Berkeley in a Day for Low-Budget Gourmets
Aug 27 '02 (Updated Apr 01 '06)
The Bottom Line For high-quality cheap eats, Berkeley can't be beat. Come check out the gourmet bargains in the East Bay.
The boilerplate: I lived in Berkeley, California for 13 years until last winter. Berkeley has, shall we say, a certain reputation for its ultra-liberality, - and not unjustly. In my years of living in Berkeley I found that tourists visiting California and San Francisco almost never made an effort to see Berkeley. In fact, as a student at UC Berkeley I found that even the out of town students often had no idea of Berkeley's character beyond the typical "student areas" that extended to a few blocks off campus in most directions.
But Berkeley has lots to offer. It's not the easiest place to get a feel for in a short time, but that's where I, your trusted insider guide, come in. This is the second in a series of reviews of Berkeley that will provide you with enough detailed information to design a short trip catering to your own interests. The places and businesses upon which these reviews will turn are all long-established features of Berkeley, so you needn't fear that as a former resident I'm out of touch. Besides, as an ex-pat, I still consider Berkeley home and I go back on a regular basis.
Berkeley in a Day for Low-Budget Gourmets
So why should you trust my taste when it comes to budget gourmet? I'm a chowhound. You know, one of those people who are "gut-driven." Someone who lives to eat. I've got a palate with $15,000 worth of professional culinary training behind it which is otherwise going mostly to waste. Plus, I lived in Berkeley for years on a very tight budget. Those are my qualifications and I submit them for your considered judgment. Berkeley is known in foodie circles as being especially blessed in the matter of its restaurants and the availability of high-quality produce. And there aren't many places to eat or drink in Berkeley that I haven't tried. This list comprises establishments that have consistently provided excellent food at quite low prices relative to the quality, while maintaining good sanitation and adequate service. I do not patronize businesses that fall short in these last two areas and I would not direct you towards them either. So without further ado, on to the grub!
Vik's Chaat House
Hidden away from downtown, in a low-tech industrial neighborhood near the bay, is a gem of an Indian place. Unfortunately, its hidden location hasn't prevented Vik's Chaat House from growing steadily in popularity over the years. Vik's serves chaat, or small Indian snack dishes, but there's absolutely nothing to prevent you from making a full meal out of this delicious and dirt-cheap fare. Let's be clear: this place is all about the food. The ambiance can be summed up as warehouse décor - strictly utilitarian but pleasant as such things go. There are a few tables and chairs (far too few for the crowd that shows up on weekends), a narrow counter with stools and a walk-up counter where you order. I take it as an excellent recommendation that there are usually large numbers of Indian people eating here.
I never know quite what I'll find at Vik's - that's half the fun. There are usually about 7 small dishes to choose from, with both meat and vegetarian offerings that change frequently. After ordering and paying at the counter, you wait until your name is called and then pick up your food at the counter. Even during the weekend crush, I have never had to wait long once I placed my order. Everything is on paper plates or boats and the only utensils available are plastic spoons. The food here is very cheap. Two people can easily enjoy three small dishes and a couple of drinks for about $10. The dishes here are hearty and quite filling, so this is a great bargain for miserly gourmets.
My all-time favorite dish from Vik's? The huge vegetarian samosas, which come two to a serving and are liberally garnished with delicious spicy chickpeas and doused with tamarind and mint sauces. Other items such as kebabs, pakoras (vegetable fritters), cholles (puffed breads), various salads and Indian crepes also make regular appearances on the menu. The sauces used to garnish the dishes provide perfect counterpoints to the spicy food. I've never had a bad or even boring dish here. Vik's menu could only be improved by the addition of naan (Indian flat bread) and other tandoori-cooked items. Vik's also offers mango lassis and piping hot chai masala (spiced tea with milk). In the deli case by the cash register is a large assortment of beautiful Indian sweets and desserts. Despite my ritual refrain of "next time," I've never tried these delicacies because I've always stuffed myself silly with chaat.
Vik's can be found almost at the end of Allston Way, just west of 4th Street. They do accept credit cards and will happily prepare food for carry out as well. There is a good sized parking lot adjacent to the site and a wonderful Indian market next door, where you can indulge your post-prandial curiosity buy picking up a few exotic ingredients (mostly dry goods) to try in your own kitchen.
