Rich's Berkeley Blog

Local 123 - Berkeley Wifi Cafe

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:43:00 +0000

I finally stumbled on this cafe while walking up San Pablo to get my favorite, super decadent, Cinnamon, Current and Walnut bread from Acme Bakery (very worthy of another post).

Anyways, I walked by this cafe this morning and it only had a few people there at 8am. I walked by again at about 4pm and it's completely packed and no room for anyone. I like my little quiet cafe more but Local 123's just down the street from me so I'm sure I'll find some good use for it.

They're serving drip coffee. That's always very delicious and you know that means it's going to be a potent cup of coffee.

Check out more about Local 123 in West Berkeley

Cafe Cacao in Berkeley - No longer serving meals

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:36:00 +0000

Just when I wrote about Cafe Cacao they had to go and change it. They officially no longer serve food there. If you want a Scharffen Berger chocolate mocha you can still get that and you can still get pastry's and sweets.

Bye, bye to the good food there. I'll miss the delicious Portobello burger... mmmm

Missouri Lounge - Berkeley

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:24:00 +0000

For many years I called this the "misery lounge". It was the place that was open at 6am and closed by noon. It was frequented by the major alcoholics that were there at 6am so they wouldn't have to start withdrawing from the night before. I'd say "misery lounge" was a very fitting name, to say the least.

Then I left town for a couple years and came back. What do I find? It turns out that this has exceeded what I considered to be the better hang out spots around B-Town and turned itself in to what is likely the best bar in all of Berkeley.

They've got food in back, I never tried it. They let you smoke back there, which I assume is one of the larger appeals of the place. Many of the other places with outdoor patios won't let you smoke there. They have a pool table inside, they have $4 IPA's on tap, cans of PBR if you want the cheap stuff, shot and a can of beer specials, and lots of other things.

They have DJ's and open mikes, the weekends tend to be good fun there. Very nice mix of people usually.

You can read more about Missouri Lounge on Yelp. They have 130 reviews so far (a good sign in itself).

They also have a very basic website up with an up-to-date events page. Check out the Missouri Lounge website!

Day of the Dead - Follow up

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:21:00 +0000

The day of the dead was absolutely awesome. I was part of a group that spent the entire time playing drums and singing. It was an incredible night of music, wonderful percussionists and singers.

Thanks everyone that came out. You're what makes this one of the best events of the year!

Cafe Cacao in Berkeley

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:57:00 +0000

If you want a wonderful Mocha there's nothing better then a Mocha made with Scharffen Berger chocolate. I just had one and they are amazing. They're very chocolaty, delicious, yummyness. I also had a Grilled Portobello burger and it was quite good as well. They do a great job cooking the Portobello and they put on a some other very nice tasting marinated vegetables.

On weekends they have a bottomless mimosa for 12 bucks, seems like a nice place to get your buzz on.

This is one of very wifi cafes in West Berkeley. It's very fast and great reception throughout the whole cafe. If you want to enjoy a nice day working from a cafe this is a very nice one with excellent food. They're right next door to the new Berkeley Bowl in West Berkeley (I'll be writing about them soon).

Check out more about Cafe Cacao in West Berkeley.

San Francisco Halloween 2009

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:41:00 +0000

Like many people I used to love going to the Castro for Halloween. My friends and I would go in costume and take a few drums and percussion instruments. We would set up somewhere and spend the entire evening playing music. We'd have 200+ people all dancing and enjoying the music - a sea of beautiful faces.

The last time I went there we were having a fantastic time as usual. Then I went to the bathroom and saw no less then 3 fights break out while walking less then half a block. It was quite obvious the event wouldn't be happening too much longer with this much mayhem. The next day I read that somewhere around 20-30 people were hospitalized.

It's no surprise they've announced they won't be having any big Halloween event at all in the city this year. Read about the death of San Francisco Halloween on the SF Weekly blog.

