Oakland has become a high end dining destination over the past couple of years with a stream of upscale and high profile restaurant openings. Many chefs with roots in San Francisco crossed over and opened up restaurants here – as did restaurant owners like Kiri Eschelle. The Oakland native was the co-owner of Levende in San Francisco, but had always wanted to open a restaurant in Old Oakland. Three years ago, she did just that with Levende East. And recently, she and her partner, Dirk Kahl, opened up yet another business in Oakland – a lounge called Liege.

You know how you always hear stories of people that something bad happened to – and then they rebound and come out of the experience better than before. Amira Jackmon is one of those people. She got laid off from a comfortable job in a law firm last year. And she decided to use her savings to try her hand at something totally new – food.

The finance lawyer with degrees from Yale and Stanford decided to become a professional chef. It started out with a BBQ for some friends. They loved her cooking. “My friends said – “You should be out in a truck, going out to nightclubs and selling to people.” The next day, I was on Craigslist looking for a truck,” says Amira.

And soon after, she became the proud owner of a taco truck. A few upgrades, repairs and many licenses later, the truck was ready for business.

Amira had always loved Caribbean food, and had always lamented the fact that there weren’t too many places selling it. So she sat down with her Trinidad-born partner, who had spent many years in the restaurant business, and came up with some recipes that excited her and that she felt might excite those that tried them. “Given how open people in the Bay Area are to trying food from other cultures – fusion and different cultural backgrounds -- that’s where I came up with Get Jerked – fusing Caribbean tastes and flavors and everyday street food that we know in California.”

Amira, who is a transplant from Fresno, has no background in the food business – no degrees from culinary schools and no experience in any restaurant. What she does have is a lot of passion and drive.

“We’re going to keep pushing through the startup phase,” she says. “I expect we’ll say, 20 years from now, that we were born in a recession and are now a nationwide staple, in American cities everywhere.”

For now, her truck runs in Oakland. During the day, it can be found at one of Oakland’s many busy and bustling spots - such as Laney College, Lake Merritt Bart station, and the Alameda County administration building. At night, it caters to revelers coming out of Luka’s or the New Parish or one of the town’s many party destinations. She has two employees, thanks to a subsidized employment program through the Alameda County, a part of the stimulus package. It reimburses her for 80% of what she pays her staff, and helps her keep going. Like any start-up, her truck seems to eat money. But her biggest challenge, she says, has been dealing with all the licenses, permits and government requirements. She now understands why people have a problem with big government, she says, half in jest. “I’ve been amazed at how hard it is for a small business to understand and follow this amazing web of rules,” she says. “There’s the City of Oakland, the County of Alameda health department’s permit, the state, the trucks are registered through DMV, taxes, corporate licenses, workers’ comp. It’s amazing to me.”

But what encourages her is that consumers like what she has to offer. Her jerk chicken tacos are her best seller. Her favorite dish is the jerk fish taco -- with jerk seasoning mango chutney, garlic sauce, garlic aioli, and cabbage. It’s all priced between $3 and $6.

The thirty-something is no stranger to hard work. But it amuses her that a simple taco truck business is as demanding as it is. “It’s running neck and neck – working at the law firm and doing this – in the hours it requires,” she says.

But she has no plans to quit anytime soon.

Keep up with the Get Jerked truck on twitter or call 510-868-0638.

Oakland has become a destination for gourmet dining. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t also home to some of the most exciting street food in the Bay Area. You’ve probably heard of all the taco tours that food lovers organize every now and then through Fruitvale. 

If you live in Oakland, it’s very possible that you grow some vegetables in your garden – or at least know someone who does. And if you’re a west Oaklander, you’re close to one of the most prominent food justice groups in the country – People’s Grocery. Any way you look at it, food is a big part of the conversation in Oakland. So, it’s understandable that Oaklanders are excited and/or curious about Temra Costa’s book, Farmer Jane. The book will hit stores only around May 1, but people are already talking about it on Facebook and Twitter.  

In Farmer Jane, Costa profiles 30 women farmers from across the country and explores the impact women are having on our food system. She’s worked with farmers as an advocate for sustainable farming for the past seven years. She’s had many a-ha moments, but one trumps them all. “Noticing that women are leading the charge towards sustainable farming – that’s been the big moment for me,” she says.

Costa became a food activist while she was studying agriculture at the University of Wisconsin at Madison back in 1998. “The connection between what I was eating and studying wasn’t clear until I walked into the Williamson Street co-operative,” she remembers. Soon after, she found herself collecting signatures to maintain the integrity of the organic-certification process by USDA. Since then, it’s been one food campaign after another.

After a stint with Family Farm Defenders, a Madison-based group that works towards a farmer-controlled food system, she landed a job with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF), where she she worked on programs of Farm to School and local food sourcing for institutions and businesses until eventually becoming the statewide director of the Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign, which aims to educate people about where their food is coming from. “Through our research, we found that if people have information on where food is coming from at the point of sale, they buy local 75% of time,” she says. “That was important – the moment when a local farmer is chosen over the farmer from Mexico or China.”  

If we’re having a hard time setting up a sustainable regional food system, it’s because American farmers cannot compete in the global market at the current price points, she says. “There’s no way our food producers can compete with China, South America etc.,” she says. To cut costs, they often use what she describes as “slave labor” in the fields – children and undocumented, poorly-paid workers. This is why agricultural workers are still paid so poorly. The solution, in part, is to hold these farms and agribusinesses accountable to labor laws, but also to protect our farms from having to compete with countries that surely do not have such rigid labor and environmental standards.

For the current scenario to change, consumers have to show they care, she emphasizes. The problem is that people aren’t used to having information on where their food is coming from. But recent media efforts like the movie, Food Inc., and books and newspaper articles about our food system and its various industries – dairy, meat packing, etc – have gotten people interested in the origins and sources of their food. And people have begun asking questions. “We need people to continue asking where their food is coming from,” she says. “If they show they care, the government will change the subsidy system and retailers will change the marketing regarding local.”

For Costa, it all comes back to local. It was the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign that helped her find the women she wanted to write about. She found women from all over the world who are the faces of the modern-day American farm – like Maria Catalan of Catalan farms, the first farm worker to become a farm owner.  The book has stories of 30 women, but on her website, Costa puts up stories regularly of women that are changing the food system for the better, a little bit at a time.

