Cooking has always felt like an artistic pursuit to me, like painting or poetry. When there’s room to create and share a meal with friends and loved ones, it feels like making an ephemeral shared work of art. The best meals, like great concerts or theater productions, may be fleeting, but they’re ones you remember and cherish for a lifetime.
I love to craft seasonal meals whenever the inspiration strikes, but love it less when it’s an every day practice under a time constraint after a long workday. Lately I find my time for creative inspiration to cook to be limited, and I lean on the lovely people at Vita Kitchen for healthy work week meals. But when all else fails? Delivery! So, so thankful for the apps.
A few places to order takeout or delivery from the week ahead:
Mujiri sushi. East bae reader Robin keeps reminding me about Mujiri. It was an instant east bay classic when it opened and I should give it more attention here. Mujiri sits in it’s own lane —somewhere in between the casual everyday sushi and the gourmet omakase sushi that you might have at a restaurant like Robin or Akikos in SF. Whenever we have visitors or special guests, I’ll order Mujiri. The nigiri comes presented beautifully in traditional-looking little wooden boxes. For first timers, the Nigiri combo is a helpful starting place, where you can select one of each of your favorites, served alongside a small maki roll. And I always add on my favorite Ume-shiso Hosomaki. I like Mujiri because they focus on more traditional flavors and presentations (no crazy rolls with cream cheese and pop rocks here, folks) and they have a great sake selection too. Mujiri has two east bay locations: Oakland and Hayward and importantly, they deliver on Doordash.
Cholita Linda. What started as a farmer’s market fish taco stand is now a beloved Bay Area mini chain. Cholita Linda has locations in Alameda, Berkeley, Oakland and Walnut Creek and the San Francisco Ferry Building - so the odds are high that there is one within your takeout or delivery radius. This place is a price performer - somehow missing the memo on $30+ entrees of every other place in the Bay Area - they offer a great $9 salad with romaine lettuce and tortilla chips, the Papito Sandwich is a standout with steak and plantains on grilled french bread — and I always love the hearty ground beef Picadillo which comes as a full meal or a super affordable side option at a mere $6.50 served alongside three fried plantains.
La Esquinita. This new-ish Rockridge taqueria is helmed by chefs with experience from Tacubaya, Doña Tomas, and Flora and exceeds expectations for your Mexican takeout and delivery. While La Esquinita is 100% a taqueria - I’d say these are the most gourmet flavors you can get inside of a burrito in the east bay. The crispy beef taco is a personal favorite and they do a great breakfast burrito too. If they don’t deliver to your address, try Xolo in uptown.
In other news:
Tartes De Feybesse —which you might remember their feature in my east bae pop-up guide for their gorgeous award-winning french pastries— is opening a brick and mortar location at 324 24th street Oakland ASAP.
Chef Intu-On Kornnawong announced their departure from Jo’s Modern Thai. I feel like I just told you about how much I love that spot, so it’s disappointing to hear things are not going smoothly. The restaurant business is extraordinarily challenging, so I’m hoping for the best.
Monk’s Kettle recently relocated from the Mission in SF to College ave in Rockridge and I’m pumped. This is such a dependable pub with great local and global craft beers, plus two kinds of burgers on the menu and my favorite: pretzels and beer cheese.
Fine dining lovers, please take a peek at Sun Moon Studio a four-table restaurant in West Oakland. The until recently under-the-radar restaurant is helmed by highly-pedigreed chefs Alan Hsu and Sarah Cooper, with experience at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Per Se and Benu.