726 Allston Way
Hours: Tuesday - Friday 11 am - 6 pm; and Saturday - Sunday 11 am - 6:30 pm
Closed Mondays
The CheeseBoard Pizza
Next up on our stingy gourmet tour is The CheeseBoard collective in the heart of Berkeley's Gourmet Ghetto neighborhood. A long-term fixture of Berkeley and wildly successful legacy of the counter culture, The CheeseBoard is a combination bread bakery and cheese shop. Their tiny pizza counter next to the main store was a natural outgrowth of their primary specialties. A collective business is one that is owned entirely by the employees. That means that the employees care deeply about the business and have personal stakes in the profitability and image of the business. This is quite evident at The CheeseBoard, where you will find knowledgeable, hardworking and friendly staff.
My main point in including The CheeseBoard in this review was to discuss the pizza, but first I'm going to fill you in on the breads and cheeses. One thing to keep in mind is that free samples of cheeses are given out here. Interested in some goat cheese or a sharp cheddar? Not only is there an amazing selection of high-quality domestic and imported cheese here, but they will cheerfully offer you a sample of each variety of goat cheese or cheddar to help you decide which cheese best suits your mood. On top of this there are graduated discounts for senior citizens. The older you are, the better the discount!
The breads here are great too, though they don't offer samples of these. My top pick for a day visitor would be the zampano, a small chewy round of bread made with olive oil and dotted on top with large salt crystals, hot pepper flakes and parmesan cheese. These are out-of-this-world delicious and they only cost a dollar. They don't keep well; so don't bother buying extras for tomorrow. (The English muffins do freeze well, and they are far and away the best English muffins I have encountered anywhere.) All of the breads here come out in several shifts over the course of the day. So if the case for zampanos is empty when you come in, ask if another batch will be coming out soon. You may get lucky and have the chance to stuff your gob with a zampano warm and fragrant, straight from the ovens. Some breads are produced every day, while others are made according to a weekly schedule you can check on their website. You can make a simple picnic out of the bread and cheese from the main store, or step over to the CheeseBoard Pizza for a hot slice.
The CheeseBoard's pizza is always vegetarian, and the toppings change every day. There's only one kind of pizza per day. Slices cost $2 and a whole pizza $16. I've seen a few odd toppings in my time (walnut, lemon zest and finely shredded red and green cabbage), but I can honestly say the pizza has always been excellent. The pizza here is neither New York nor Chicago style. The crust is fairly thin, though not so thin as a good New York pie. Most importantly, the crust has both a good flavor and great texture. You'll see the bakers sprinkling freshly chopped herbs on the pizzas just before they slice the pies. The day's batch of pizza often sells out well before they shut their doors, so get there early to avoid disappointment. The line usually trails out the door and down the sidewalk, but it also moves quickly. Your chances of scoring one of the three tables inside or two outside are slim, but you can always take your piping hot slices or whole pie over to the wide, grassy median strip in the middle of Shattuck Avenue on a nice day. You'll have to trust me when I say this is nicer than it sounds. Another alternative is to walk about three blocks north to Live Oak Park. For those of you who care about such things, the CheeseBoard is one of the top ranked "restaurants" in the Zagat guide for the San Francisco area.
The CheeseBoard Pizza counter
1512 Shattuck Avenue (1504 Shattuck for the CheeseBoard main store)
(510) 549-3183
Hours: Monday 11:30 am - 2:00 pm; Tuesday - Friday 11:30 am - 2:00 pm and 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm; Saturday noon - 3:00 pm and 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Closed Sunday
http://cheeseboardcollective.coop/index.html
Peet's Coffee & Tea
Are you ready for an afternoon pick-me-up yet? It's time to talk about Peet's Coffee & Tea. Peet's pioneered good coffee long before anyone had ever heard of Starbucks. Unlike that ungainly and gauche behemoth, Peet's Coffee & Tea remained a small chain of stores found mostly in the Bay Area while keeping their quality high and their prices in line with reality. In fact, Peet's was founded right here in Berkeley, in 1966, which may explain why there are four Peet's stores in town. I'm not a coffee drinker, never have been. So I'm not in the best position to hold forth on the coffee here. I can say that many people whose culinary judgment I trust implicitly claim it's the best (and some of the strongest) coffee available in the US. And the beans here are exceptionally fresh: you can still see the thin film of oil that coats the beans from the roasting.
