Gregoire, Berkeley

I'm pissed. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS PLACE BEFORE?!?!

Today is my birthday--yay me I have now been able to drink for exactly one year. Catherine had been raving about their potato puffs for a while now, so we got some takeout from Gregoire to bring back for a mini party at work (if you could call sitting in a circle between our cubicle partitions a party).

My choice for lunch was the lamb patty sandwich with a side of potato puffs. Others in the group got a shrimp and cucumber sandwich, a salami sandwich, or a mushroom cheese steak sandwich--all with a side of potato puffs.

Before I get into describing these tiny little bites of potato heaven, I'm going to talk a bit about the place itself. Gregoire is primarily a take-out sandwich/salad place. It is a tiny hole in the wall (though it's a pretty cute hole in the wall) across the street from the Elephant Pharmacy on Cedar at Shattuck. When you walk inside, there is a small bar with room for about two people to sit and eat, while watching the cooks toll away. The rest of the standing space has room for I'd say three people to stand in line. There are a few seats outside, but that's it. On the website, they describe themselves as a take-out joint, so I suppose it makes sense. Everyone who worked there was friendly, and considering everything was made fresh for me, I didn't mind the long wait (plus we had seven orders which seemed to throw them a bit).

Enough with the atmosphere. My sandwich was delightful. The lamb was flavored really well, and it was on a fresh toasted bread roll with tomatoes, mayo and arugula. The prices on the menu online seem a bit high until you actually taste the sandwiches...They are about on par, price-wise, with Cafe Fanny, but taste-wise blow Cafe Fanny out of the water. Everything is cooked fresh with fresh ingredients. Even the tomatoes on my sandwich stood out as being exceptional.

I also have to mention something about the packaging. The sandwiches and sides are all put in a very cute cardboard box with a sheet of checkered paper and a "Gregoire" sticker on them. They are cute but also functional, and really were good at keeping the heat in.

Finally, saving the best for last--the potato puffs are a tiny bite of heaven. Basically they are little balls of mashed potatoes that are deep fried and garnished with a bit of salt. They come with a bit of roasted pepper aioli. Whoever came up with this idea is a genius. Deep fried mashed potatoes? Yum! If anything, go here just to get the potatoes, but I have to say that I loved every aspect of my meal here. Others who walked by our cubicle area also seemed to enjoy the puffs...I'm definitely going again, and you should too. About the portions; we discovered that between two people, splitting a sandwich and one order of potato puffs is probably enough.

Thanks again to everyone who has been sticking with my blog and reading/writing comments. You make my day so much more interesting!

Gregoire has a lovely website with a menu that you can preview: www.gregoirerestaurant.com

Gregoire is located at 2109 Cedar Street (at Shattuck) in Berkeley.
Phone: (510) 883-1893

They have another location (which I heard through the grapevine isn't as good) at 4001 Piedmont Avenue at 40th.
Phone: (510) 547-3444

Both locations are open from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.