Some Favorite Local Berkeley Restaurants
There are so many great restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area (e.g. The S.F.
Chronicle's Top 100), but we thought we'd list some of our favorite
Berkeley restaurants, particularly less famous ones. Note most Berkeley
restaurants close between 9 and 10 on weeknights.
- Favorite Japanese:
Kirala, 2100 Ward Street @ Shattuck, Berkeley, 510-549-3486.
Awesome sushi and robata grill. Expect to wait an hour unless you get there
right at opening.
- Favorite Expensive Place:
Lalime's, 1329 Gilman Street, Berkeley, 510-527-9838.
Better than Chez Panisse in our recent experience.
- Favorite Chinese in Berkeley: Great China Restaurant, 2115 Kittredge
St, Berkeley, 510-843-7996
- Favorite Local Italian: Lo Coco's Sicilian Restaurant & Pizzaria
In Shattuck Commons, 1400 Shattuck (between Rose & Vine), Berkeley.
- Favorite Unique California Cuisine: Britt Marie's, 1369 Solano Ave.,
Albany, 510-527-1314.
Stunning wine bar, good food, large portions, and open until 11pm!!
- Favorite French Bistro: Nizza La Bella 825 San Pablo (just North of
Solano), Albany, 510-526-2552.
- Best California/Italian Lunch: The Phoenix Pastaficio, 1786 Shattuck
(near Delaware)
- Best Indian Lunch: Vik's Chaat Corner, 726 Allston Way, Berkeley,
510-644-4412.
Cheap, excellent veggie (and meat), and an Indian restaurant in America that
Raghu actually approves of.
- Best Breakfast Pastries: The Cheese Board, 1504 Shattuck (near
Vine), Berkeley.
- Best Coffee and Tea: Peet's Coffee & Tea Vine & Walnut,
Berkeley.
Places to Go
There are also tons of things to do in the Bay Area (well documented at S.F. Chronicle's Bay Area Guides, Conde Nast Traveler or bayinsider.com and other sites...), so we will
content ourselves to pointing out a few less obvious highlights.
- Tour of Alcatraz. This is actually pretty interesting if you've
never been there.
- Angel Island.
Beautiful island in the Bay with lots of history. Notably, a place Chinese
immigrants were detained during the Chinese Exclusion Act years.
- Napa and Sonoma Wine Country. Lovely drives and lots of wine
tasting.
-
Oakland A's vs. Seattle Mariners, Monday 6/3 - Thursday 6/6. Ichiro!
Two of baseball's best teams last year! Cheap walk-up tickets always available!
Notice that the combined 2001 payrolls of these two teams equaled the 2001
Yankee payroll. There is also A's baseball all wedding weekend, but this is the
key matchup.
Please send comments/additions to
Eric Hsu.