To keep up with Farmer Jane, visit farmerjanes.blogspot.com/

We live in a multi cultural world -- and while everyone seems to get into the spirit of Christmas, everyone doesn’t necessarily celebrate it. You don’t just see Jewish families at Chinese restaurants on Christmas anymore. You see Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, atheists and many others. If you’re looking for that Chinese meal on Christmas, consider heading over to Becky’s.

Ten years ago, when Becky Truong bought what was then known as East Hunan, Oakland wasn’t quite the gourmet destination it is today. Even while glitzier and more glamorous restaurants have sprung up on all sides, Becky’s has managed to retain its regulars.

“Got to work long hours, got to get everything right,” says Becky Truong. “If there’s something I can’t eat, I’m not going to sell it. I’m very strict. You got to have quality and good quantity.”

Ms. Truong didn’t go to a culinary school to learn how to cook. The food she makes or teaches others to make reflects her experience. Becky’s is a Chinese restaurant, but it serves food with flavors beyond China.

Ms. Truong, who is ethnically Chinese, came to Oakland from a small town in Vietnam that she can’t remember the name of -- via Hong Kong and Manila in the Philippines. She was 11 years old. By the time she turned 13, she was cooking meals for her entire family. It wasn’t just a hobby. “When you’re poor, you have to,” she says. It helped that she enjoyed cooking.

When she finished high school in 1990, her brother in law suggested she partner with him on a restaurant he was starting up in Moraga. The restaurant did well, and they opened another restaurant in El Cerrito.  

Ten years ago, the seller of the Moraga restaurant put up his Rockridge restaurant for sale. He wanted to go back to Taiwan. Ms. Truong bought it. Four years ago, she redecorated it and changed the name to Becky’s. Over the past decade, she’s built up a regular clientele, she says.

Becky’s specializes in Mongolian beef, Schezwan chicken, and amongst other things, hot and sour soup, which Ms. Truong is rather proud of. But the special on Christmas is dim sum, usually served only over the weekend.

And now, cooking has become a hobby for Ms. Truong. If she eats something she likes, even if she doesn't have the recipe, she tries to recreate it when she gets back home. She still loves to cook. 

Eric Tucker cooks for Oakland (Courtesy: jennconspiracy on Flickr)

In a town where backyard poultry farming is the rage, and the ability to butcher a whole hog is the mark of a true cook, it’s sometimes easy to forget that vegetarian cuisine is part of Oakland’s flourishing culinary scene.

On Thursday, Encuentro, a new vegetarian café and wine bar in Jack London Square, debuted under the leadership of Oaklander Eric Tucker, the legendary chef behind Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco. Millennium is an icon in the world of vegetarian and vegan restaurants.

One the restaurant’s partners is Linda Braz, a longtime - and well known - fixture of Oakland’s real estate market as well as the city’s art scene. Braz had been wanting to open an eatery for some time, she said. She moved on her desire when the right ideas and the right partners -- Eric Tucker and Lacey Sher, former owner of Down to Earth, a restaurant in New Jersey -- formed around the concept for Encuentro, which means to meet in Spanish.

Braz said that diners at the wine bar and cafe would encounter hard to find organic and sustainable wines paired with delicious small plates, of cheeses, salads, and other fresh and seasonable ingredients found in the region’s markets. She is particularly fond of the crispy kale featured on the small bites section of Encuentro’s ever-changing menu.

Unlike Bocanova or Miss Pearl’s Jam House, which are big restaurants in Jack London Square, Encuentrio is a small place, tucked into a corner not far from the Amtrak station. It’s the kind of place that two friends would go to after work for a glass of interesting wine and a delicious nosh. But we predict it'll soon become a destination.

202 Second Street
www.encuentrooakland.com

So you like your tofu. You buy it in packages at the grocery store, and you fry it up in some soy sauce to give it flavor. You may think it’s yummy and healthy, but you’ve been eating the equivalent of Kraft singles, oblivious to the world of Gruyeres, Stiltons, and other cheeses that are out there. Minh Tsai wants you to taste the tofu you never existed.

On Wednesday, Tsai opened his new West Oakland tofu factory, or beanery, to the public. The 12,000 square feet plant’s first tofu was made last week. OakBook talked to Tsai about what America’s tofu eaters have been missing.

OB: Why are you opening the beanery to the public?  Who wants to see tofu being made?

MT: We will allow people to view our process to teach them how to make tofu. Cooks will be able to come in and learn our techniques. Tofu can use some help in terms of demystifying it?

OB: In what way?

MT: I think that in the U.S. people have the impression that tofu doesn’t taste good? If you make tofu fresh, it makes it much more delicious, which is how the rest of Asia eats it. Just like fresh bread, tofu has its own natural flavor, fresh tofu is nutty and creamy. It’s like drinking fresh squeezed orange juice versus Tang.

OB: Where can people buy your tofu now? Will there be retail at the beanery?

MT: No. But we are at 10 farmer’s markets. And in the East Bay we sell to Saul’s. They make really good scrambles out of it.


The beanery on Adeline

OB: Where do you get your soybeans from?

MT: Our supplier is a co-op in the Midwest. The beans are organic and non-GMO.

OB: What about your tofu making equipment? Where does that come from?

MT: Tofu making machines are not like ice machines or dishwashers. You have to have it custom-ordered. We sourced ours from the oldest manufacturer in Taiwan?

OB: How many employees do you have?

MT: We have 8 full-time employees, and six part-time employees.

OB: You left a job in finance four years ago to start making tofu full-time.  Why did you do that?

MT: When I was a boy in Ho Chi Minh City, I’d go to the nearby tofu shop with my grandpa in the morning. The tofu in Vietnam is fresh, where it’s made communally, and it’s sold by mom and pop stores. I wanted to make that kind of tofu here.

The Hodo Soy Beanery is at 2923 Adeline Street, but call first to arrange a tour: 510-464-2977. Also, look for Hodo’s line of fresh prepared foods at grocery stores in Oakland soon.
 

Uptown’s nightlife just got a boost. The Layover is now open.