"City officials have announced that, come Oct. 31, there will be no large-scale organized parties on All Hallow's Eve -- neither the famed Castro District street happening nor anything along the lines of last year's poorly attended, tightly supervised AT&T Park re-enactment of lame High School dances. This Halloween, you're on your own."

Check out SF Station's Halloween 2009 San Francisco guide if you're looking for something to do this year.

Day of the Dead - San Francisco - Monday Nov. 2nd, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:33:00 +0000

The Day of the Dead is coming next Monday, Nov. 2nd.

This is a fantastic event. They have a very nice parade with numerous contingents of percussion players, people with candles, dressing up as the dead and honoring them with this parade. At the end of the parade Garfield Park is set up with a lot of alters and the various musicians gather in different areas to entertain everyone.

From the San Francisco Day of the Dead offical web site.

"Please join us for the annual procession lead by Rescue Culture Collective on Monday, November 2, 2009 at 7pm at 24th & Bryant Streets, in the Mission District of San Francisco.

The procession will end in Garfield Park at the Festival of Altars at 8:30pm at 26th & Harrison Streets."

Hope to see lots of people out there, it's a fantastic event that I try to attend every opportunity possible.

Fertile Grounds - Wifi Cafe

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Fertile Grounds is a very nice wifi cafe.

The only negatives are that it's a little bit on the small side, room for maybe 20 people.

There are many pluses to the place. They have a very solid internet connection. I really like the music mix they play, a lot of world music, reggae, various random things. The food's great, ranging from sandwiches to middle eastern food. Given it's small it's a really quiet place to hang out most of the time, really good for getting a lot done.

Check them out sometime, they're located at:

1796 Shattuck Ave.
Berkely, CA

Read reviews of Fertile Grounds on Yelp.

RIP: TGI's Sushi in Berkeley

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:48:00 +0000

About a half year ago one of our favorite sushi places in Berkeley closed - TGI's Sushi.

Yes, the name was a little bit corny - The Greatest Investment is Sushi - but the rolls were huge, the fish was fresh, the wine was decent (large servings) and they had some very creative rolls.

We moved away from Berkeley and had hoped to go back there one day to find them closed last November. We miss you TGI's!

Interestingly enough, they closed just as the positive reviews started pouring in about TGI' Sushi on Yelp.

RIP: TGI's!

What not to do when renting a house in Berkeley

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:50:00 +0000

Lessons learned from a recent experience with the landlady from hell aka South Berkeley living legend "Gladys":

1. Get everything in writing.

On the fateful day we checked out Gladys' rambling yet strangely shaped Craftsman (more on that later) on California street just a few steps from Ashby's traffic zooming by, we were inexplicably moved by her pathetic sob story about being a mother to 10 (!) foster children and therefore being unable to "tidy up" the place.

Tidy up? It was a disaster, complete with pee stained carpet and unfinished almost unrecognizable hardwood floors dirty from 23 years of kids' and animals' feet.

We rented it as a fixer-upper anyway, partially due to her offer that we spiff up the place for an hourly wage: big mistake. We spent over a week cleaning and painting it only to have her act picky about our choices and refuse to pay the amount she had agreed to.

This was our first unfortunate experience with what would become a constant theme with Gladys: things we hadn't gotten nailed down with an explicit written contract became the source of endless e mail arguments. Insist on ink!

2. Bring a pen to sign the lease.

Yes, Gladys produced a pencil as we sat down at her dining room table fill our the lease as kids and dogs flew by like shots in and out.

So bring a pen and if your landlord hasn't sent you a copy in 15 days or so they're beginning to violate Berkeley Rental Law. Do we even need to add Gladys never sent the lease the entire year we lived at the Hotel California?

3. Don't take anything for granted.

We made the mistake of assuming Gladys was somewhat similar to other landlords and so we were complacent in thinking things would be done a certain way. Big no-no.

Example One: The huge garbage we had been given to use for the house disappeared one day. We asked each other what had happened and finally assumed it had been stolen. One call to the Berkeley Waste board confirmed a bizarre twist: a month after we moved into the house, she arbitrarily decided to "downgrade" the size to an itty bitty can.

