Category Archives: California

Beautiful Breakfast to Go at Berkeley’s Gregoire Restaurant

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The entirety of Gregoire Restaurant in Berkeley, California

The entirety of Gregoire Restaurant in Berkeley, California

Here’s something you don’t often see: takeout breakfast. Sure, you can get eggy sandwiches, pastries and baked goods to go at many morning eateries, coffee shops and bakeries. But a delightful, lovingly made-to-order, full-meal creation?

You can eat in at Gregoire Restaurant, in Berkeley, California. But there are so few tables and counter seats at this very definition of hole-in-the-wall that chances are you’ll be like pretty much everyone else and taking your brekkie to go. Which is a bit of a shame, because everything looks and tastes so wonderful (albeit in a little paper-lined octagonal box) that you want to devour it in situ while it’s still hot. Of course, I arrive at opening time sharp, so all this is not a problem.

Chef-made breakfasts from this tiny kitchen

Chef-made breakfasts from this tiny kitchen

Gregoire combines its fine in-house pastries with some elegant French takes on the possibilities of breakfast. Take, for instance, my flaky puffed pasty with scrambled eggs, bacon, caramelized onion and melted Jack all tucked inside. On the side are some grilled fingerling potatoes and aioli. Oooh, la, la!

You won't find many breakfasts tastier than this on a full-sized plate

You won’t find many breakfasts tastier than this on a full-sized plate

This being Berkeley, it’s $9.75 for a takeout box breakfast, still a reasonable deal for food this well thought out and prepared. This also being Berkeley, a local walking his poodles (natch) pauses and a cook reaches out the window with a couple of dog biscuits; part of the daily ritual.

Note: Berkeley is the only one of two area Gregoire locations that serves breakfast. Of course, there are numerous lunch temptations including smoked Portobello on grilled lavash or grilled beef “bavette” with Anaheim pepper cream on a French roll, both under $10.

What Gregoire is famous though is for something I don’t even try: their crispy potato puffs. I’m not even sure if they offer them this early. Next time.

Gregoire Restaurant
2109 Cedar Street, Berkeley, California (also an Oakland location)
Daily 7 am-9 pm
Gregoire on Urbanspoon

Truck Food Goes Upscale at Berkeley’s Brazil Cafe

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Walkup food cart and beer garden at Brazil Cafe in Berkeley, California

Walkup food cart and beer garden at Brazil Cafe in Berkeley, California

Normally, there’s a distinct drawback to a food truck. Where do you eat the damn stuff? The possibilities include a curb, a shared picnic table, the unprotected front seat of a car, a dusty parking lot. None are entirely satisfying, the hope being the food is sufficiently transcendent to transport you to another world.

Fortunately, Brazil Cafe has come up with a lovely solution at one of its Berkeley, California locations. Technically, it’s not a truck, more of a hybrid, with a beautiful fixed kitchen where the food is prepared and where partner Westbrae Biergarten pours glasses of local craft beer.

And yes, the seating is still mostly upscale picnic tables, with a few lawn-furniture tables and umbrellas added in what appears to be an old parking lot. But everything’s nicely spaced out, creating a most inviting aesthetic. It’s a wonderful place to linger over food and a beer or glass of wine on a warm Berkeley evening.

A perfect way to spend a balmy Berkeley evening

A perfect way to spend a balmy Berkeley evening

The cardboard boxes of food are mostly $9 or $10 and quite tasty, with the rice bowls and sausage winning out over the tri-tip sandwich, the latter’s indifferent bread knocking the grade down a notch.

Brazil Cafe
1280 Gilman Street
Sunday to Thursday 11 am-9 pm, Friday-Saturday 11 am-10 pm

Citizen’s Band an Upscale, Down-and-Dirty Diner

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Citizen's Band ups the burger ante with a medium-rare Kobe patty, tomato marmalade and challah bun

Citizen’s Band ups the burger ante with a medium-rare Kobe patty, tomato marmalade and challah bun

I can’t quite tell if Citizen’s Band, in San Francisco’s South of Market neighbourhood, is a grunge bar or an upscale diner. Maybe a bit of both.