Located where Pat’s once used to be, the Layover is a cocktail lounge, but not just a watering hole, as owner RaeAnne Turner points out. 

“It is like a living room,” “says RaeAnne, who co-owns the bar with three other people. “It’s very comfortable.”

This rather plush living room has board games like chess, art shows on a rotating basis, and it’s going to have lots of music. One of the four owners, Zachary Turner, who is RaeAnne’s husband, is their musical backbone. He is better known as Prozack Turner, the front man of the hip-hop group, Foreign Legion.

The other two owners are also a couple. Christie Vaughn and Tim Martinez bring their green builder credentials to the team. Tim’s association with Uptown goes back way before the area became Uptown. His café/art gallery Papa Buzz preceded the hipster-destination, Mama Buzz.  

With posh restaurants like Pican and Flora, champagne lounges like Mimosa, the Fox and the Paramount, and reliable hangouts like Luka’s Tap Room, the area between 17^th and Grand along Telegraph and Broadway comes alive and bustles with energy every evening. But just one street over from Broadway, it’s a very different vibe. Franklin Street gets quiet and empty as soon as the offices close at 5 p.m. But the Layover hopes to change that – and to expand Uptown and the arts district a little bit farther.

“I think everybody involved sees the potential in Oakland. It’s like a rebirth,” says RaeAnne, who is a party planner at Jillians Billiard’s Club, a sports bar in the Metreon in San Francisco.

But the best plans and ambitions can stall without resources. The four had a business plan, but couldn’t find any traditional lender to take a chance on them in this economy. So they made friends -- with a police officer, with members of the community and soon had the support of City Council member Nancy Nadel and the City of Oakland.  They eventually found a non-profit group to lend to them. They got their cabaret license, and things began falling in place.

It’s a small space, with a capacity of just 49 people. But on Franklin Street, 49 people can seem like a lot on any given evening.

The Layover opens to the public Friday, October 9.
 

1517 Franklin Street
oaklandlayover.com/

 When I landed in the United States earlier this year, I was not familiar with the kind of food Americans eat. I learned – fast. I had no alternatives. When I tried to search for Kenyan restaurants on the Internet, I found none. I did not know any Kenyans here either. 

One day, I was craving a popular Kenyan dish, Ugali. I began to despair, wondering if I would have to wait to go back to Kenya before I ate Ugali again. I decided to try to make it myself. 

My journey to cook Kenyan food in the United States was not an easy one. There isn’t a Kenya-town anywhere here. In Kenya, I would find Ugali everywhere. It is a basic dish that is that is cooked by mixing corn flour with boiled water. It is served with vegetables. But the key is in finding the right ingredients. For example, the yellow corn flour that’s so easily available in all American grocery stores won’t work in this recipe. It has to be white.

The first food store I visited was Trader Joe’s. I walked around reading the labels on all the items, with a hope that I would find some familiar Kenyan groceries. I didn't. But my shopping was not a total failure since I found vegetables like spinach and kale. I smiled with relief because those are the vegetables that are eaten with Ugali. Usually, we cut the vegetables and mix them with beef.

I decided I needed to find a Kenyan grocery store. While visiting the flea market at Ashby, I met Gerald Gichuki, a Kenyan. I’m lucky, I thought to myself, to finally meet a Kenyan. The first thing I asked him was - where did he buy his Kenyan ingredients?

I was astonished by his response. Gichuki said that he ate Kenyan food at home – daily! I could not believe it. I was very happy when he was kind enough to write for me the names of the stores where one can get Kenyan groceries.  I learned that if I asked, I could find white corn flour at places like Lucky and Safeway. 

I came home smiling only to realize that I didn’t have the right cooking spoon. My craving for Ugali drove me to Bed, Bath and Beyond to buy a large cooking spoon - or what Kenyans call a cooking stick. I had the flour, the vegetables – and even my stick.

I cooked and invited my friends and was very happy to share with them our local food. It was a celebration of my newfound freedom to make Ugali anytime I felt like it. It is, after all, my favorite food.



Recipe for Ugali

4 to 6 servings

    * Water -- 4 cups
    * White cornmeal, finely ground -- 2 cups

Method

   1. Bring the water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the cornmeal slowly, letting it fall though the fingers of your hand.
   2. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue stirring regularly, smashing any lumps with a spoon, until the mush pulls away from the sides of the pot and becomes very thick, cook about 10 minutes.
   3. Form into a ball and place the Ugali into a large serving bowl.

    * Ugali is usually served as an accompaniment to meat or vegetable stews, greens or soured milk. To eat Ugali, pull off a small ball of mush with your fingers. Form an indentation with your thumb, and use it to scoop up accompanying stews and other dishes. Or you can form larger balls with your hands or an ice cream scoop, place them in individual serving bowls and spoon stew around them.

Last week, Osman Othman sold more than 100 loaves of Afghan bread in less than an hour after the mosque next to his new market finished Friday prayers. Oasis Food Market is the newest addition the cluster of Middle Eastern and Islamic shops on Telegraph Avenue between 29th and 32nd Streets. Othman isn't finished with his market, which already features two vertical grills for shawarmas, a salad bar, and a big oven for baking pitas and other breads of the Middle East.

The market's decor reflects Othman's origins. A skylight in the middle of the store is a small replica of the dome inside the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. A mural in the dining area depicts the Moroccans’ Gate, a passageway to the mosque's sanctuary. While that particular piece of Jerusalem is a major source of strife between Israeli Jews and Palestinians, the mural at Oasis is easygoing Oakland all the way. Othman said the artist he commissioned to paint the mural is a Moroccan Jew.

OakBook talked to Othman about what else he has planned.

Othman: We're going to put in a self-serve buffet. The shawarmas take a few minutes to prepare, and the people coming from the hospital across the street don't have a few minutes.

OakBook: Where are the cooks from?

Othman: We have two cooks. One is from Turkey, and the other is from Sudan. The guy from Sudan used to cook for one of the Saudi Arabian princes. Last week, I went to LA to convince a Syrian pastry chef to come make Middle Eastern desserts for us. He'll be here next week.

OakBook: How late are you staying open?

Othman: It's Ramadan and a lot of people are fasting, so we're staying open until midnight. After Ramadan we'll stay open at least until 10.