We tried everything to increase the size ourselves. But the city of Berkeley wouldn't allow us to, saying only the owner of the house could authorize that. When we asked Gladys about it, it became another long e mail exchange back-and-forth. For some reason, saving a few dollars was more important to her than our good will, and there wasn't a lot we could do about it.

Example Two: One day as we stumbled awake to brush our teeth we were surprised to see the tap was dry. After calls to EBMUD we discovered Gladys had shut the water off and now expected us to put the bill in our name and pay it. When we complained we had been given no notice, she again hid behind e mails, claiming to have told us about it.

She must be one of the only landlords in Berkeley who refuses to pay for water. So don't assume, or it could make an a-- out of.... you know what.

4. Don't believe everything you hear.

One of the major draws to the house was the back yard and her craigslist boast that it was a "gardeners paradise". We're avid plant lovers and eagerly dreamed of the luscious garden beds to come.

Not. Once we got outside to more deeply inspect the soil, the backyard turned out to be filled with concrete just below the surface. WTF. We angrily confronted her and for a change she was honest and came clean, admitting that the foundation of a shed had been left there and somehow she had forgotten to tell us about it.

No more garden, and for extra measure she demanded we water the existing plants and pay for it ourselves. Lucky us.

5. Don't put someone else's bill into your name.

Gladys had dollar signs in her eyes when she divided her family home into two units. She apparently never told the city of Berkeley she was making two separate apartments to skip paying taxes and to avoid having to divide the house legitimately.

One side effect of this was the PG&E bill, which involved one meter for the whole house, upstairs (us) and down (other tenants). Gladys had agreed to leave the bill in her name when we moved in, which made sense to us since we didn't want the responsibility of dealing with the unknown amount of a power bill for other tenants.

Throughout the months, this changed. She badgered us to put the bill in our name, alternately begging and demanding. The whole subject really became a pain when another couple moved into the place below and the whole bill shot up by several hundred dollars -- we later found out they were new to the Berkeley climate and were using a wasteful heater all day long.

This was all the more costly as she expected us to pay 2/3 of the bill since our flat was larger, even though the lower unit had identical power needs with similar appliances.

Gladys was her usual greedy self, claiming we were just complaining about the increase in the bill because we didn't want to pay it. By the time she finally reviewed all the bills and saw for herself who was causing the power increase, we had already paid the excessive amount.

She refused to put in another PG& E meter because she said it cost too much... it cost us a lot to pay 2/3 of someone else's bill!

6. There's an upside to everything.

We never knew what to expect once we had stepped through the funhouse mirror into Gladys' domain. One side effect of her carelessness had an unexpected benefit: she left behind four or five homeless cats who became our close buddies.

One of them was very friendly and greeted us every time we walked up to the house. We named him Chester and hung out with him frequently. One day I mentioned him to Gladys and she admitted she had left him and others when she moved. We were sad and angry at hearing she had abandoned these cats. Knowing they would be unloved when we moved out was a harsh reality, and we couldn't afford to adopt them.

But at least we got to cuddle and feed Chester and his friends who lazed in the sun in our back yard, creating priceless memories.

7. Don't agree to show the place to potential renters.

The entire year we lived at the house we were reminded by Gladys about how poor she was and that she was only a rent check away from being thrown into the streets with her 10 children. So we were a bit queasy about ever trying to leave the place, since we knew it was virtually unrentable.

When our yearly lease came up we still couldn't resist taking the chance to escape. But we felt obligated to agree to show the house for her, since she lived in Las Vegas caring for her ailing parents. Biggest mistake yet.

The unusual shape and horrible condition of the house bit us in the behind right from the first showing. The house was three bedroom in name only, since two of the rooms were so small they were virtually uninhabitable. Over and over we heard the same complaint... no matter how many times we tried to explain on the phone that the rooms were small.

