Ask him whether his Sexy Cookie acts like chocolate chip Viagra, and Akiva Resnikoff demurs. Resnikoff is the guy behind The Cookie Department, an Emeryville-based functional foods company that launched in 2009. The cookies show up mostly at East Bay cafes (Fellini Coffeebar in Berkeley, for one), also gyms and the snack counter at the Grand Lake Theater.
The functional part of Resnikoff’s cookies comes mostly from superfoods — the allegedly Viagra-like additive in the Sexy Cookie, for instance, is maca (Lepidium meyenii), a root originally from the Andes said to help with endurance. Also, it is said, with horniness.
Resnikoff — sales manager at Metropolis Baking Company, which his cousin owns — says each Sexy Cookie contains half a dose of maca, meaning you’d have to eat two to have any hope at all of feeling, well, tingly. Then again, maybe you’d have to eat a couple every day. “Once it gets built up in your system, it has been known to cause stimulating effects,” Resnikoff told me over the phone one day. “I can’t really claim that it’ll make you horny, but people who take maca on a regular basis say it’s a nice added bonus.”
Besides the Sexy, Resnikoff offers the vegan Smart Cookie, which is studded with dried cranberries (high in antioxidants, which could, presumably, boost brain power); Peanut Power (with whey protein powder, adding up to a whopping ten grams of muscle-builder); and the Awaken Baked, which — apart from having an awesome name — packs espresso powder. He says he’s working on a recipe for a gluten-free cookie that tastes like peanut butter and jelly, and won’t have an overt function, unless you count keeping celiacs happy.
What about my experiment with the Sexy Cookie? Did it have the power to make me functional? I recently ate two in a single sitting (separated by an espresso) at Fellini, and while I did think they were pretty good chocolate chip cookies, I didn’t exactly end up jumping my husband.
Then again, I was feeling pretty full. Call it a nice added bonus.
Bring Your Fixie
Looks like the Temescal cafe formerly known as SadieDey’s is ready for its next chapter.
What The Fork ducked into the space at 4210 Telegraph last week to find new owner Christopher Marquez working on its transformation to Arbor, a cafe intended to be bicycle-friendly, not unlike Actual, Sal Bednarz’s refuge from car-strafed San Pablo Avenue at Alcatraz. Marquez is a first-time business owner who plans to keep his regular gig as manager of San Francisco’s DNA Lounge. Plans to.
A resident of Oakland, Marquez says he wants Arbor to be a family sort of hangout, even after he gets the beer and wine license he’s applied for. He’s thinking a selection of local beers (he likes the offerings at CommonWealth), with wines and an aperitif list that includes Lillet.
As for coffee, Marquez is still scoping — he recently spoke with the guys from Bicycle Coffee. They’d be a perfect fit, considering Arbor’s emphasis on bikes, an emphasis defined by an Actual-like wall rack for your fixie, plus monthly bike-repair clinics for figuring out how to keep it rolling.
And food? That’s still developing. Pastries and flatbreads, Marquez said, but also some unexpected stuff: “We’ll have raclette nights, and borscht — I’m a real borscht guy.” If it were up to him, it’d all be vegetarian, but he said he’s gotten flak from friends. Ergo, meat.
Look for an Arbor opening in mid-September, with daily hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., later once Marquez can pour beer and wine.
Recent Openings
Longtime Chez Panisse chef Aaron Rocchino finally managed to work his way through Berkeley’s new-business roadblocks to open the doors of The Local Butcher Shop, a source for meats from the whole beast, at 1600 Shattuck Avenue in the Gourmet Ghetto. Expect pastured beef, pork, and lamb, with free-range chickens and turkeys, and a sandwich of the day. Rocchino’s wife, Monica, is co-owner.
Oakland’s Adesso has a new neighbor. The Local Cafe opened for daytime service last week at 4395 Piedmont Avenue, with a clean, minimalist design. For breakfast, there are pastries from Black Jet Baking Co., a couple of egg dishes, and toast with jam from Berkeley-based INNA. Lunch has sandwiches (including egg salad and a bacon, tomato, and avocado) and salads. Ex-Boot and Shoe Service cook Colin Etezadi is overseeing the kitchen; dinner should launch in late-September. Drinks skew local, including Berkeley’s Donkey and Goat wines and Linden Street Brewery’s Urban People’s Common Lager, all on tap.
Finally, chef-owner Jason Kwon has finished his rehab of Berkeley’s venerable (well, three decades old, anyway) Joshu-ya Sushi Bar at 2441 Dwight Way, relaunching it as Joshu-ya Brasserie. The 27-year-old Kwon oversaw a remodel of the physical space, and redid the menu, which now has a focus on sustainable seafood.
