Cafe 15, Oakland

Wow, what a find!

I haven't been so excited about a new restaurant in a while. Cafe 15 is a super cute little spot behind the courthouse in downtown Oakland. There is very limited seating but the space is cozy and gets plenty of sunlight. Despite it being crowded, we were immediately greeted by the woman at the register who was happy to chat and answer any questions we had. She also offered us a frequent buyer card. They give you a stamp for every $5 you spend, and after 15 stamps you get a free meal.

In addition to a very tempting menu (think Bakesale Betty type food with a lot more options--yes, I just made that comparison), there are a bunch of daily specials written on the board. I went with the blood orange lemonade and the oyster po' boy with cabbage slaw. My friend had the eggs and potato/fennel sausage hash with toast. While the lemonade was a little too tart for our taste, the food was spectacular.

The potatoes in the hash were soft and perfectly cooked. The fennel sausage was flavorful and melded everything together into a filling, delicious meal. My oyster po-boy had three gigantic fried oysters on a soft, buttery roll and came with a crunchy, fresh cabbage slaw.

It's obvious that the people at Cafe 15 truly care about the food they are serving. The service is impeccable, and when you dine in the cooks will actually bring you your food. I loved everything about my dining experience here and cannot wait to go back.

Cafe 15 is located at 597 15th Street in Downtown Oakland, between Clay and Jefferson.

They are open Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Bi-Rite Creamery, San Francisco

I'd had a gift card for Bi-Rite burning a hole in my pocket since our WCC volunteer appreciation party last year. Being an East Bay kid brought up on Fenton's I had yet to experience what San Francisco had to offer ice cream wise. Bi-Rite did not disappoint.

Despite the long line, the service was impeccable. The employees were completely focused on helping me with my order instead of just rushing me out the door to get to the next. They also use metal spoons for tasting, which I really appreciated--go green! Before making my decision, I tried the honey lavender and coffee toffee. The honey lavender tasted exactly as it sounds, and I think I'm just not that into lavender. Coffee toffee was good, but the salted caramel rocked my world.

I ended up getting a banana split with salted caramel ice cream. Loved it! It came with fresh whipped cream, toasted walnuts, hot fudge and caramelized-to-order bananas. The ice cream was so good though that the sundae wasn't totally necessary. Though their hot fudge has nothing on Fenton's, the ice cream at Bi-Rite hit a home run.

A few other interesting things on their menu that I'd like to try are the toasted banana flavor, and the sundae with olive oil and sea salt (what?!).

Bi-Rite Creamery is located at 3692 18th Street in San Francisco (close to the 16th/Mission BART Station).
They are open Monday through Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m, Friday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., and Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Website: www.biritecreamery.com

International House Cafe, Berkeley

In addition to being a crazed foodie, I on occasion do my fair share of schoolwork/studying. The plan is to incorporate some cafe reviews into my food blog as well. While most of the places I recommend will not have stellar food, I'm basing my final judgment on these places on a study-friendly scale. But, staying true to my blog the food will be evaluated too. Hopefully this will be useful to all four of my readers. Here it goes...

Internet: Yes, with a UC Berkeley log-in.
Prices: Moderate for the quality.
Noise/Music: Loud, usually playing 94.9 FM.
Parking: 2-hour street parking or UC Berkeley lots.

I'm really not.that.cool. Yet I've known the words to every single from Rihanna, Chris Brown, Akon, Lady Gaga, Usher, and Kanye that has come out in the past year, all thanks to the I-House Cafe.

There's something soothing about listening to hip-hop in a loud room where tree-sitters bathed, international students drink beer, the creepy guy gives you dirty looks for taking "his" table, and the smelly chess corner gets overly animated. Plus, taking a study break to look up and see my friend Greg (photo of Greg's ipod here: http://george.hotelling.net/90percent/pics/npr_podcast.png) awkwardly bouncing his head to rap never gets old.

The coffee's terrible and the food mostly comes out of a microwave, but the nachos are a huge guilty pleasure of mine, and the lasagne isn't half bad if they re-heat it all the way through. I also really like the Italian Salad (topped with artichoke hearts, olives, tomato, red bell pepper, garbanzo beans, and mozzarella that I substitute with chicken). Skip the pastries (they're never as good as they look) and any espresso drinks. Also, skip the pasta salads. They always have a weird acidic taste that I can't quite put my finger on. That said, over all if you know what to order and appreciate a place that stays open late, this is one of my favorite study venues.