One quintessentially Gladys detail really grabbed peoples' attention: she had placed a toilet in the corner of the second largest room (which was still midget sized) because "she couldn't make it the bathroom" when she had endured a lengthy illness. Imagine explaining that to people!

Gladys jumped in and began criticizing us, blaming us for the condition of the house and refusing to believe it was simply unable to be used as a three bedroom. Apparently she had never tried to rent it before, since we were the first to live there since she had used it for a family home for decades.

8. Videotape the house when you move in.

Throughout the year we lived in the old house we were reminded of one key fact over and over: videotape solves arguments.

If you contact the Berkeley rent board right before you move in and pay the rather small amount (30 bucks) to have the place videotaped prior to moving in, this can avoid a multitude of little complaints and major headaches.

We have since moved to the Sierra Foothills and away from Gladys' reign of terror and we laugh at the memories of the rental from hell...

TGI's Sushi in Berkeley

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 03:27:00 +0000

Greetings,

It's been a while since I posted. Time to start again!

We've been going to TGI's Sushi on University Ave (just below Shattuck) for a few months now.

A few reasons why:

The rolls are large. Some people when they've reviewed TGI's pan the size of the rolls - they can't get them in their mouth, etc. For me, a large roll equals more fish - yes, you definitely get more fish, they do not skimp at TGI's!

They have very creative rolls. They've moved beyond the average sushi place and have some pretty interesting and very good rolls. I love all of the 'lovers' rolls - they're double rolls - for example a salmon lover has salmon/avocado inside and salmon on the outside. I also really like their california deluxe - unagi on top of a california roll. They have a large, eclectic, variety of rolls and a lot of them are quite good.

They're open late. Most sushi places in Berkeley and on Solano close at 9-9:30. TGI's is open most days until 10 or later.

Fast service. When we order there the food comes out within 10-15 minutes. Not bad considering we order a minimum of 6 rolls at a time.

BTW: in case you're wondering TGI's = The Greatest Investment is Sushi. Cheers to that!

Enjoy!

Pacific Coast - Maredsous 10

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 21:03:00 +0000

Yum!

I was at Pacific Coast Brewing company again last night.

In my last entree I mentioned I tried out Maredsous 8 at Luka's Taproom and didn't like it very much.

Pacific Coast is currently carrying Maredsous 10 and it is so delicious. I can't reccomend it enough. This is definitely one of my favorite Belgian Ales on tap. Be careful though! At 10% alcohol this thing kicks!

They were out of it. However, it seems they recently had another great Belgian-style Ale from Quebec on tap. Unibroue's Trois Pistole... mmm... Hope to catch that one on tap sometime soon!

Cheers!

Luka's Taproom & Lounge

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 18:49:00 +0000

Note: I'm posting this one as more of an actual review as I'm wavering on my actual opinion of this place. I'd say try it and decide...

My friend and I tried out Luka's Taproom & Lounge, located at 22nd and Broadway in Oakland, on Monday evening

I had heard that it was great place for drinking Belgian Beers so I went with a buddy who is a fellow Belgian Beer aficionado.

We arrived around 8 PM and found a wait at the door - 15 minutes, not too bad. This place definitely is popular and on Monday's they offer $1 oysters and $1 off draught beers.

We went up to the bar and I ordered a Maredsous #8 Abbey Ale on tap and my friend ordered an Orval. The Maredsous was very similar to most nut brown ales. I really don't care for nut brown ales so this really didn't do it for me. I've had the Maredsous #10 and that one's really good. The numbers correspond to the percentage of alcohol (among other things). They served my beer in a Maredsous brewery glass, very appropriate for a Belgian Beer as they need to be served in a glass with a small score mark at the bottom which enables a gas release or what have you.

Per above, my friend ordered an Orval. It's one of the best Belgian Beers out there; very complex is the best way to describe it. Beverages and More gave it a 98/100 ranking which is very high up there. With my friends Orval, we started catching on to the fact that this place was really hip but didn't quite know what they were doing as they gave him a Pint glass to pour his beer in to. My friend tested the bartender by having her pour it and he ended up with a glass that was about 15% beer and 85% head. At $8 for a beer you'd hope they might know how to pour them and that they would go to the effort to get real Belgian glasses to pour in instead of a standard pub pint glass.