OakBook: You have produce, a butcher, groceries, a clothing section, and a restaurant. How many people work here?

Othman: We have 12 employees.

OakBook: Where are you from?

Othman: I'm from Jerusalem, a village outside of Jerusalem called el-Eizariya. Do you know Lazarus? That's where Jesus raised him from the dead.

Tens of thousands of people came to Jack London Square for the Eat Real Festival. The weather was warm, the lines were long, and the food was usually worth the wait. The festival kicked off with ice-cream and beer on Friday evening, and ended Sunday evening with sold out signs. In case you missed it, or would just like to re-live it, here are some photos that tell the story of the festival, which was the brain child of food impresario Anya Fernald, who organized Slow Food Nation in San Francisco last year. 

Click here for the photos.

On Friday afternoon, Rick Hackett had just finished giving the bartenders a pep talk: “We are going to build cocktails like cooks build plates. We are going to raise the standard of the bar to compete with restaurants that have great bars.” Bocanova, Hackett’s new restaurant in Jack London Square, is scheduled to open on September 1, and there’s still plenty of work to be done before the first customers sit down to their meals.

As a self-described Pan-American restaurant, Bocanova will cover considerable culinary ground. There will be Cuban-inspired braised meats, ceviches from Peru, Argentine-style short ribs, meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, Oaxacan specialties, and dishes from California. The Coca Cola will be the kind bottled in Mexico, made with cane sugar and not corn syrup.

Hackett, the executive chef, who owns the restaurant with his wife, has a 30-year history in the Bay Area food scene, including stints at Chez Panisse, Oliveto, and Baywolf. He got the idea of launching a Pan-American restaurant while working as the executive chef at MarketBar, a popular destination in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. When the staff would assemble for their daily “family dinners,” chefs representing all quarters of Latin America would prepare an extraordinary variety of meals.

At Bocanova, many of the ingredients will be sourced close to home. The beef, for example, will come from a ranch near Redding. “It’s one of the best steaks I’ve tasted,” said Hackett. The pork is from Prather Ranch. Hackett found an organic chicken farmer near Petaluma that he said raises some of the tastiest poultry he’s eaten. A farmer in Nicasio will turn 90 pounds of red and green bell peppers into six pounds of dried pepper flakes for Hackett's kitchen. Entrees will range in price from $15 to $30. 

Hackett and his wife, who live near Lake Merritt, didn’t travel to devise Bocanova’s menu. “I did it vicariously," he said, "through cookbooks."

To keep up with BocaNova, visit bocanova.com/

Living in Oakland ensures that the gastronome in us never gets bored. We've got restaurants like Commis that would please the most discerning of food snobs. And we've also got an amazing array of taco trucks and dives all around town. What gives Oakland a large part of its culinary character, though, is the ethnic enclave. We've got Chinatown. We've got Fruitvale and Koreatown, amongst others. And now, we're getting a piece of the Middle East on Telegraph Avenue. If you commute between downtown and Temescal, you've seen it. There were originally a few scattered stores near the mosque on 31st Street. But now, there's a Dubai market opening up, and we're starting to see the restaurants and cafes come in.

The most prominent one opened up about six months ago at the corner of Telegraph and 32nd Street -- Zahara Deli and Coffee. With a name like Zahara, you might go in expecting falafels, lavash and tabbouleh. But Zahara, which means "flower" in Arabic, is a sandwich shop.

Its owner, Alex Almogas, prides himself on the Mediterranean sandwiches. The chef, Aisha Ganel, has been making this particular sandwich for 10 years. And yes, they also have the falafel and some Greek, Italian and Middle Eastern offerings. Almogas wants to be authentic, and as far as possible, uses ingredients that are made in the Mediterranean. He buys his olive oil from Algeria, and gets oil and balsamic vinegar mixed with sesame seeds from Italy.

Almogas, formerly a system manager at Safeway, was born in Yemen and came to the United States as a 15-year-old in 1984. He's been living in Oakland for 15 years now and knows the town well. But when he decided to open his own deli, he still did his research to identify the best location possible. "I studied this area before I opened (my deli) here," says Almogas. "In this location, there's no deli sandwiches here."

And with all those medical centers and shops lining his stretch of Telegraph Avenue, they need a good sandwich shop there, which explains why and how he's made it through the recession. It helps that the deli is at a bus stop. "Oh yes, people waiting for the bus rush in here and grab sandwiches,” says Almogas.  He says the biggest sellers are the Italian style veggie, Mediterranean Veggie and Grilled Panini.

Zahara is the kind of place that stays busy as people rush in and out because they're buying food to go. But that isn't a reflection on the ambiance. It's a basic deli. It's clean and the staff is friendly.

Zahara
Open daily: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sandwiches sell for about $6
3201 Telegraph avenue.
 

Ganel’s Recipe for the Mediterranean veggie Sandwich.

1. Cut sweet onions into rounds.
2. Mix sweet onions, garlic and dry bread. Roll them like meat balls to make a Falafel.
3. Cut Ciabatta bread into two slices.
4. Open both sides of the bread and spread hummus on them. Then pour olive on top of both sides.
5. Put four slices of the falafel and add sweet onions on top.
6. Slice tomatoes and add on top of the falafel.
7. Cut cucumbers into small pieces and spread Lettuce on top.
8. Put Feta cheese on top of lettuce and cucumbers
9. Add two olives and Tahini Sauce.

Serve with a cool drink.

A couple of years ago, the co-owner of Uptown Auto Body and Fender, Giovanna Tanzillo, learned that a new restaurant would be replacing what used to be Pacific Rim and Wheel at 26^th and Broadway. Tanzillo, who is of Italian descent, walked down to visit her new neighbors and came back excited. The owners cared enough about their pizzas to have a wood oven that she approved of. She couldn’t wait for Café Noir to open. "Their pizzas might even be as good as Dopo's," she said.

Café Noir finally opened earlier this year, more than a year after it was scheduled to open.

Café Noir, located next to the still-popular Mua, is open only for breakfast and lunch (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.). But Frederic Millot, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Emily, expects to get the last of the licenses they need today. That means that they could start serving dinner as soon as the coming Saturday.

