beXnlog

CA: Oakland & Berkeley

Blogging sorta feels like homework when there's so much to do, no time to do it and your camera busts right before you get a chance to upload the pictures to your computer! In sum, our California trip was much fun; the random food story follows:

1/19/06, we fly out of JFK in business class! It totally pays to have family members working for the airline. Did you know that American Airlines is now charging coach passengers for "snack boxes?" On longer flights i believe you get a turkey sandwich, but basically it's a box with assorted snack packs. Good thing we got upgraded, because in business we got some delicious portobello, spinach & Boursin baguettes; assorted nuts, a roll with butter, a wilty salad and cookie dough ice cream. Airline food generally isn't so great but i was quite surprised with the baguette.

We arrived in San Francisco and took the BART to downtown Oakland. XJ and ff were still working so be and i tried some burritos at La Salsa. For a chain the burritos were very tasty: the tortilla wasn't floppy and doughy, the rice and beans were made well and the fresh salsas were quite yums. We also noted that Coca-Cola from the West coast is less sweet than the original Atlanta formula.

A bit later we had dinner at the famed Golden Lotus restaurant, the vegetarian Vietnamese place that 5 people have told me about. I opted for a bowl of pho with fake meats while the rest of table had lotus salad, caramelized fake chicken, green beans and battered fake shrimp. Everyone's dishes were very good (especially the lotus salad) but honestly the pho could've been better. It was served up with the basil leaves, lime wedges and chiles, the noodles and fake meats were good but the broth was lacking, a bit too bland. It didn't need to be "beefy," just more flavorful. Overall, i would definitely go back to try more dishes - it's not every day you can have vegetarian Vietnamese food. We rounded off the night at an art gallery opening and at Luka's bar, eating frites and playing pool.

1/20/06: our Berkeley / food fest day. We started off at the famed Berkeley Bowl Marketplace, where we counted a dazzling array of: 5 kinds apple pears, 38 kinds oranges/tangerines, 14 kinds avocados, 18 kind of apples, fresh turmeric, edible flowers, assorted cactus, banana flower, fresh bamboo shoots and countless other produce items - enough to shame any gourmet market to tears. We barely saw the rest of the supermarket but it looked like 3 rows of bulk food items, a grand olive bar and enough goods from worldwide cuisines to satisfy the diversity of the Bay's residents. Berkeley Bowl was so amazing, be and i were each secretly okay with leaving New York if we could live near it! We ended up buying 6 blood oranges, a big avocado, 2 croissant muffins and some dry snacks.

On Shattuck Ave in Berkeley we checked out The Other Change of Hobbit bookstore, the Cheese Collective (although we didn't get any pizza since the day's pie contained onions and peppers, which be hates), the original Peet's Coffee & Tea where we sampled and bought whole "Lost Toraja" beans; a paper store, bead shop and three other bookstores.

For lunch we decided we had to eat at Chez Panisse. For those who don't know, its founder Alice Waters is credited with developing Californian cuisine and a food revolution in American dining-out. The Cafe upstairs is more affordable than Downstairs - even so, lunch cost us $50 per person but it was really worth it! Lunch began with a crusty sourdough and creamy butter. be opted for the raw oysters plate while i chose the blood orange salad. I expected orange chunks tossed with lettuces but received something much better: sliced blood red and sunny orange rounds arranged on a large plate with crushed olives and thinly sliced red onion, drizzled with good olive oil and pink sea salt. I loved the contrast of juicy sweet intense orange with the salty olives and fragrant oil. be claimed the oysters were so fresh, they "tasted like the ocean." His oyster half-shells came arranged on a mound of crushed ice, with a savory thin sauce. For the main dishes, be chose the percale sole with potatoes and fresh artichoke salad, while i had the vegetarian cencioni pasta with wild mushroom ragu. My fresh pasta was shaped like thick leaves (for lack of a better term), tossed with finely chopped mushrooms. The pasta looked doughy but upon tasting, it was nothing like any fresh pasta i'd ever had - an excellent al dente bite, hearty and dense but thoroughly cooked and not raw or floury at all. The mushrooms were earthy, salty and juicy. be isn't one to enjoy eating fish off the bone but he loved the percale, which was a very generous portion that he finished to the last bite. He said it had been smoked over a fragrant wood and that the meat was so soft it slid off the bones. For dessert, we shared the ginger cake with poached pears and fresh whipped cream. I was expecting more pear than cake but it was the opposite - a big slice of dark brown spicy ginger cake, a few slices of lightly poached pear and a scoop of cream. I loved the cake's intensity; it was super flavorful without being too sweet, plus it had a slight gingery bite! be also had a glass of wine but i forget what it was. In sum, eat at Chez Panisse as often as you possiby can!

Unbuttoning my pants, we took the bus to the Scharffen Berger chocolate factory for a tour. With about 40 other people, we sat in a classroom-like setting and learned about the process of making chocolate, from the bean to the bar. Tasting everything from mixed cacao nibs to 41% milk chocolate to 82% extra dark, i got my chocolate fill from the big pieces passed around! Then, donning hair caps (and facial hair caps for those with) we lined up and walked through the factory. I was quite surprised at how close we could get to the machines. Of course, the tour ended up at the gift shop where we bought some mini bars and some gift boxes. I almost bought a dark brown t-shirt that said "extra bitter" but i guess i was too pessimistic to actually buy it?

XJ and her friend picked us up and we all headed to Amoeba Music, where be went nuts and bought countless Morrissey and INXS CDs for $1.99-$5.99 each! Amoeba was quite an overwhelming experience. Too bad there isn't a record store like that in New York!

Finally for dinner we went to Greens Restaurant in San Francisco with ff and XJ. It's rated one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the Bay and after our experience, i do agree! It's slightly difficult to find since it's on the wharf at the end of a wooden walkway with a tiny sign, but the restaurant overlooks the water and contains a giant table/seating structure made from a washed-up redwood tree! We started with more sourdough bread & butter, biodynamic and organic wine, fresh lemonade and chai. For appetizers, XJ and ff shared the wilted Savoy spinach salad, be had the potato and parsnip pancakes and i chose the Mediterranean plate of hummus, pita, grilled artichoke, feta-filled filo, lentils and tomato chutney. The homemade pita bread was incredible! be's pancakes were quite tasty and the spinach salad was very fresh. The main dishes we had were: mushroom ravioli for be, the Mesquite Grilled Brochettes (skewers of mushrooms, peppers, garnet yams, fennel, potatoes, cherry tomatoes and marinated tofu with charmoula, served on almond currant couscous) for ff and myself and the Filo Pastry (filled with artichokes, crimini mushrooms, leeks and pecorino cheese, served with braised French lentils and sauteed rainbow chard and dinosaur kale) for XJ. Everything was very good and for some reason, the Brochettes plate was a giant-sized portion i couldn't finish! I really liked the fluffy cous cous, too! As a finale, we all shared the Meyer lemon & tangerine sorbet with lemon cookies, and the chocolate mousse with cherries and cream. The tangerine sorbet was amazing, the Meyer lemon one pretty fresh and sour; both were so citrusy and fragrant from the oils in the rinds. Overall, a yummy dinner and a place i'd definitely look forward to again. I totally should've brought stretchy pants!

Next up, more SF, our drive down Rt 1 and Los Angeles!

posted by beXn @ 3:18 AM