We then sat down, ordering our meal. They brought out the cheese plate appetizer and we snacked a bit. My friend went to the bar to order another beer, due to a tab open there, and I took advantage of this opportunity to go to the bathroom. We both arrived back at the same time to find out the waitstaff had just cleared our table, beers, appetizers, etc. We did both leave our coats at our seat. They do have a lot of traffic and high turnover so who knows. They were very curteous and gave us beer and another appetizer on the house.

The food was pretty good. I had a leg of lamb my friend had fish. He said the fish was on the overcooked side and that it was a little bit old (fishy). My lamb was quite tender and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

We ordered one more beer and split it. It was a fantome saison white ghost (750ml) at $24 for 750 ml. It was an decent Belgian but still wasn't the ideal Belgian. I'm on a hunt to find a variety of Belgian beers I really like so I keep trying them out. This one is definitely crossed off the list. They served this one to us in oversized, red wine style, wine glasses.

If you want to go to a really trendy spot this could be your place. It's very expensive, 2 regular sized beers and one tall 750ml beer plus one appetizer and two entrees set us back somewhere close to/over $100. I get the idea this place is very much on the trendy side but still lacks in full understanding of what it is they're serving and how to serve it in a sophisticated fashion (ie. Belgian beer in pint/wine glasses). The presentation of the food was definitely really nice and if you like a place with a lot of people and live music next door pretty much every night this is a great place. They also have a pool table in back.

My overall feeling is that at this cost I'd much rather go to Cesar in North Berkeley or Fonda's over on Solano. You could walk in to either of these places, spend the same amount, enjoy a greater variety of food and get to drink some of the best drinks in town.

Pacific Coast Brewing Company

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 20:21:00 +0000

I've been going to Pacific Coast Brewing Company for a few months now. It's definitely at the very top of my list for favorite brew pubs. If I lived nearby I'd probably be there several nights a week. What I usually do is take BART home from work in SF, get off at 12th street/city center in Oakland, and walk the couple blocks to the pub.

Last week was the first time I noticed they have Unibrou's Maudite on tap now. I've been drinking Unibrou beers for a decade now. They're out of Quebec and were started by an ex-head brewer of Chimay. They're very Belgian style ales and very delicious. Having this beer on tap is wonderful! Maudite's a darker Belgian-style ale, but it isn't too sweet. Very delicious!!!

They also consistently have Racer V IPA. Another of my favorites.

I also tried one last time called Pliney the Elder. This double IPA is incredibly hoppy, not so sweet, light in color and quite delicious. I will definitely drink this one more.

They usually have one of their beers on cask; the blue whale ale or sometimes the IPA. So delicious! I love cask beer!

One of the best parts is that they're right next to Oakland Chinatown and you can also walk right across the street to Taylor's Sausage Factory (<- link to an earlier post about the sausage factory) to get things for a BBQ.

The social atmosphere at the bar is the best I've seen. I haven't been to a bar ever where I've been maybe 10 times and already know most of the bartenders, several of the waitresses, and strike up conversation with fellow beer drinkers approx. 80% of the time. At the Berkeley pubs it's always seemed so unfriendly in comparison.

Enjoy!

Yuen Hop Noodle Company in Oakland Chinatown, CA

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 22:24:00 +0000

The Yuen Hop Noodle Company is located at 824 Webster St.

They feature a wide variety of seasonal produce, various snacks, and noodles.

The main reason I visit Yuen Hop is to purchase fresh noodles. I've tried a number of the fresh noodles sold here and I've liked them all. My preference is for the Shanghai style wheat based noodles - the medium and thick Shanghai noodles are my favorite.

They also feature an interesting spinach noodle that turns your water bright green during cooking (I haven't figured out what to serve with these noodles yet). They also have a number of different egg noodles and wrappers for making wonton's (wonton wrappers also work quite nicely as ravioli wrappers).