What I can vouch for is the tea. The founder, Alfred Peet, was a tea drinker. Consequently, Peet's features an excellent selection of black, green, oolong, decaf black and herbal teas which they will actually serve you in a teapot! My favorite is the Irish Breakfast tea, a mellow-flavored tea with a gentle caffeine lift that sells for $5.95 per quarter pound. These teas come either as loose leaf teas or in teabags and they hail from China, India, Sri Lanka and Japan. There are rare blends that sell for quite a bit more than my Irish Breakfast, but I'll tell you how to get a cup for free in a minute. If you are a tea drinker, this place will make you very happy.
The prices for individual café drinks vary from store to store, but they are reasonably priced; you won't be charged $3 for a small cappuccino anytime soon. They also make a pretty good effort to provide for all tastes in dairy consumption. Drinks can be prepared with soy milk upon request for a small extra charge. The selection at the self-serve milk/sugar counter is great too. You get to choose between half-and-half, whole milk, low-fat milk or non-fat, as well as honey and white sugar.
The prices here are relatively high, but quite fair for the quality. So, I hear you wondering, what's the low-budget angle of this place? Well, the first good deal is that you get a free drink when you purchase a container of tea or a pound of coffee. This is something that I always take advantage of when buying my tea. One especially cool thing about this deal is that almost any tea is up for grabs for your free cuppa. You can try a special reserve Jasmine or an expensive Chinese green tea. If you pick one of the few teas that aren't available as a free cup, they'll let you know. The second deal is the small discount (10 cents) provided to customers who bring their own mugs for their coffee or tea drinks. In fact, if you happen to bring your own mug on Earth Day, you'll receive a quarter pound of organic fair-trade coffee beans for free! Even without the discounts and the freebies, I would still list Peet's as a low-budget gourmet spot. Just stay away from the fancy extras at this place, like premium chocolate bars, beautiful ceramics for tea or coffee and other budget busters.
In spite of their relatively large stores, Peet's is not a sit-down café in most locations. This is a place to grab a great cuppa and keep strolling or find a place to sit outside. There are four store locations in Berkeley, each in a pleasant neighborhood with lots of foot traffic.
2124 Vine Street (Gourmet Ghetto neighborhood)
Mon - Sat: 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
Sun: 7:00 am - 6:00 PM
1776 4th Street
Mon - Fri: 6:00 am - 7:00 pm
Sat - Sun: 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
2916 Domingo Avenue (Claremont neighborhood)
Mon - Fri: 6:00 am - 7:00 pm
Sat - Sun: 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
1825 Solano Avenue
Mon - Thu: 7:00 am - 9:00 pm
Fri - Sat: 7:00 am - 10:00 pm
Sun: 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
www.peets.com
The Berkeley Farmer's Markets
Berkeley has wonderful farmers' markets twice a week -- Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings. These are real, outdoor farmers' markets, not a building equipped with refrigerators and display cases. The vendors roll into town with their victuals in trucks and set up tables in the middle of the street, which is blocked off from traffic for most of the day.
This being politically correct Berkeley, most of the farms sell organic produce and other artisanal items. The low-budget aspect of the farmers' market is that nearly all of the vendors give free samples of fresh fruit, salsas, jams, olive oils, honey, juices, cheese, breads or whatever they happen to be selling. There's even a vendor who sells several varieties of delicious vegan futomaki sushi. (That's a big sushi roll filled with organic vegetables, nuts and marinated tofu - marvelous.) (The vendor calls himself the sushi rishi - he chants ragas as he makes the rolls and includes an inspirational note on the back of each label. Just thought I'd share that with you.) The quality of the foods here is uniformly high. You can peruse the tables, sampling whatever strikes your fancy. Of course, this ensures that whatever money you do choose to spend will be spent on something you really like and want to eat. And yes, it would be polite to buy something if you're going to do some serious grazing here.
