Random Find
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Vegan Soul Food Comes to Oakland Chinatown
Random Find Luke Tsai — Tue, May 8, 2012 at 4:24 PM
There’s something about finding interesting eats at an unlikely location that really gets the ol’ food writer’s blood pumping. Authentic ghormeh sabzi at an Oakland Hills delicatessen? Hell to the yes. Cambodian meat skewers from a hole-in-the-wall donut shop? We hardly knew ye.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Your Tuesday Night Food Adventure: Cameroonian Food at Room 389
Random Find Luke Tsai — Tue, May 1, 2012 at 1:52 PM
A few weeks ago I saw a post on Chowhound indicating that the Grand Avenue bar Room 389 was serving Cameroonian food, of all things, on Tuesday nights. “Anyone try it?” the curious tipster had asked.
Apparently, no one had. And so, on a recent Tuesday, I decided to go check it out.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Double D Saga Continues
Random Find Jesse Hirsch — Mon, Nov 14, 2011 at 2:39 PM
Last week I finally got word back on Double D BBQ, adding a new wrinkle to the ongoing saga (yes, it's been upgraded from mystery to saga). If you recall, I’ve made multiple visits to this mythical joint during apparent business hours, only to find the doors locked, the lights on, and the smoker in chains. Writing about it allowed me to vent, but what I really wanted was to smoke the owner out of seclusion.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Oakland’s Most Elusive Barbecue
Random Find Jesse Hirsch — Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 11:55 AM
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have a full-on food mystery here.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been mining the Express archives, researching crucial pit stops on the East Bay foodways. Double D BBQ, this year’s Best Of winner for “The Best Barbecue Place You’ve Never Heard Of,” struck a particular chord. Promising tender and lush slow-cooked brisket by-the-pound, the blurb mentions Double D is only open limited hours, three days a week.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
New Talent Lifts Addie's Pizza
Random Find John Birdsall — Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 12:31 PM
A restaurant review, a former editor liked to say, is a snapshot in time. Kitchens change: staff moves on, recipes change, ingredients move in and out.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Berkeley's Local Butcher Shop Makes Sandwiches. We Tried One
Random Find John Birdsall — Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 12:56 PM
Back in May, What the Fork broke the news about The Local Butcher Shop, Aaron and Monica Rocchino’s whole-beast meat shop just starting its build-out in Berkeley. Last week it opened, a lovely space that feels more Upper West Side than North Berkeley, all gleaming white tiles, soaring blackboards chalked handsomely, and a rambling case with squab, beef, chickens — all sorts of pristine-looking meats — overseen by butchers rocking neckties and crisp-looking aprons.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Beauty's Bagel Shop Rules
Random Find John Birdsall — Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 5:42 PM
Last week we checked out Spot Bagel, a new wholesale company reviving the pre-Noah’s tradition of boiling bagels, and pioneering some post-Noah’s future that references the farm-to-table ethos of Alice Waters. They’re available in Berkeley at Saul's Deli and both Berkeley Bowl markets.
Boot and Shoe Expansion Starts with Breakfast
Random Find John Birdsall — Sun, Jul 31, 2011 at 4:22 PM
Meeting reskeds, checking Facebook to see who’s been owling over the weekend — a lot of laptop work gets done mornings at Pizzaiolo, during the informal coffee and pastry breakfast that started there in 2008. Last month saw the launch of Boot and Shoe Café (3308 Grand Ave.), the slightly better organized equivalent at Pizzaiolo’s spinoff in Grand Lake. The wall between Boot and Shoe Service and the former Café DiBartolo has been breached both front and back, in the brick-walled outer reaches of Boot and Shoe’s perennially jammed bar.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Spot Bagels Roll Into the East Bay. Can They Succeed as the Anti-Noah's?
Random Find John Birdsall — Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 10:37 AM
The bagel is toast. Or has been, until a new generation began the long road back to revival. On the artisan end of the revival continuum: the East Bay’s Beauty’s Bagel Shop (makers of Montreal-style boiled, wood-fire baked bagels), which is gearing up for an actual shop, reportedly in Oakland. At the more scaled-up end is Spot Bagel, a strictly wholesale startup based in Burlingame that began rolling out product last weekend. Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen on Shattuck began offering them earlier this week, along with Berkeley Bowl West. The original Berkeley Bowl expects to start stocking them Friday.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Phil's Sliders Gets Serious About the Tater Tot
Random Find John Birdsall — Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 1:33 PM
Downtown Berkeley got a taste of populist luxury last month with the opening of Phil’s Sliders, Hugh Groman’s storefront café devoted to the mini burger. And while there’s no denying that the Marin Sun Farms beef patties and Valrhona chocolate in the shakes sets Phil’s apart from Nation’s basic, there’s something else on the short, sweet menu here that'll make you put your slider down: tater tots.