The amazing thing about the Shanghai wheat noodles is that you can cook a pound of these and eat some for dinner. You can then refrigerate them and the following morning you can make a breakfast soup, reboiling the noodles for while in the process, and they don't end up stuck together in glutenous mass. You can pan fry them and make great pan-friend noodles and they don't lose consistency. They also seem to have a decent range (a couple minutes) during the cooking time where they are al dente and not a broken up and sticky mess.

The way I've cooked these...

I usually break the suggested cooking method and simply dump them in boiling water. Every thirty seconds you want to test a noodle to see if you've reached your level of done-ness. When they're completed drain them and rinse them lightly with cold water. Then you're ready to go. One pound of these fresh noodles really goes a long way - usually 3 meals for me.

The great part is that the Shanghai noodles ring in around .85/lb. Spinach noodles are the most expensive at approx. 1.95/lb. You can also purchase Yuen Hop Shanghai style noodles for a higher cost at Berkeley Bowl in the small refrigerator section. In the same aisle as flour/s, maple syrup, and other noodles (the first aisle next to the produce area).

If you want any cooking tips.. or have a review.. feel free to post a omment.

Enjoy!

Day of the Dead is this Tuesday! Mission District, SF, Nov. 2nd

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 21:12:00 +0000

The Day of the Dead is upon us.

As usual, their will be a Day of the Dead parade happening in the Mission district of San Francisco. Every year they have a parade/procession that starts at approximately 7PM. It begins around 24th and Bryant, travels along 25th, and ultimately ends up at Garfield Park.

Prior to the event their will be events happening at the Mission Cultural Center and Garfield Park. Garfield Park always has a bunch of alters that are set up during the day by various volunteers. When you arrive there in the evening, after the procession, the alters have many candles lit and it's a very beautiful site.

You can expect about 10,000 people at the procession. Their will be numerous musical groups on the parade; typically percussion groups. Usually the theme at the parade is one of skeletons and the feeling is of honoring those that have passed before us.

It always has a great feeling. I go to this almost every year and I can't recommend it enough!

I'll be with Hadley Louden and friends singing/playing traditional songs/chants for Oya (the goddess of the cemetary in African diaspora). After the parade we gather up in the park and continue singing songs for Oya through the evening.

Here's a link with more information about Day of the Dead in the San Francisco Mission District.

Peet's Coffee just off of Telegraph Ave.

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 02:51:00 +0000

Yep... We now have a Peet's coffee within a block of the main strip of Telegraph Ave.

It's located on Bowditch. It's located between Haste and Channing in "The Den" - a big student food complex.

They're open until 12:30 AM many nights. I don't think any of the Peet's I have been to are open this late.

This does have more of the feeling of being a franchise. The employees are different from the ones you might encounter at another Peet's.

You want to be careful about going to this one at noon on a school day. It will be very crowded. Any other time of the day and it works pretty well! Especially if you're a house coffee drinker, like I am, you'll get through the lines in no time (as most people seem to order 'special' espresso based drinks).

All and all, it's a very good spot. The coffee is definitely Peet's and if you're in the location you can't beat the ease of getting there. It's only 3 blocks for me.. the closest cup of coffee in town now and one of the best!

Le Petit Cheval - Good, affordable, food!

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 18:56:00 +0000

I've been eating at Le Petit Cheval for quite a while now. Yum!

They're owned by the same people that run the other Le Cheval restaurants. All Le Cheval's feature vietnamese cuisine. The other two Le Cheval's are well reviewed sit down restaraunts that feature superb cuisine. In an attempt to cater to students they opened Le Petit Cheval in Berkeley.

