east bay is bae
We are gathered here today because during college I had an internship at Boston Magazine. In addition to taking leisurely two-hour lunches with my intern friend (it was an unpaid internship, I had freewill), they let me run three different email newsletters on behalf of the magazine. The one I liked the most was about restaurants and food goings about in Boston. They even let me write a restaurant review for the magazine once, where I ate marrow for the first time. But since then, I’ve left the writing of reviews behind in favor of writing press announcements. And like every basic person in the Bay Area, I work in tech.
Yet despite working in tech, I’ve always been a late adopter. There was a point post-iphone launch where I had two blackberries and was very proud of it. And ICYMI, newsletters are very *in* right now - so naturally I should want to hop on the bandwagon. In some ways, you could say I’ve been waiting for this moment for 15 years. A newsletter to call my own, the moment newsletters are at their peak popularity.
Ok, so why are we actually here?
Since leaving San Francisco and moving to the East Bay suburbs, the thing my partner says he misses most about city living are the 4 C’s: cocktails, coffee, cuisine and culture. But with a little bit of effort, we’ve been able to find all of the above in spades. This will be a weekly or maybe monthly or maybe just a once-in-a-lifetime newsletter, because I'm really not great at routine, calendars or project management. But either way, hopefully its a pleasant surprise whenever it lands in your inbox. Especially since the East Bay Express recently did major editorial layoffs, Eater doesn’t always remember to cover Oakland, and there’s definitely some room for self-deprecating content from a “local”.
I hope you’ll find like we did, that even though it doesn’t have an ocean, the East bay really is the best bay. Its like San Francisco without all the poop, like the Peninsula/South bay without the astronomical real estate prices (its all relative) and like Marin without all the yacht wear. There’s a vibrant arts community, loads of coffee shops, diverse cuisine and plenty of beautiful vistas and hiking trails. And the people are friendly. So here’s a start:
East bae - early summer edition
Coffee: if you’ve ever followed me on the internet - you’d know that when I was on maternity leave, the baby and I went on a tour of east bay coffee shops. Which is odd because I definitely wasn’t drinking caffeine during that time, so I think the point was just that I needed to get out of the house, and coffee shops are usually an excellent source of pastries. Anyway, I’ll tell you about all of the coffee shops in the East Bay over the coming newsletters, but lets start with the newest one: Orbit Coffee & Donuts (OCD). This is a somewhat random coffee window in a cavernous space in west oakland. Its very well-branded so you kind of can't miss it, next to an auto-repair shop right before you get on the 880. If you ask nicely, the owners will talk your ear off about Vietnamese coffee and their specially imported beans and roasting process. They have a sweetened condensed milk version that you can get if you feel like having a highly caffeinated dessert for breakfast. The duo seems genuinely passionate about what they do, and its a perfect spot to sit and have a cool-off iced coffee on summer days. Orbit is a short hop from the West Oakland BART. Stop by for a visit if its on your way.
Go out to eat:
Breakfast: I almost hesitate to type these words because this is my absolute favorite breakfast spot in the entire bay area and I have never run into anyone I know there and I’d like to keep it that way. But what good is this newsletter if I can't share what brings me joy? Also I have no subscribers, so this likely won’t change the scene much.
OK so, Bartavelle I first discovered because famed farm-to-table legendary chef Alice Waters posted it on Instagram, and Instagram knows literally everything about me, so they surfaced her photo of her breakfast in the discover tab. I think she posted a photo of hard-boiled eggs and while I loathe hard-boiled eggs, I was still intrigued. I ultimately discovered their Persian Breakfast - which is cheese, yogurt, jam, house-made pickles, a bunch of fresh herbs, their custom za’atar and lightly toasted focaccia straight from the famed Acme bread which happens to be next door. The food is simple but beyond compare. There’s a trout tartine, sweet and savory porridge and a case full of sweet treats. And better still - directly next door on the other side of the cafe is Kermit Lynch wine. So you basically have these three incredible places all in the same corner with their own free parking lot. It’s really tough to get out of this bermuda triangle of berkeley culinary delights without losing the day or spending $100. Bartavelle is open all day and by night, this galley of space turns into a bar that they call "Bar Sardine". I've never been because I don't get out past 6 p.m. anymore but no matter the hour, this is the perfect place to just sit, take a breath, have a coffee or a glass of wine and just take in the friendly, good vibes from a casual, quiet, artsy crowd. For a sense of the scene - I once met a 30-something woman who was working on writing a book about landscape architecture & design, I’ve met a set of 70-year old porridge eating regulars talking about their grandkids, and the most recent time I was there, a woman at the bar had a book and a notepad with a bulleted list that said “food, sex, pot”.