Definitely the former with its industrial soundtrack and darkened interior. Though they throw me off with a selection of wines, craft beers and especially lemonades tinged with basil, strawberry or mint.

The short menu is also a mixed grill, ranging from poutine to hash and eggs emerging from chef/co-owner Chris Beerman’s small, open kitchen. Unexpected little details also make their mark, like the 12-hour-cooked pork belly in the ramen to the Idaho-raised kobe beef in my medium-rare burger, served with tomato marmalade in a challah bun from Pinkie’s Bakery next door.

When it comes down to food this flavourful, I don’t really care what kind of place they call it.

Citizen’s Band
1198 Folsom Street, San Francisco
Weekdays 11:30 am-2 pm and 5 pm onwards, weekends 10 am-2 pm and 5:30 pm onwards
Citizen's Band on Urbanspoon

It’s No Hanging Offence to Crave This Signature San Francisco Dish

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Crispy oysters are at the heart of the hangtown fry, a delightful dish at Brenda's French Soul Food

Crispy oysters are at the heart of the hangtown fry, a delightful dish at Brenda’s French Soul Food

It’s a signature San Francisco breakfast I’ve been dying to try. Called the hangtown fry—a mixture of oysters, eggs and bacons cooked in a skillet—it was a celebratory dish for gold miners who hit payday in the late 1800s. The Tadich Grill is said to cook up a mean version, but at more than $20, it expands my road-trip warrior’s budget more than my belly.

So I plug a downtown-area meter with a slug of quarters and head to *Brenda’s French Soul Food, where I avoid the short 9 am weekday lineup by taking a counter seat. This is one great $13 “omelette”, the crispy oysters blending wonderfully with the other ingredients. The waitress’s t-shirt says “Kiss My Grits,” so I naturally go with that creamy side, instead of hash browns. And the biscuit is a feathery accompaniment, unlike the leaden versions I’ve choked on elsewhere.

I’ve struck it rich.

The shrimp and grits aren't too shabby, either

The shrimp and grits aren’t too shabby, either

Brenda’s French Soul Food
652 Polk Street, San Francisco
Monday-Tuesday 8 am-3 pm, Wednesday to Saturday 8 am-10 pm, Sunday 8 am-8 pm
Brenda's French Soul Food on Urbanspoon

San Francisco’s Coffee Scene

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Blue Bottle Coffee's elegant kiosk in the historic Heath Ceramics building in San Francisco's Mission district

Blue Bottle Coffee’s elegant kiosk in the historic Heath Ceramics building in San Francisco’s Mission district

San Francisco’s coffee scene may not have the notoriety of Seattle’s or Portland’s. But you know Bay Area hipsters aren’t going to take a back seat to those wet coasters to the north. So there’s a solid lineup of third-wave roasters and coffeehouses, concentrated in the increasingly gentrified Mission district.

One thing I don’t think much about at a coffee shop is the mug the java is served in. But at Blue Bottle Coffee‘s Heath location, it’s an essential part of the experience. The reason is the mugs they use are from the attached Heath Ceramics (established in 1948), which produces high-end pottery, fired low and slow, in an airy old building topped by two high chimneys.

The mug that my nice drip coffee is served in is classically simple but elegant. Its silky, slightly pebbled surface is something I just want to cradle warmly in my hands as the morning slips away.

It's all about the satiny Heath mug at this Blue Bottle Coffee location

It’s all about the satiny Heath mug at this Blue Bottle Coffee location

When I ask about the potential for pilfering, someone replies: “The type of people who come here wouldn’t walk off with these mugs.” I mean, you can just wander over to the Heath store and buy your own.

Blue Bottle Coffee
2900 18 Street (four other San Francisco locations)
Monday to Saturday 7 am-6 pm, Sunday 8 am-6 pm
Blue Bottle Coffee on Urbanspoon

The barista at Four Barrel (“slow coffee”) is doing some lovely foam art on the capos and lattes. “What does ‘barista milk’ mean?” I ask, referring to the name on the plastic milk bottles. “I don’t know. Marketing? Maybe it produces a better texture.”