I'll keep studying here until the university realizes I've stolen my sister's wireless password.

Bellanico, Oakland

I initially went here because one Scott's cook buddies works in the kitchen. Bellanico is a relatively new Italian restaurant that opened up in the up and coming part of Park Boulevard. I ended up rounding out a group of three cooks with my amateur food critic (or just professional eater) status. If shoveling food at record pace into one's mouth while discussing food and cussing up a storm means fitting in, I think I can hang hardcore with cooks. Hear that, Bourdain?

The menu here seemed to be kind of hit-and-miss. Reviewing just what I ordered, I'd give them four and a half stars out of five, but from tasting everyone else's food I'd give them three.

I started with the farro salad, which was really simple but fresh and delicious. It was served with fresh cherry tomatoes, cucumber, toasted pistachios and plenty of olive oil with lemon. The cheffies had minor issues with it just because it was so simple, but I'm a sucker for farro anytime, anywhere. Scott had the soft shell crab salad with watermelon, purslane and tomatoes that Carol Ness had been raving like mad about. We all didn't understand it. The crab wasn't as crispy as it should have been, and it seriously lacked seasoning. His buddies split the salumi plate (decent but nothing to write home about) and cicchetti (another dish Ness was freaking out about). For those of you who don't know, cicchetti are little fried meat balls; these were served with a basil and walnut pesto. Meh. They were kind of dry and too grainy.

For mains, I had the pork chop served with chard stems marinated in vinegar. The pork chop was massive and beyond perfectly cooked, down to the grill marks and tender juiciness on the inside. Definitely one of the best pork chops I've ever had, and I loved the chard stems. The other dishes were not so memorable. So unmemorable that since it's been a while that we went I only remember what one other person got. The tagliolini pepati with fresh jalapenos, bacon, and tomatoes was only so-so. The flavors didn't seem to meld as much as I'd hoped. The fresh pasta was very tasty, though. It had a great bite to it and was obviously made that day.

My favorite part aside from the pork chop was the dessert. I had an almond pound cake with fresh peaches and whipped cream. I actually still dream about eating this cake--it was really moist on the inside and crunchy on the crust.

All in all, if you order like me this place is solid, especially for the price. Considering where Scotty and I have been eating recently, this place cost easily about half of what we've been paying at Wood Tavern, Corso (forget this place!), and Camino. They deserve a lot of points for service, too. Our waitress was beyond cool and amazingly tolerant of our raucous table.

I'm going to go back at some point later on when I'm not studying to see if the consistency has improved over the past few months. Update to follow!

Bellanico is located at 4238 Park Boulevard in Oakland. Reservations can be made by calling (510) 336-1180. They also have a website: www.bellanico.net.

Camino, Oakland

Wow. To begin with, Camino has one of the most beautiful kitchens I've ever seen. The gorgeous wood burning oven is open to the entire dining room, and they hang herbs from all of the chandeliers so there is always a really nice aroma floating around.

There have been a few complaints that the menu is too limited, but I think it's perfect. There's just enough to cover most palates, yet still just a few dishes so each can be perfected and be comprised of the freshest, most seasonal ingredients.

Cocktails were nothing to write home about (bitters overload!); then again Scotty and I are coming off dinner at Flora. But everything else? Wow.

We started with the crab toast and frisee salad with goose confit/persimmons. The toast was covered in a lump crab meat salad that put Flora's to shame. It was obvious that the crab was fresh and picked from a crab that day because it was so sweet and tender. No canned crab here! The goose confit had great flavor, and melded really well with the bitterness of the frisee and sweet, crunchy persimmons. The salad was also put together nicely...the frisee was already cut into manageable bites and everything was dressed perfectly.

Next we had the wood oven-roasted black trumpet and hedgehog mushrooms with leeks and garlic toast. I loved everything about this course. The broth was delectable, the toast crunchy and chewy, and the mushrooms were packed with flavor.

For mains, we split the grilled rockfish with tepary beans/wild nettles (pea sprouts)/chiles/saffron broth and the grilled/braised pork with sauerkraut, potatoes and mustard. I made the mistake of digging into the pork first. Everything about it was wonderful. The meat practically fell apart on my fork it was so tender and juicy. The potatoes were soft and perfectly cooked (lightly pan fried), and the sauerkraut added a great punch to the flavors. One thing that this kitchen seems to have mastered is seasoning the food. Everything is really nicely salted, almost to the brink of saltiness but never goes overboard. I couldn't stop eating it.