At Le Petit Cheval, for $5.50 you can chose 3 items from within a hot tray as well as white rice or chow mein. You will be very filled with this $5 plate - no doubt about it! The great thing is that it is not your standard one dollar chinese - not even close! Instead they feature food that's several notches up from the standard dollar chinese fair. They cater quite well to all the Berkeley vegetarians as they usually have a half dozen vegetarian dishes. Some of the other foods they feautre include a delicious curry chicken, lemon grass chicken, beef stew, beef black bean sauce, and great garlic green beans.

They also feature a very nice a la carte menu with various soups, salads, vietnamese sandwiches, hot plates, etc.

I don't always have a lot of money to spend on meals so I've been eating at this place on and off for years. I haven't grown tired of it. I'm going to be eating there in just a few minutes. Yum!

You can find Le Petit Cheval at the corner of Bancroft and Bowditch. Hope to see you there!

Yerba Buena Gardens Labor Day

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 18:32:00 +0000

Over Labor Day weekend Yerba Buena gardes is hosting Pachanga in the Gardens.

This year my good friend Hadley Louden from Music to Celebrate Life will be there with his relatively new band Los Bros.

Los Bros has been around playing a bit. It's a larger band with some of the best latin musicians in the Bay Area. They played a recent, well sold out, show at Ashkenaz and everybody was raving about it for weeks to come.

I haven't seen Los Bros .. I do intend to go with a bunch of friends to check them out on Labor Day though. I'm really looking forward to it!

Wine Tasting at Kermit Lynch

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 18:15:00 +0000

Four times a year Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant has a wine tasting.

This Saturday, August 27th, they're having the next one featuring wines of Provence. They usually have 5 or 6 different wines at the tastings and they're all quite tasty.

They offer free small tasters. Then, most people go ahead and purchase a glass of wine - usually $4-6. They also have food that they're offering. The food is a bit on the higher end - last year was an albacore sandwich that rang in around $14.

I really recommend siging up for the Kermit Lynch newsletter mailing list. Kermit still writes a great deal of the newsletter himself.

I'll be there this year and I know it's going to be a great event. They always have a lot of people come out for it. I'm really looking forward to this one. Afterwords, my friends and I will be BBQ'ing up a storm.. yum!

A little history.

Kermit Lynch started going to France in the 60-70's. He was one of the first pioneers to bring non-filtered french wines in to America. He was one of the first to refrigerate the wine as it was brought through the Panama Canal (prior to this, it the wine would be cooked by the temp. at the equator).

Prior to the vision of these pioneers wine was filtered and wasn't the greatest tasting. Thank you to Kermit Lynch for bringing us in to an era of very tasty and full wines.

The Bear's Lair

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 20:35:00 +0000

I remember the Bear's Lair of years past. You could walk in there and buy a 24 oz. Coca Cola cup full of Budweiser/Coors for about $3. Given they served it in an opaque soda pop cup, just ask and a lid/straw was yours, people would drink them all over lower sproul plaza and have a jolly good time. I remember times when the whole plaza was full of people. The gated area behind the Bear's Lair, now a food area, was fully available for hanging out as well.

Things have changed. The brothers that started Jupiter and Triple Rock bought the Bear's Lair and created a pub with pizza and various bar foods. No more opaque cups. No more drinking anywhere you like - it's all in an enclosed area.

This is okay though. I like the new Bear's Lair. You can still sit outside in the Sun. You can watch it set behind Zellerbach hall.

They still have some of the best beer deals in this town. A pint of a Jupiter microbrew is $3, quarts are $5, and pitchers are $10 - you don't find deals like this very often.

On Friday's they have a great deal - from 4-5 pitchers are $5, from 5-6 pitchers are $6, from 6-7 - $7, and from 7 until close they're $8. You won't find this pricing anywhere else (of course a convenience store and an alley, or home if you're not a risk taker, will beat any pricing).

I drink the Golden Ale quite a bit. A nice crisp beer with a light golden hue. It's only 5% so you won't be crawling home at the end of the night.

They have a web site here.
http://www.bearslairpub.com/

Enjoy!

Really good sausages

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 09:37:00 +0000

I love to Barbeque. My friends love to Barbeque. We love to get together eat a lot of meat, drink wine/beer, and talk in to the evening. Their is really nothing better then this in life.