The farmers' market materializes on Tuesday afternoons on Oregon Street, between Milvia and MLK; and on Saturday mornings on Center Street, also between Milvia and MLK. The one on Saturday morning is a little bigger and quite a bit more crowded. If you're starving or really cheap, you can make a small meal out of the samples to be found at either one. The markets are wheelchair accessible, child-friendly and run all year round, rain or shine.
Saturday Berkeley Farmers' Market
10:am to 3:00pm
Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way
(One block from the downtown "Berkeley" BART Station.)
Tuesday Berkeley Farmers' Market
2:00pm to 7:00pm
Derby St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way
http://www.ecologycenter.org/farmers_mrkts/farmers_mrkts.html
Thai Brunch
Another cherished periodic culinary event in Berkeley is the brunch put on by the Thai Buddhist Temple and Community Center each Sunday. Let's get this straight right up front: there is absolutely no proselytizing here at all. It is a functioning temple and you are likely to see Thai Buddhist monks strolling around in their saffron robes. But the services are held indoors and there is no attempt whatsoever to spread a religious message. However, paying for and eating your meals here is considered to be a good deed, since all revenues go to benefit the monks, temple and its community services, such as Thai language classes, dance and music lessons. So you can eat well and perform a mitzvah or accumulate good karma or whatever you believe in, all in one go. What more could you ask for? Everyone eats outside, behind the Community Center, under a large awning.
The food here is cheap. You can get a plate of food or a bowl of noodles (much like Vietnamese pho noodles) for $4. Larger plates with multiple dishes can be had for $5-6. Older Thai ladies who donate their time to the Temple prepare all this food. The food is authentic Thai as far as it is possible to obtain ingredients and it is very, very good. It can also be very spicy - so watch out! Dishes vary considerably from week to week, but there are usually 12 warm dishes with a good mix of meat, fish, vegetable and noodle dishes as well as freshly made salads (som tum - green papaya, tomato and peanuts with lime juice and chilis) and various desserts. Of course, strong and sweet Thai coffee and tea are available as well: each drink costs $1. My all-time favorite dish is the dessert of sliced ripe mango served with Thai sticky rice. The fruit and rice is dressed with a salty-sweet coconut milk sauce and sprinkled with fried mung beans. It's simply divine but they don't have it in the middle of winter, when the mangos are expensive and unripe.
Another nice aspect of this place is that you often get much more than food for your money. On Buddhist and Thai holidays (of which there are a great many) the Community Center celebrates, often with dance performances by beautiful little girls dressed in colorful, traditional costumes. The boys play Thai instruments to accompany the dancing. On religious holidays, there are sometimes processions of monks performing religious rituals. It's a very nice and relaxed environment in which to soak up a little authentic culture. One other cultural note: women should be careful not to touch the Buddhist monks here. They have taken a vow of chastity, which extends to even touching women except in an emergency. The older Thai women love to flirt shamelessly with these monks, who seem to enjoy it as well. They have an understanding that nothing could possibly come of it, so it's a very safe form of social teasing and affection. It's amazing to watch how much interaction is involved with absolutely no physical contact. So ladies, don't attempt to shake their hands and try not to even bump into them accidentally.
The Thai Buddhist Temple and Community Center is located on Russell Street between Milvia and MLK. (You're probably thinking about now that everything in Berkeley is between Milvia and MLK.) I don't know the exact address, but you can't possibly miss it. It's the large pastel house close to MLK, right next to the south branch Berkeley Public Library. There'll be lots of cars and people coming and going. You'll see it. The brunch starts around 9:30 - 10:00am and lasts until the food runs out sometime around 1:00pm. My advice is to go as early as possible to avoid the crowds.
The Berkeley Bowl Market
The last stop on today's whirlwind tour is a very special grocery store. The independently owned Berkeley Bowl Market got its name from the bowling alley it took over to open its original storefront. Today it is a huge store with a special emphasis on produce, particularly organic produce. I lived just two blocks from the Bowl, as the locals call it, for many years. While waiting in the checkout line, I frequently chatted with customers who would mention how far they had driven to shop there. Yes, we're a chatty, informal bunch in the Bay Area. One woman came twice a week from San Francisco! The produce section of the Bowl is almost monumental in scale. Expect to be amazed. You can get lost in aisles of some of the most beautiful produce you will ever see. The Bowl built its reputation on produce, and this is still what draws most of their customers. Because of this huge volume, you can be sure that the produce you see is very fresh and reasonably priced.