Unfortunately, the strong flavors from the pork made it hard for me to love the fish as much as Scott did. Everything in the fish dish was so delicate that no matter how many swigs of my wine I took, I just didn't get it. I can say though that the fish was really nicely cooked--it flaked apart and practically melted in my mouth. Just take Scott's word for it that the fish was awesome.

Dessert was also impeccable. Scotty couldn't stop eating the persimmon pudding with fresh whip, which is a true accomplishment because he is never a dessert person. It was nicely spiced without being too sweet, and had a rich, thick texture. My favorite dessert was the penko covered ricotta that was then deep fried and drizzled with honey. I don't even really like cheese that much, but these were little bites of heaven. The outside had a really great crunch to it, and the inside was sweet, almost molten ricotta.

Our server was friendly, prompt, and seemed to know a lot about the dishes, which we appreciated. The only thing I'd nitpick about is that the long benches that run down the center of the restaurant are slanted in a way that make it a little uncomfortable to eat. The grand total was also a little higher than I'm used to (about $35 higher than at Wood Tavern, Flora and Corso but maybe we were ultra fattys last night). But, I was distracted from the discomfort pretty quickly due to my amazement at the bathroom hand dryers (no seriously, they are awesome!), and an Elizabeth Falkner sighting that left me pretty star-struck!

Flora, Oakland

"You're scared you're going to cheat on your boyfriend and love it, aren't you?" --Scotty

I came close to loving Flora and ditching my BF Wood Tavern but unfortunately the entrees fell way short. Aside from the entrees, though, eating at Flora was one of the best restaurant experiences I've had in a while.

The cocktails, as everyone has said, are great. There's an extensive menu with lots of classics and new drinks, all of which are delicious. Scotty's a huge fan of the Trailer Smash but I preferred the Salt and Pepper (gin, fresh grapefruit juice, black salted rim). Service, also, was fabulous--friendly, prompt, and helpful. Plus, how can I find any fault in a bartender wearing suspenders? The suspenders go along with the very cool Art-Deco facade and homage to classic Americana vibe.

Scott had the crab salad over arugula to start and I had seared scallops over braised oxtail and risotto. The crab salad had a nice big portion of crab and was very tasty. My scallops were perfectly cooked and the flavors melded nicely. It was one of my favorite dishes of the evening.

The entrees were a different story. Scott had the chicken pot pie with seasonal lettuce. Sorry Flora, but even Marie Calendars makes a flakey bottom crust. The sauce was decent, but the chicken was dry and the crust didn't have enough butter to make fatty happy. The salad was also very unappealing. The lettuce was gorgeous but the dressing was underwhelming and relied too much on the parm grated on top.

I had the steak with kale, potatoes gratin, house made Worcestershire Sauce and horseradish cream. For $30, my steak was way too small (only about 3/4 of an inch thick!) and not properly cooked. I ordered medium rare but half of it was well-done, the other half was medium. Also the house made Worcestershire Sauce tasted like...the stuff from the bottle. Awesome. The potatoes were good, so was the kale, but nothing to really rave about.

Flora's saving grace (I was really unhappy with my steak) was the dessert. Unfortunately for me, Flora is located within a block of my new gym. I already know that I'll be canceling out every single work out with one of their caramel pudding desserts. It's basically a caramel creme brulee but instead of burnt sugar on top there is a thin layer of sea salt, topped with fresh whipped cream. Definitely one of my top five desserts of all time.

Overall, the menu seemed to lack some focus, but I'm definitely going back, and will most likely skip the entrees.

Flora is located at 1900 Telegraph Avenue at 19th Street in Oakland. Reservations can be made by calling (510) 286-0100.

They don't have a website, so here's a link to their Yelp! page: www.yelp.com/biz/flora-oakland

Wood Tavern, Oakland

I think the only people who read this are family members but I'm going to tell you for the thousandth time: GO HERE! It's the best restaurant EVER!

