currently Obsessing: Taco de Lengua – Tacubaya

    Posted on 2009.09.07 | No Comments
    OMG, every weekend for weeks (I say weekend because I travel during the week, but sometimes even more than 1x a week) when I’ve been in town, I’ve gone to Tacubaya on 4th St. in Berkeley… ordering up a couple of tacos de lengua. Yes, beef tongue tacos. Tongue is not necessarily one of my favorite beef cuts – texture can be a little weird – but here it works in the taco’s favor… super moist and tasty chunks, with a green tomatillo salsa, and covered in onions and cilantro. Plus a little squeeze of lime. It’s like going to...

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  • Early dinner tonight at Corso (skipped lunch). The Bellini al Corso was great, quite sweet though, so avoid if sweet is not your thing. Mozzarella burrata was creamy — the filling was different than I expected, not the best I have ever had, but went well with the pinenuts and oil on the plate. The t-bone steak (they didn't have the fried rabbit, which is what I was dying for) was expensive, large, and overcooked. Menu said medium rare, but it was definitely more like medium or even medium well except for close to the bone where it was ok....

    Quickie review of Corso

    Posted on 2009.06.09 | No Comments
    Early dinner tonight at Corso (skipped lunch). The Bellini al Corso was great, quite sweet though, so avoid if sweet is not your thing. Mozzarella burrata was creamy — the filling was different than I expected, not the best I have ever had, but went well with the pinenuts and oil on the plate. The t-bone steak (they didn't have the fried rabbit, which is what I was dying for) was expensive, large, and overcooked. Menu said medium rare, but it was definitely more like medium or even medium well except for close to the bone where it was ok....

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