The Millots have lived in Oakland for twenty years, but they’re originally from Saint Etienne in France, and they have tried to bring their native flavors to the food they offer. The menu is presently limited to crepes, pizza, salads, and coffee – but the word is that it’s all very good.

2442 Webster Street Oakland, CA 94612
510-836-0803
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
oaklandcafenoir.blogspot.com/

If Mua reminds diners of Berlin, and Café Noir of eastern France, then Farley’s East is bringing a piece of San Francisco to the area. If you’re ever lived in Portrero Hill or know anyone who has, then you probably have an idea of what Farley’s means to its neighborhood. It’s a popular local spot where the community gathers for coffee, sandwiches, art, hundreds of magazines and games. Farley’s East is trying to bring that vibe across the bridge to Uptown. It’s opening its doors with a celebration this coming Friday, July 10, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Yes, that does mean free coffee!)

Farley’s East will be located where the art gallery known as 33 Grand used to be. The cafe’s owners, Oakland residents Amy and Chris Hillyard, say they plan to showcase local art and stay open for the Art Murmur, too.

Farley’s East
33 Grand (at Broadway)
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays
8 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekends.

What do you get when you mix the interior designer of some of San Francisco’s coolest bars, the former bartender of a Belden Lane bar that once was popular with some of the Silicon Valley crowd, an owner who’s wanted to open a bar for a very long time, and a location that really needs a bar? You get Penelope – a small stylish bar where they pay attention to detail and make very interesting drinks. Ever had jicama or beets in your cocktail? I hadn’t. But the spicy Jicama Reposada was worth every one of the $9 I paid for it.  

For Lauren Geremia, a 27-year-old designer who has, in a relatively short span of time, become one of SF’s go-to designers for bar interiors, Penelope isn’t just another bar in her portfolio. This is her first Oakland bar. And it’s helped her realize that she wants to work a lot more in Oakland. “For me to grow as a designer, I need new perspectives,” she says. “It’s exciting to be here.”

And Penelope is certainly very different from her last venture, the rustic-themed Bloodhound, which won raves for its interiors. Here, the wallpaper is malachite. The concrete bar is decorated with pieces of the mineral Pyrite. Recycling gets a nod as the shelves behind the bar are decorated with spruced-up pieces from junkyards. The lighting is vintage. The overall result is chic, but not stuffy.

That’s exactly what Tung Tran, the owner, wanted. “I wanted a comfortable, modern kind of place, where you can hang out – which isn’t stuffy,” he says.

And it isn’t stuffy. In fact, it’s a rather inviting little nook in a building lined with offices. Barely a week after the soft launch, the bar starts filling up at 3.30 in the afternoon. The happy hours may bring people in, but it’s the ambience and drinks like Oaktown Heat (with habanero), Penelope (with beets), and various concoctions with apples, pears, and other fresh fruits that will probably keep them coming back.

Penelope
555 12th Street; ste 120 (11th@Clay)
510-529-5393

What you want to see in the kitchen of your favorite restaurant.

This might be a website you'd rather not explore. On the Alameda County Department of Environmental Health's homepage is a tab to recent restaurant inspection results. To make it easy for you to discover if your favorite restaurant has a problem with vermin, the health inspectors have a map that lets you search for particular restaurants everywhere in Alameda County. Restaurants in Berkeley, which runs its own public health office, are not included.

There's too much germophobia in our Purelled civilization. Good food is made of bacteria, mold and probably a healthy pinch of dirt along the way. And even the tidiest of restaurants can be surprised by the health inspectors on a bad day. However, the reports can make for interesting reading, and it's a reliable way to learn if a particular establishment has a chronic problem with "red ink" violations. Think rats, roaches, and food preppers zipping up as they return to work from the bathroom.

The map is a few generations behind in technology terms. But given the area's obsession with food it will probably only be a matter of time before someone makes an iphone app using the county's data.

Bon appetit.

Q: Dear Beegirl,

I have heard that consuming rather small amounts of local honey can sometimes treat allergies.  Can I obtain from you or any other local beekeeper any products described as "East Bay Area" honey?  How about "Five Inner Bay Area Counties" honey?  And where can I purchase them? --I.I. Butler

A: Dear I.I.:

While there have been no definitive studies on this matter, anecdotally, eating raw local honey does seem to help people with their pollen allergies as it contains homeopathic amounts of the exact pollen blend of the region. If you do experiment with local honeys, start with the smallest amount, perhaps a quarter teaspoon a day and build up from there, as there is also anecdotal evidence of reaction to the honey itself as the body's immune response builds up.  

I am not a commercial-scale beekeeper and don't have enough honey to spare for selling. However, there are several beekeepers who sell honey from the East Bay and beyond. Marshall Farms is a good one--they sell East Bay honeys, SF Bay Area Blend, and honeys specific to many of our region’s counties. They sell at farmers markets all around the Bay Area including the Saturday Grand Lake Market in Oakland.   They also website at marshallsfarmhoney.com. This lists the many varieties available as well as the markets they sell at. I have seen local honey at Whole Foods, The Berkeley Bowl and Farmer Joe's in Oakland.  Just visit the honey section and have a look!

Q: Dear Beegirl,

I wanted to know...is it possible to make mead out of agave nectar?  It was something I wanted to experiment with.  Do you have any experience with this? --Tia

A: Dear Tia,

There is a long tradition amongst indigenous peoples of making fermented beverages with cactus juice. When the Papago people of the Sonoran desert make their sacred fermentation from saguaro sap, it is called Tiswin, when the Tarahumara Indians use agave it is called Pulque. Each of these drinks is considered sacred. The plants themselves, the process of fermentation, and the consumption of the drink are surrounded with ceremony and considered essential  to the ability of the culture to successfully continue. Fermented cactus beverages are also the pre-cursers to tequila, which is a similar concoction that is then distilled.

This is a long way around to tell you, that yes, it is quite possible to make a fermented beverage from agave nectar, or, for that matter, any plant-based sugar. The name "mead" is name is specific to drinks made with honey. Something made with agave or saguaro juice would not be mead, but some other brew.   

While I have not personally made a beverage with agave nectar, basic brewing sense says to start by adding water to your syrup until you reach the potential alcohol level that your yeast prefers (use a hydrometer to do this). For wine yeast, this will be in the range of 12%-15% and for ale yeast, it will be in the range of 4%-7%.  You might want to add an acid companant, as well as some yeast nutrient and tannin to help the yeast perform better.