This is by far the best restaurant in the East Bay, and it's my favorite restaurant of all time. Real talk. Every time I have gone, the service has been friendly, helpful, and attentive. They pace the courses properly, don't rush the patrons, and the bartender gives generous pours. I can highly recommend any of the cocktails on the menu (they change daily but are always delicious and strong).

The food is always perfectly prepared (I can't stress enough how much I care about properly cooked meat), flavorful, and has lots of depth. Despite the fact that I don't have a paycheck I continue to come back for more. My personal favorites on the menu:

-Butcher Block Sampler: Acme toast with a variety of terrines or smoked meats; the chicken liver pate is to die for, as is the prosciutto-wrapped beer-infused pork terrine.
-Roasted Balsamic Beef Marrow: "meat butter" --Scotty
-Tuna and Fennel Salad with Lemon: refreshing, tasty, with the perfect amount of acid
-Roasted Pork Belly Salad: crispy, melt-in-your-mouth tender
-Chocolate Cake: enough to split between two but you won't want to
-Southie Affogatto: Jameson with espresso ice cream and a shot of espresso
-Polenta Encrusted Halibut: it was served on a bed of sweet white corn cooked with bacon; if it's still on the menu, you must order this

Things that are great but not as good as most things on the menu:

-Seafood stew
-Salmon with leeks
-Get the burger and I will punch you in the face--I'm not kidding, I know where all of my blog readers live. This restaurant has so much to offer; don't insult it by getting a freaking burger.

I've eaten here 5 times now and each time the service has been impeccable; friendly, not intrusive, polite, and attentive with a great sense of humor. The room can get a little loud, but the ambiance is nice and the food has been consistently mind-blowingly good.

Wood Tavern is located at 6317 College Avenue in Oakland, across from the Safeway on College and Claremont.

They are open Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. They take reservations but are very accommodating to parties of two on a walk-in basis.

Phone: (510) 654-6607
Website: www.woodtavern.net

Michelle's Yogurt & Sweets

Apparently the new cool thing to do is get plain frozen yogurt because it's fat free, sugar free, AND probiotic (whatever that means--Oprah told me to eat it, so I'm doing it). People in LA are all over it and eating Pinkberry like nobody's business. Finally, those of us who are slightly behind the curve and living in NorCal are able to regulate our digestive tracts as well. I read in the Chronicle that Michelle's, the red-headed stepchild of Yogurt Park, is serving something called Mangoberry, a particular brand for this new yogurt fad.

Bored and tired from a workout, my friend Paul and I headed over to try this magical mystery dessert. Despite what the frequently incorrect Yelpers say, the man who works there is super nice and chatted us both up. Another fallacy on Yelp is that the medium size yogurt is tiny. It's not. The medium was the perfect size for me (meaning probably too big for most people).

There's a reason why some people call this style of yogurt "crackberry," because Paul and I could not stop eating it. I ordered it with mixed fruit on top, so I got a big thing of frozen, plain, tangy yogurt with mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries on top. Yes, the fruit was carefully placed on there, but I think it was more that he was trying to make it look nice, not because he was being stingy (again, you fail, Yelpers).

This puts all other frozen yogurts I've had to shame. It's not overly sweet and doesn't have the artificial taste that most frozen yogurts have. And yet it's absolutely delicious. It was also lighter than most frozen yogurts I've had, again probably because of the lack of sugar.

Anyway, this is a short post because there isn't much else to say. Try this yogurt, it's amazing.

Michelle's Yogurt & Sweets is located across the street from Yogurt Park at 2430 Durant Street in Berkeley.

Mangia Mangia, Albany (Part II)

While my seafood pasta was far from my mind, I couldn't stop thinking about my gorgonzola salad and the souffle. Yes...the souffle. I grabbed Andy and we drove over so I could satisfy my craving.

Mangia Mangia was a lot busier on Friday night. We got one of the last tables available. In addition to my salad and the souffle, I ordered one of the specials, which was a mushroom risotto topped with a filet mignon kebab, shrimp, and garnished with garden vegetables ($16). Andy ordered pasta bolognese (big surprise), for $12.

Let me tell you, my entree made up big time for the disaster I had previously. The vegetables were colorful, crunchy, and tasty on the side. The kebab had a wonderful smoky flavor to it and even though the meat was very thinly cut, it still had a bit of pink inside. Therefore it was juicy, full of flavor, and tender.