Other than produce, the Bowl carries the all the usual items a supermarket would have in addition to organic dairy and meats, bulk foods and a huge selection of specialty Asian foods. A multi-culti lunch counter provides a very good selection of hot and cold dishes with an emphasis on healthy eating. You can get everything from a deli sandwich to stir-fried tofu with green beans to prepackaged sushi made on the premises daily. The Bowl is certainly the cheapest market of its kind in the East Bay, leaving the trendy Whole Foods chain in the dust. There are the usual free sampling options for those with sharp eyes. Two hot soups are offered each day and small tasting cups are provided for your freeloading convenience. Other possibilities include the daily special cheese, a few varieties of fruit in the produce section and perhaps a random item being promoted by the manufacturer.
If you're in the mood for a picnic during your visit to Berkeley, this is the place to go. Pick a freshly baked baguette from one of the half dozen excellent bakeries that supply the Bowl on a daily basis. (I recommend the Semifreddi's seeded baguette.) You can buy excellent, freshly made salsas, spicy baba ganoush or hummus near the cheese section. The self-serve olive bar might be a good choice too. [Note: the olive bar is not a grazing area. Sample only if you're buying.] Then choose some deli items and perhaps a nice bottle of wine or some micro-brew beer before you wander over to the produce section. A moveable feast for two will probably run around $25 with leftovers to spare. If you prefer to eat in, there is a large casual seating area just beyond the prepared food counter. For the dedicated gourmet, the Bowl is not to be missed.
2020 Oregon St.
Hours: Monday-Saturday 9 am to 8pm; Sunday 10 am to 6pm
http://www.berkeleybowl.com/index.htm
Final Thoughts
Well, there you have lyagushka's recommendations for the low-budget gourmet's day trip to Berkeley. I hope this list will inspire you to visit and eat in Berkeley. This is the second review in a series of guides to my adopted home. Below is the list of forthcoming reviews as well as a link to the one already posted. Unfortunately, despite the claim in the epinions FAQs, it is not possible to post more than one review per destination. So I'm forced to be a bit creative about which category my reviews get posted in. As these reviews come out, I'll provide links to them in all the reviews so that you can expand your options if your interests fall into multiple categories. Oh, and if you're just clamoring for one of the planned reviews listed below, feel free to goad me in the comment section. It might sway me as to which one I tackle next.
Still feeling cheap? Check out The Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory Tour - a great free activity in Berkeley, especially for a rainy day when you need some free chocolate!
Still hungry? I'd recommend a meal in one of these restaurants, some of which are great bargains...
San Francisco
• Boulevard - hands down, the best restaurant in San Francisco
• Woodward's Garden, which is almost as good as Boulevard
• Betelnut - highly recommended for a fun night with a group
• Helmand - little known but excellent Afghan place and a great value
• Suppenkuche - unpretentious German bierhaus charm in Hayes Valley
East Bay
• A Coté - lively pan-Mediterranean tapas in a sleek but fun atmosphere
• Cafe Rouge - best choice for steak or high quality meats in the East Bay
• Cha-ya - vegetarian Japanese restaurant in the Gourmet Ghetto
• Chez Panisse Café - Alice Waters' sumptuous fare at about half the price
• Lalime's - superb New American fare in an intimate setting
• Manpuku - a cheap and simple ramen bar in the Elmwood
• Nan Yang - fantastic Burmese in north Rockridge
• Oliveto - exquisite Italian in Rockridge
• Rick & Ann's and La Note - both offer excellent choices for breakfast
• Shen Hua - great Chinese in Berkeley's Elmwood neighborhood
On the other hand, I can't recommend
• Cafe Cacao - part of the Scharffen Berger chocolate empire
• Pizzaiolo - pretentious, outrageously priced pizza served by hipper-than-thou servers
If you're just interested in other aspects of Berkeley, you might want to check out
• The Bibliophile-Daytripper's Guide to Berkeley
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