For more information on the background and traditions of fermented beverages made from cactus, I highly recommend the book “Sacred & Healing Beers” by Stephen Harrod Buhner.

Happy Brewing!

Got a question about urban homesteading? Got a question about something in your kitchen or your garden? Send it in to editors@theoakbook.com

For Urban Homesteading classes, visit the Institute of Urban Homesteading.

Veteran librarians must be weary of the cycle. More people start using their public libraries during economic hard times, which happen to correspond with periods of City Hall budget cutbacks and layoffs. Now that people have cancelled their Netflix subscription because they've discovered the last season of The Wire at their local Oakland Public Library branch, that branch may be in serious danger of closing four to five days a week.

With Oakland looking at a budget deficit of $83 million over the next two years, no City department will escape budget cuts. Mayor Ron Dellums' proposed cuts to the library include slashing branch library opening times from six days to five, and pairing of six libraries, which would share staff. The paired libraries: Golden Gate, Lakeview, Temescal, Elmhurst, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Melrose would be open two or three days a week. The total savings would be $800,000, according to the mayor's office.

But a community meeting at the Dimond branch Wednesday night yielded alternatives to the pairings proposal. One suggestion was to borrow from the library's new book acquisition fund to see the system through the crisis on the assumption that it's easier to raise money for books, said Richard Cowan, City Councilwoman Jean Quan's Chief of Staff, who attended the meeting. In 2008, the library spent $1.8 million on books and other materials, which accounted for 8 percent of OPL's $23 million expenditures that year.

The City Council is scheduled to adopt a budget at its meetings on June 16 and June 20.

Trattoria Laurellinos is the much anticipated addition to the Laurel District that opened in March. A sign hangs in front with the golden emblem of a pig, inviting onlookers inside to this quaint Italian family-style eatery. When I enter, I am greeted by the chef and owner, Terrell Santiago, who motions me to sit at a modestly decorated wooden table and offers me a glass of water. Before I even start with the questions, he catches me looking at the Pig emblem on the menu and grins. He can sense my curiosity, but his smile says, "We’ll get to that part. Relax." And I do.

Q: What was it like growing up?
A: I grew up in the Mission District of San Francisco in a culturally diverse neighborhood and household. I’m half Black and half Spanish. In terms of cooking, my mom was my biggest influence. Her name is Norma. Before she worked, she cooked 3 meals a day. My favorite dish of hers is Gumbo! She did it in typical New Orleans style but she’d add something special that made it all her own. When she started working, I knew I had to learn to fend for myself! Even when I make my own now, it never tastes quite like hers. But, I watched Aunts and Cousins too…First you look. Then you learn. Then you taste. I went to school all over the City. Cesar Chavez, Lakeshore, Aptos and then Balboa High School. From there, I went to City and then Idaho State, where I was a business major. I learned that if I could cook, it got me a date. And I had good dates!

Q: What were your earliest experiences in the kitchen?
A: When I was 11, I was the youngest kid hired to work in the kitchen for a boys’ summer camp in Mendocino. The routine was ‘Get up at 5am.Cook oatmeal, grits and pancakes. I cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for a couple hundred campers everyday. But, I didn’t always “know” I wanted to be a cook. In the early days, it was just something I did to make extra money.

Q: How did you transition into full-time chef? Did you ever wear any other ‘hats?’
A: Well, I was in the Service. I’ve also been a federal fire fighter. For me, it was like cooking really chose me. In 1989, I went to Texas and got a job at Cook’s Night Owl, where they let me have the freedom to create my own dishes as long as it fit with the concept of a high-end deli. From there, I went to a Southwestern cuisine restaurant, then Thai and Italian. I learned a bunch of different styles and I just got lucky. Freedom has always been important to me and it was that freedom that allowed me to create so many unique dishes. The last place I worked at was Maxwell’s’ downtown Oakland. I was there for a little over a year.

Q:It sounds like you always had the entrepreneurial bug. Did you always have a dream of opening an Italian restaurant?
A: I knew I was ready to work for myself. I wanted to give myself a job I loved, create a place that the community felt a part of and create a family environment with my staff. Originally I wanted to open up a deli in San Leandro, where I live now. You know, because I wanted to sleep! (Laughs) But, I drove around everywhere looking at “For Rent” signs and I found myself here in the Laurel District of Oakland. When I spoke with the business owner, I learned that there had been surveys taken in the neighborhood and the community really wanted an Italian restaurant. So, that’s what I gave ‘em!

Q: How did you pick the name and what’s with the Pig?
A: Ah, the pig story. I knew you would want to know that. Well, for a logo, I kept playing around with wine glasses, grapes, you know. The traditional Italian stuff. And nothing clicked. So, I remember I was watching that French film, The Delicatessen, about post-apocalyptic France when meat was scarce. Specifically, there was an apartment complex with a butcher shop at the bottom called the Delicatessen. They tried to lure new tenants in so the butcher could chop them up and serve them as meat for the current tenants. Their blade sign has this pig and I stole their pig. It spoke to me and you gotta go with what speaks to you. (Chuckles) As for the name, I originally wanted it to be “Laurellinas” until a friend said that it wasn’t Italian. So we changed it to Laurellinos.

Q: You are a master chef. You can prepare a dozen different menus. Do you ever feel limited or feel like expanding into a franchise name?
A: No. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. I’m not trying to wow anybody. It’s true. There’s a lot of food I could prepare if that was my intention but like I said, this place is about the neighborhood. A family-oriented Italian restaurant, where they can come here and get a good meal for a reasonable price. And I gotta tell ya, the Vesuvio pasta and Lamb are the favorites. And of course, Spaghetti and Meatballs. But, we don’t survive without the neighborhood and that’s kind of the bottom line.

Q: If you didn’t have a restaurant, what would you do?
A: I’d coach football or mentor kids. Well, throughout my cooking career, I’ve always had ‘misfits’ in my kitchen. They were from 16-early 20’s and they were in the ‘system’ in some way. But, I tried to find a way to relate to them and see the part of them that no one else sees. And there are a lot of kids that come in here. (He shows me some crayon-colored pigs on the wall). 8-10 years from now, if the kids keep coming back to add to that wall, that would make me smile. This is my dream. A place that’s not too big. Not too small. A place to put my heart and soul into. To me that’s success.