Whatever, it helps bring in the young, laid-back crowd, who in mid-afternoon are filling the little wooden tables that line one long wall. The place is a pleasant, slightly dim place to hang out, with old wood floor planks on the ceiling all the way back to the industrial-sized roasting equipment. Oh, the espressos and single-origin pour-overs are pretty sweet, too.

The flagship Four Barrel Coffee shop and roaster is a laid-back place to savour a java

The flagship Four Barrel Coffee shop and roaster is a laid-back place to savour a java

Four Barrel Coffee
375 Valencia Street (two other San Francisco locations)
Daily 7 am-8 pm
Four Barrel Coffee on Urbanspoon

It’s easy to make a wry observation about how Ritual Coffee Roaster’s clever logo—which bears an uncanny resemblance to the old Soviet hammer and sickle—is appropriate for a young class of cafe dwellers chained to their industrial machines. In this case, the bondage is to another logo: the glowing Apple on a long row of Mac Airs.

Lining up for the morning fix at Ritual Coffee

Lining up for the morning fix at Ritual Coffee

Indeed, other than some hip-hop background music, there is precious little conversation going on, just the quiet sound of sipping and clicking. Don’t these people talk to each other?

These coffee sippers have their own "Ritual"

These coffee sippers have their own “Ritual”

By the way, Ritual makes some nice single-origin espressos and pour overs. Expect to pay $3 to $5 depending on the style and bean you choose.

Ritual Coffee Roasters
1026 Valencia Street (and two other San Francisco locations)
Monday to Thursday 6 am-8 pm, Friday 6 am-10 pm, Saturday 7 am-10 pm, Sunday 7 am-8 pm
Ritual Coffee Roasters on Urbanspoon

Overshadowed by these S.F. heavyweights, Linea Caffe is a year-old coffeehouse that’s got a few things going for it. It has a nice little, open-air corner space. On a warm day, it’s a fine place to enjoy a sidewalk coffee of their own roast, served in an elegant Heath ceramic mug.

Linea Caffe is an independent SF coffeehouse serving up creative waffles

Linea Caffe is an independent SF coffeehouse serving up creative waffles

Where Linea really distinguishes itself is the food menu, specifically the list of waffles produced in a tiny kitchen. There’s a classic Belgian waffle with mead, a pastrami and potato or an egg “sandwich” with marmalade butter. If you really want to go crazy, just add some fresh figs to the mix.

Linea Caffe
3417 18 Street
Weekdays 7 am-3 pm, weekends 8 am-4 pm
Linea Cafe on Urbanspoon

On a Mission to Find San Francisco’s Strangest Chinese Food

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Strange but delicious dishes like squid-ink noodles and chick peas at Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco

Strange but delicious dishes like squid-ink noodles and chick peas at Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco

This can’t be the right place, I’m thinking, as I walk up a particularly dodgy stretch of Mission Street at night. But then I see the telltale signs: A small lineup on the sidewalk and, inside, some casually dressed couples hunched over bowls and plates of unusual-looking food.

Maybe it’s appropriate that Korean-born star chef Danny Bowien is taking Asian fusion cuisine to the outer limits not at an upscale location but in the dingy cacophony of San Francisco’s Mission district, where the prices for this kind of experimentation are much cheaper. Mission Chinese Food, or Lung Shan Restaurant, as the sign over the door says, is one of the darkest restaurants I’ve frequented, with little Christmas lights masking a spartan interior of plain walls and tables and, overhead, a long, red Chinese dragon.

There's a reason these photos are so dark; it's the dim lighting

There’s a reason these photos are so dark; it’s the dim lighting

But one is not here for the atmosphere but for the strange food experiments. Like a “I don’t know how this dish works but it does” plate of wonderfully chewy squid-ink noodles with chickpeas, fennel, mint and a lamb dipping sauce. Or slightly sour lamb dumplings or thrice-cooked bacon and rice cakes with bitter melon ($12). How does he think these things up?

Vegetables Mission Chinese Food style

Vegetables Mission Chinese Food style

Mission Chinese Food
2234 Mission Street, San Francisco
Daily 11:30 am-3 pm and 5 pm-10:30 pm, except closed Wednesday
Mission Chinese Food on Urbanspoon