Lunch: They won basically every food award imaginable last year, so i’d be remiss to not kick this off with Nyum bai. Go on a weekday for lunch, if there’s a wait for one of the less than 10 tables, you can hang in the neighboring toy and piñata shop and enjoy the music of the Fruitvale neighborhood. The flavors at Nyum Bai are as bright as the colors on the wall in this tiny, unexpected Cambodian establishment helmed by chef Nite Yun who got her business started at La Cocina, a non-profit incubator (donate here). La Cocina largely focuses on empowering women, especially immigrants and underrepresented groups to open their own restaurants. Its kind of insane that women don’t have more resources like this, especially since women seem to have been the ones responsible for feeding humankind for eons, but alas. I’m glad they exist and glad for restaurants like Nyum Bai.
Also for lunch: Nabolom. This is a bakery in the Elmwood area. Absolutely zero frills, but they make one style of veggie pizza a day and its one of the best in the east bay. If you like Cheeseboard pizza, you will love this - no line, just locals indulging at this Berkeley collective with grease on their hands. The bakery tweets out the daily pizza toppings here.
Dinner: Order delivery. I told you I recently had a baby, so ordering delivery is my de facto dinner routine. No shame in the delivery game. If Doordash ever stops crashing (depending on how deep east you are, you probably don't have any other delivery options either), get some Mexican food delivered from La Capilla. I’ve never stepped foot in the restaurant, and for all i know its a dark kitchen that doesn’t actually exist. But I don’t care. Their carnitas burrito is a slightly high end version, with quality meat and rich flavors. They also have these long tortilla strips for chips, slightly seasoned, but like most finer Mexican establishments these days - you have to specifically order these on the side ($) and they won't just throw a handful in your paper bag. Pro tip: order the corn poblano in your burrito.
Local art: So while this was definitely a major motion picture and came out last year, it didn’t get enough attention for the quality of filmmaking. The movie Blindspotting is set in Oakland, with the city serving as a character in the film: beautiful, gritty, honest and evolving. Blindspotting was written by and stars East Bay natives Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs and explores racial inequality and injustices in a gentrifying city through genre-bending rhythmic poetry and high emotional tensions while interweaving the light-hearted slapstick of a decades old friendship. And yes, I’m probably one of the transplants ruining the east bay, so I see my own blind spot. But I’ll try my best to contribute. Anyway, check it out on Amazon.
Music: Broke for Free is Oakland’s premier electronic musician with millions of views on Youtube and millions more plays on soundcloud. He just released a trippy and whimsical visual album that you should check out. Also, he might be my brother-in-law.
Coming soon: Driving to Moraga can feel like driving toward a dead end at the base of the foothills. For the uninitiated, Moraga is a suburban town that can be reached by a two-lane road off the 24 freeway - it can take 20 minutes to get through during rush hour. Its beautiful, flat and safe, but there’s not much to see or do, except a rather pleasant Sunday farmer’s market and a well-stocked HomeGoods store. There may be light at the end of the tunnel though, with the forthcoming Canyon Club Brewery, a new kid-friendly microbrewery due to open in July. If their website is to be believed, there will be food, including nachos - which everyone knows are the mark of a quality drinking establishment. Also they have tree stump climbable seating which looks cute af. So hopefully this is a win for the drinking-establishment-desert that we call “the Lamorinda area”.
Like what you're reading? If you don't live here already, here's a really cute cottage in Berkeley for $749K (in case you forgot, here's what $1M gets you in SF). And here's a bigger house for 4x the size and twice the price which you can find in the sleepy mini city of Orinda.