Thursday, December 15, 2005

Food I Miss - Berkeley, CA

In the fashion of my former roommate Mike, who just recently moved to NYC from San Francisco, and his post, I'm gonna reminisce of the days when I still lived in Northern California, just over 2 years ago...

Here is a short list of the top things that I miss the most from that tiny little culinary mecca known as Berkeley (in no specific order):

  • Cheeseboard Pizza - waiting in line at lunch time while listening to someone playing the piano, getting bonus slivers of pizza, and pulling out a bottle of Orangina from the fridge
  • Peet's Coffee - nothing in NYC compares to the coffee from the Bay Area, especially Peet's, originally from Berkeley. My favorite blends are Arabian Mocha-Java and Major Dickason's. (Yes, I know Peet's is now distributed at Whole Foods, but it's just not the same as the one from Berkeley)
  • Tong dak - deep-fried whole chicken at a Korean Drinking Place served with lemon pepper and salt dippers and pickled radish, I still haven't been able to find a good one in NYC Koreatown
  • In-n-Out, Jack in the Box, and Carl's Jr - there's just something about West Coast fast food joints that the East Coast can't duplicate, for evidence of this check out A Hamburger Today where almost every burger joint in NYC is compared to In-n-Out
  • Kirala and their Robata Grill - unlike New York, where everyone waits in line for all the good eats, this is one of the few places in Berkeley where you would have to wait in line a good 30 minutes to get seated - no reservations taken
  • Grilled Burritos from Mario's La Fiesta - I don't know if it's because I was born in San Diego and lived in California all my life or what, but I think Mexican food in New York City is disgusting
  • TopDog - argueably one of the best cheap-eats in the whole Bay Area, juicy sausages of all kinds in a toasted italian roll - my favorite is the Louisiana Hot-link
  • Zachary's Pizza - the only place to get deep-dish pizza in the Bay Area, Berkeley had 2 branches, so good that my roommate carried a half-baked pizza with her on her cross country flight from California to NYC just so that we could eat it again (Susana - that was awesome!)

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