Q: What was the best advice you ever got?
A: In cooking, it was unspoken advice, but “Layer the Flavors” is something I’ve taken to heart with my business and my personal life. Basically, take a risk and try different things. Also, “Try to laugh and dance as much as you can.” (He points to a plaque above the bar. It reads Accept Differences. Be Kind. Count Your Blessings.)

He winks at me, pushes his chair back and we shake hands. It’s time for the chef to return to his kitchen.

Trattoria Laurellinos (In Oakland's Laurel District)
4171 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland, CA 94619
Tel: 510-530-3600

Trattoria Laurellinos is a nominee at the third Oakland Indie Awards, which celebrate the impact of Oakland's independent businesses and artists. The awards ceremony on May 15th promises to be a great party.

What: The Oakland Indies

When: May 15, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Where: The Crucible, 1260 7th Street, Oakland.

To buy tickets, click here.

We are now in one of those produce moments that makes living here a joy. Green garlic, spring onions, new lettuces, asparagus, artichokes, fava beans: all are in abundance and all superb. However, I will assert without hesitation and in the face of all challenges, that peas are the best thing at the market right now, and I do mean right now. Depending on how quickly temperatures rise, super sweet and tender peas are only available for about 2 to 3 weeks. Once the heat sets in, they may be still be available, but they become starchier and taste grassier, which isn’t to say that you shouldn’t still get them, but later peas are best used in pastas, risottos and lamb stews. Eating peas in the next week or two is one of the great food pleasures of the year and the perfectly cooked pea is available to even the most ham-fisted cook. 

If you haven’t had time to get to the farmers' market in the last week, you might assume from the above encomium that usually polite shoppers are throwing elbows as they attempt to load their bags with these fleeting pleasures. I have had the time to get to the market, and I must report that, bizarrely, this is not the case. At the Tuesday farmers' market in Berkeley, no less than four purveyors were offering peas at the height of their perfection. As I loaded up my bags, I found myself strangely alone with the peas while next to me two separate people asked for collard greens. While I love greens as much as the next guy, I was simply flabbergasted by these choices. One can eat kale, collard greens and chard year round. In fact, there are long stretches of time in the winter when bitter greens are almost the only options for seasonal eating. Why would anyone pass up the sweetness of new peas for the staid heartiness of collard greens? Although I restrained myself from offering my fellow shoppers a critique of their produce choices -- which actually might have been perfectly acceptable in Berkeley -- I will use this space, if it isn’t already obvious, to launch an educational polemic on the virtuous necessity of eating as many peas as you can in the next couple of weeks. 

Why the lack of fervor for peas in the markets? People snap up the asparagus when it first arrives. The outstanding strawberries now available get carted off by the flat and when tomatoes come in, everyone loads up on heirlooms and early girls. I can only think of three reasons for this apparent lack of enthusiasm, all of which I hope to refute. 

Some people might claim they don’t like peas. If you are an overindulged six-year-old who won’t eat their veggies, I might be able to understand this. However, sweetness is one of the basic tastes which all humans crave, and fresh peas, when correctly handled and cooked, have this in abundance. Their taste is mild, yet displays an almost floral essence that embodies spring. If you pass up peas because you were raised on frozen peas, or even worse, canned peas, then realize that these forms of the vegetable are almost an abomination that bear little resemblance to the real thing. Give fresh peas a try. 

Peas are too much work. In the first place, sugar snap peas require no shelling. They can be eaten pods and all. However, while the pods of sugar snap peas are good, I prefer the English shelling peas as I find that the even the sweet pods of the sugar snaps have a vegetal quality that gets in the way of the pea experience. In any case, shelling peas simply isn’t that difficult or even that time consuming, once you factor in how quickly and easily they cook. All the time is in the prep, and shelling peas is perhaps the most pleasant prep work one can perform. You can shell peas on the couch in front of the TV or outside in the sun with dinner companions. There’s no contending with mediocre knife skills and dull blades. The kids can join in as well. Two pounds of English peas in the pod will yield approximately three cups of shelled peas, and one person should be able to shell two pounds in about 20 minutes. As the peas cook in less than five, you can be eating peas from start to finish in less than an hour. 

Finally, peas are expensive. Well, yes, this true. English shelling peas are going for $3/lb and sugar snaps for $4/lb. Remember that if you spend the winter eating greens for $2 a bunch, then you can think of January kale as subsidizing your May peas. Besides, peas won’t be around very long anyway. 

Cooking peas is fairly simple and very fast. The only sin is to overcook them. Very sweet young peas can be cooked simply by themselves. Barely cover them with water, add salt, bring to a simmer and cover the pan. The peas will be done in 3 to 5 minutes depending upon their freshness and how al dente you prefer them. When the peas are done, drain any excess water (ideally, very little water will be left in the pan) and mount with butter or olive oil. Taste the peas as you go in order to determine doneness. Alternatively, diced or sliced spring onions can be sautéed in a bit of olive oil or butter before the peas and water are added. Another option is to sauté some pancetta or bacon and then add the spring onions. Chopped mint is a traditional accompaniment to peas. 

The only caveat for eating peas is that they must be consumed the day they are purchased. Like with sweet corn, the sugars in peas begin converting to starches as soon as they are picked, and only an extra day in the vegetable crisper is enough to render even the best peas pedestrian. So plan accordingly, and at the market this weekend, open up a pod, taste the peas from each vendor, and take home a bag of the sweetest one you find. 

At the beginning of the month, I attended a symposium at UC Berkeley sponsored by the Society for Food and Agricultural Ecology entitled “The Art of Butchering.” The panel was moderated by Marissa Guggiana (Sonoma Direct, Secret Eating Society) and featured chef Ryan Farr (Ivy Elegance, CHEFS Program), chef Nate Appleman (A16, Urbino), butchers Melanie Eisemann and David Budworth (Avedano’s) and Mark Pasternak (Devil's Gulch Ranch). After a panel discussion revolving around the craft of butchering and the relationship between ranchers, butchers, chefs and consumers, came the highlight of the evening as Ryan Carr broke down a whole pig into various cuts. The standing room only crowd attested to the East Bay’s fascination with the sources of its meat.