One of my favorite contributions has been sausages from Swan's Marketplace (http://www.swansmarket.com/) in Old Oakland (1 block off Broadway at 9th and Washington). Inside of this market, also called The Housewive's Market, is a store called Taylor's Sausages. Their are also a number of other very affordable meat markets within the Housewive's market.

Taylor's Sausages sells freshly made sausages at very good prices. Try 3.75 a pound!

So far, my our favorite sausages from Taylor's are the Boudin. A Boudin is a Portuguese/Brazillian style sausage made from Pork and white rice. The white rice has the wonderful effect of lightening up the normal heaviness of a 100% pork sausage. The result is a very light, fluffy and extremely delicious sausage. I like both the hot and mild versions of this sausage. The mild version has a more delicate spicing that is very good. The hot version seems to be slightly overwhelmed by the Cayenne but is also quite delicious.

Taylor's also makes Cajun turkey sausages that are also quite delicious. They have a breakfast sausage that I can't wait to try (philipino style).

Honestly, every thing I've tried from Taylor's I love and everyone at the BBQ's gives them two thumbs up - the fact they disappear in moments is the best review ;-). I intend to shop their again this weekend for an upcoming Barbeque.

We've mostly been Q'ing on Mesquite charcoal and Apple wood. We have just enough mesquite to add some of that delicious flavor and quite a bit of apple wood. Talk about a delicious cooking fire! YUM!!!!

Artemis Fowl

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 09:17:00 +0000

About a year ago I was listening to the West Coast Live (wcl.org) and I heard Eoin Colfer speaking on the radio. His newest book, Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception, had just been releasd. He read and few pages and I was very impressed.

About a month ago I finally purchased the first book Artemis Fowl and I really enjoyed it. These books are very suited to kids and adults alike. They're all New York Time's Best Sellers.

What makes these books interesting is that Artemis Fowl is a master mind criminal, ultra wealthy, extremely intelligent (highest IQ in the EU), has the best body guard in the world, and he's only 12 years old.

In the first book, Artemis Fowl, Artemis steals a fairy book and uses it to contact the fairy's. He is hoping to pull off another scheme in order to increase the family wealth. Little does he realize what the fairy's are going to be to deal with.

In the second book, Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incedent, Artemis has heard a signal from his long lost father. On his way to contact his father he's contacted by a familiar fairy friend. Next thing he knows he's joining forces with the fairy world. This was a very good book.

In the third book, Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code, Artemis has created a super computer from stolen fairy technology. In an attempt to make a lot of money from the technology it is stolen from him. In a race against time he works with the fairy people in an attempt to stop this hidden technology from getting out.

I really enjoyed these books. I've recommended them to a few friends. I've read the first 3 books in the series and intend to read the newest one as soon as possible. I read each book within a day or two - once you get started they are very difficult to put down.

I really recommend these books for any readers. Read the reviews at Amazon (their linked to in this post) and decide for yourself. Every one of these was a NY Time's Best Seller for a very good reason!

First post - Pilsner Urquell - Milk

noreply@blogger.com (RT) — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 22:32:00 +0000

Greetings,

Welcome to the first post to my blog. On this blog I'll be sharing a dozen years worth for research in to good bargains in Berkeley.

First.. Let's talk about beer!

One of my favorite beer deals in Berkely is at 7-Eleven at Telegraph and Parker - 2601 Telegraph Ave.

For approximately one year, they've had a great deal on Pilsner Urquell. They sell you a 22 oz bottle for 2.19 plus tax. Given my preference for so-called 'good beers' this is one of my favorite deals around town.

If you compare other large bottles to Andronico's - you'll see that 7-Eleven usually beats Andronico's by 50-60 cents per bottle. Lagunitas IPA goes for 3.29 at Andronico's and 2.79 at 7-Eleven. 7-Eleven's flat-rate their bottles of beer so you can find some pretty good deals - especially compared to Andronico's.