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Beyond Chez Panisse: Eating in the Bay Area

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Mar 12, 2010 at 23:23:01 PM PST


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I've had a great time in the Bay Area, and while the people were the best part of my trip, the food wasn't far behind. (In fact, if the people I've visited and met weren't so damn incredible, the food would have easily outranked them because oh my god it was good.) So I figured I might as well share with y'all what I've been eating, in case you've got a chance to visit too.  
Jill Richardson :: Beyond Chez Panisse: Eating in the Bay Area
My eating adventure began in the south bay with a trip to Calafia Cafe in Palo Alto. It's by Chef Charlie Ayers, who earned fame at Google, and it's quite tasty. We each got a "Zazzle Zinger" smoothie (organic orange juice, carrot juice, peaches, honey, agave and vanilla yogurt) and then split the "Sunshine Day Dream Pizza," made with "roasted and pureed eggplant, grilled zucchini, roasted red peppers, mozzarella with a pumpkin-hempseed pesto." Mmm.

The next big treat was Gather. It's about a block from the downtown Berkeley BART, and I hear that it's relatively new. The restaurant serves meat, but one of their specialties is a vegan charcuterie sampler, which we got as an appetizer to share. I think we all agreed that if we had it to do over, we'd get it as our meal because it was so good. Each of the five dishes were different and delicious, and sharing them was a bummer because you barely get more than a bite of each. We also got a kale salad (good) and a mushroom pizza (to die for). I don't know what they did to the pizza to make it taste so amazing, but WOW. (Actually, that was my reaction to many things I've eaten this week.)

After that came Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission district of San Francisco. I got the honey lavender and the chocolate and let's just say it was hands down the best ice cream I've ever had.

The big finish was a trip to Millennium tonight. I've actually been waiting to go there since 2008, so there was a lot of anticipation leading up to the meal. The star of the show was the "Sesame Cornmeal Crusted Oyster Mushrooms served with  sweet & spicy apple-pepper jam, shaved onion & radish salad." It was absolutely one of the most delicious things I've ever put in my mouth. In addition to the mushrooms, I got a creamy parsnip and celeriac soup that was totally delicious. (I must add that as a new gardener I have a newfound appreciation for both vegetables, as they are both favorites and I now know how darn long it takes to grow either of them.) My evening was made even happier with a cocktail, and maybe it made me a little too happy because I can no longer recall what was in it. All I know is that it involved pear, vanilla, kumquat, and gin. We finished up with a dessert called Death by Chocolate and Peanut Butter. It was a chocolate tart with cream on top and a scoop of peanut butter ice cream. (I should also add that the restaurant is entirely vegan, making this kind of dessert a work of sheer genius.) The dessert was so good I was sorry I agreed to share.

As is often the case with such good food, each of these places is much easier on your tastebuds than it is on your wallet. For a more simple and affordable treat, I recommend checking out Arizmendi Bakery, a worker-owned cooperative that churns out divine pastries and coffees in Emeryville and a few other locations in the Bay Area. They also serve pizza.

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the trouble with Millenium (4.00 / 4)
When I see menus like that, I want one of each.

hahahaha (4.00 / 3)
me too. There's just 2 things you can do about that. 1. Go with a large group of friends, order a lot, and share or 2. Eat there A LOT so you can try everything.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

[ Parent ]
agree w/Count (4.00 / 4)
The Milinennium sounds wonderful.  

Millennium dessert (4.00 / 5)
Jill, glad you enjoyed Millennium, but as your co-diner who you allegedly shared that amazing dessert with, you must admit that I let you have almost all of it, as I was quite content with the other wonderful dessert we ordered, Chocolate Almond Midnight, which is the restaurant's safe and egg-free version of mousse. Visit www.millenniumrestaurant.com to check it out.

yes, you were extremely generous (4.00 / 3)
and I know the other one was a favorite of yours. Sorry if I was a bit of a pig.  

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

[ Parent ]
Delicious.. (4.00 / 4)
Sounds Very Lovely, especially the stop to the B-rite creamery for the Lavender and Chocolate ice cream.. Ummmm!

26 inch rims

Excellent choices (4.00 / 4)
All excellent choices. Gather (which is only 4 months old) is one of my favorites and I'm longing to try the vegan charcuterie. They seem to have a more creative take on vegetarian dishes than most 'mixed' restaurants.

The ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery is indeed excellent -- the salted caramel knocked me over.  It's also part of an interesting "mini-empire", as the S.F. Chronicle reported in November. The grocery store stocks its shelves with care, finding purveyors who believe in sustainability and quality. The owners have a small farm in Sonoma that produces about 5,000 pounds a year. And they run "18 Reasons" around the corner that brings people together to share food and lively discussion.  

Arizmendi is also great, and would be greater still if they (perhaps teaming up with the Cheeseboard) started canning local tomatoes in the summer to use on their winter pizzas.


Wow! You really found some interesting spots... (4.00 / 3)
I'll have to remember these for next time I'm in SF. I guess you really know how to pick good restaurants. :-)

I'd really like to taste the pumpkin curry at Millennium for myself... Sounds great.

Act on Principles and make equality happen.


oh I get no credit for these picks at all (4.00 / 3)
I was with wonderful people with incredibly good taste the entire time. And in most cases, the friends I shared these meals with were also incredibly generous because I don't think I paid for a single meal on this trip. Until today, that is, when I finally insisted that I treat a few people as a thanks for putting me up and driving me around.  

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

[ Parent ]
Awww, that's so sweet! (4.00 / 2)
Well in that case, you have some amazing friends up there! I wish I had friends willing to do that for me... But for some reason, they have a problem taking me to the places on my "to eat list". ;-)

Act on Principles and make equality happen.

[ Parent ]
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