That Nate Appleman’s A16 sells out of stuffed pork trotters indicates that even the denizens of the Marina appreciate skillfully prepared meats other than rib eyes and pork tenderloins. However, what stops the home cook from more frequently preparing these cuts isn’t necessarily ignorance of how they should be prepared or even squeamishness at the thought of eating what amounts to a pig’s foot and ankle, but rather the daunting time factor. Standing at the meat counter, after work or on the weekend, the enthusiasm we felt reading about braised beef cheeks or pork hocks agrodolce often dims under the glare of the butcher shop’s fluorescent lights and the weight of non—cooking responsibilities. It’s much easier to buy steaks and chops for dinner instead of the chuck roast when the former can be cooked in five to ten minutes and the latter will take three hours. Even if the harried home cook goes for the chuck, freshly ground beef is going to be ready as a burger in minutes that night while the whole chuck roast for a beef burgundy will take a day to marinade before it is even ready to braise (please do not buy ground sirloin unless you already have heart disease). There’s a reason the New York Times food writer Mark Bittman bills himself as “The Minimalist."

As with many things in life, the way to make our cooking ambitions come true, is to introduce a bit of economic necessity into the mix. If the freezer is filled with high quality meat from the full breadth of an animal, we are much more likely to actually make the time to cook those tougher cuts rather than opt for burgers or chops again. If you don’t hunt or raise your own meat a la Ghost Town Farms’ Novella Carpenter, then your best bet to fill the freezer with a range of meat cuts is to sign up with the Bay Area Meat CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). The Bay Area Meat CSA began as a traditional CSA in which members signed up for regular periodic delivery from a farm but running a meat CSA presents far more difficulties than the more familiar produce CSAs. In its current form, the BAMCSA operates as social networking site. You sign up (for free) and then connect with people in the forums who are interested in purchasing shares of whole animal from a range of local ranchers. Beef, pork, lamb, goats and chickens are all available. The website includes a variety of tools to help you through the process of contacting ranchers and arranging for processing of your animal and subsequent pick-up. Few of us have freezer space for the 200 pounds of a half a steer or a whole hog, but purchased with a big enough group, one can bring home a manageable sized quantity of 15 to 25 lbs of meat. Not only will you save some money off the price at the butcher and support sustainable local ranches, but you will have braising and end cuts staring out at you from the freezer.

Whether you get your meat from the butcher, a CSA or a farmer’s market vendor, someone else has turned the whole carcass into individual cuts for you. If the idea of breaking down an entire animal has appeal then don’t shy away. While the butchers and chefs at “Art of Butchering” spoke of the hard-earned skills needed to professionally break down an entire carcass, Ryan Farr noted that he was self taught and said at one point that if you can butcher a chicken then you can butcher a hog. I would agree. If you know how to take a part a whole chicken or rabbit, and want try a larger animal get a lamb or a goat and go from there before trying a pig which is a bigger proposition. The internet is your friend for finding butchering diagrams. Besides a sharp knife, you’ll need a big table or countertop, a meatsaw, and freezer paper or a vacuum sealer to wrap the meat. Access to a meat grinder for ground meat would also be helpful. Plan on a full afternoon for this project and don’t expect professional results, but don’t be afraid of the whole carcass.

There was a certain irony in listening to the folks from the excellent butcher shop Avendano’s in Bernal Heights encourage East Bay audiences to support local butcher shops, but certainly Ver Brugge on College, Housewives Market in downtown, Piedmont Grocery and any number of Chinatown and Fruitvale butchers are available for Oaklanders who prefer not to buy shrink wrapped meat. Quality butcher shops are also located in Berkeley at the Star Market, Café Rouge, and the Berkeley Bowl. Baron’s Meat and Poultry in Alameda carries Mark Pasternak’s Devil’s Gulch Ranch meat.

I’ve reached that age when playing the “I remember when…” game is possible everyday. Street names change, buildings get rezoned and young folks get older. I'm a small business owner. Living and working in the same neighborhood that my family’s shop, La Borinquena, has been in for decades gives me a unique perspective of my surroundings.

I remember when the Market Square condo building in Old Oakland was the location of the Housewives Market. It was a huge sprawling building filled with foodstuffs galore: seafood, canned goods, produce, barrels of dried beans, lemon custard soft serve ice cream, smoked hocks, assorted meat cuts and sausages. It was sometime in the 1970s when I noticed a young Asian guy who always wore a button down that he never tucked in and wore his hair big and tall while he worked at the Taylor’s Sausage stand. As a young girl, that just seemed odd to me, especially since his last name could not be Taylor, I thought!

Flash forward to 2008. The sausage stand that moved to the Housewives Market in the 1950s from Hayward is now down the street in a marketplace that occupies what used to be the old Swan’s department store. The same guy is now the owner, his name is Ray Gee, and I must say his hair has gotten considerably shorter over the years. He started out as an employee, learned the fine art of sausage making over many years, and then purchased the business from the descendants of the original Taylor family in 1994. The sausage is prepared the way it’s always been with hand ground fresh meat, no preservatives added, and each variety spiced just right. The other sausage makers and counter people have been there a while, too. There's Harold, there's Courtney Harris and Hellen Davis -- and they all serve up sausages with plenty of smiles.  

In another part of town, sausage of this quality would be priced twice as much and called artisan. Not in Gee’s shop. This shop’s prices rise and fall based on Gee’s ingredient costs, but stay affordable.

My top picks include the boudin blanc, little piggy breakfast links and especially the Cajun chicken. Sausage making is becoming a lost art in the Bay Area, but that will not be the case here in Oakland. I’m already looking forward to years from now when Harold becomes the former young guy and I know one thing for sure, those sausages will still taste the same.
Taylor's Sausage Stand, 907 Washington St., Oakland CA 94607.

If you are looking for ways to enliven your Thursday evening, head over to Old Oakland for Thursday Night Live to hear Saoco Dos Four and some Cuban Reggaetown. 5.30 pm to 9.30 pm. at the intersection of 9th and Washington St.