The risotto was also very flavorful. It was full of mushrooms and they also put fresh green peas in it. The rice was cooked al dente but still had a very creamy texture (and no, Howie from Top Chef, it didn't need cream to make it good).

So. My new recommendation is to go here and get an entire meal, just don't get the seafood pasta. Go with whatever the waiter/waitress recommends, and hopefully you will be as ecstatic about your meal as I was (Andy will tell you, I couldn't stop raving about my entree).

Now I know you've all read the other review of the souffle but let me tell you, Andy even ate it. "It's like getting a fresh chocolate chip cookie straight out of the oven but having no cookie!" It got to the point where we were fighting over bites because it was so good. Get the souffle. Get it now.

Scott Spencer's House, Piedmont

I have probably bragged to most of you that my buddy Scott catered my BBQ a little while ago for only $2.50 per person, and that the food was amazing. Well, he is now currently working at Town Hall in San Francisco and decided to spend some of his newly earned money on his friends, cooking a five course meal for eight of us.

As I told Scott, I wouldn't be writing him up in my blog if I wasn't impressed with his food. Instead, I'd just continue reviewing some of the other restaurants I've eaten at and not mention him. Scott really is that good.

In exchange for all of us bringing wine, the occasion being for our friend Kranzthor's last night living in the East Bay, Patton and I showed up at Scott's house in Piedmont at around 7:15. He had already been hard at work all day, planning, prepping, and re-planning our menu. The focus was going to be on using the highest quality ingredients, cooking them perfectly, and arranging them beautifully. I am getting increasingly angry at myself for not bringing a camera to this meal.

All eight of us sat down and took turns playing waiter, bringing in food from the kitchen while Scott cooked. Our first course was two mini-courses. The first that I will describe was an heirloom tomato and watermelon salad with honey champagne vinaigrette. When Scott first told me about this combination, I was really, really skeptical. And wrongly so.

Two ripe heirloom tomato slices, fresh from Scott's garden, were cut into squares and stacked with two slices of sweet, crunchy watermelon of identical size and shape. The green vinaigrette was drizzled lightly on top. Again, reading this you might be doubtful, but somehow the two textures and flavors melded perfectly; the sweetness of the watermelon enhanced the tomato's flavor, and the crunchy watermelon texture contrasted with the tomato's firmness. I couldn't stop eating it, despite the fresh hamachi tuna that sat next to it on my plate.

The hamachi tuna, flown in fresh from Japan that morning, was cut sashimi-style and topped with a smoked salmon beurre blanc flambe. It was my turn to play waiter during that course, so I got to see Scott take a torch and lightly brown the top of the sauce.

The tuna was melt-in-your-mouth good. It had a smooth, sweet but savory taste that one can only understand after having ridiculously fresh fish. The sauce was smooth and tasted strongly of smoked salmon. My only critique on this dish is that I would have liked to have had less sauce on the fish. The two flavors worked together nicely, so I wouldn't want to get rid of all of the sauce, but I would have liked to have had just a dot of it. That way, the salmon flavor would have enhanced the fish and allowed us to really taste the tuna.

Next on the menu was salt and pepper calamari with a fresh tomato and kaffir lime leaf cocktail sauce. My only complaint was that this was on the menu. I do like calamari, but it didn't exactly fit in with the whole feel of the meal. Fresh grilled squid would have fit in fine, but unfortunately, fried calamari was a request by our guest of honor. Needless to say, Scott was up to the challenge of cooking Kranzthor's favorite food. The calamari was lightly dusted in flour and nicely seasoned with salt and pepper. The tomato cocktail sauce had a great kick to it and a really unique flavor from the kaffir lime leaves.

Our third course was one of my favorites: a roasted heirloom tomato tart with caramelized onions, garlic confit, and basil sauce. The tart was very buttery and flaky, one of my favorite textures. Scott said he had been roasting the tomatoes all day, and it showed. They were rich, garlicky, and delicious. Patton doesn't even like onions, but I noticed that she scarfed down her tart just like the rest of us!

My favorite course, however, was the main course--the duck. I've said many times how the only duck I will eat is the Chinese-style roast duck. On Thursday night I added a second duck to my list. The duck breast was seared and served on a bed of baby carrots, artichokes, and green beans with a port and dried cherry mustardo.

Since the duck breast was seared, it stayed very moist. The meat was tender and the skin kept crunchy with just the right amount of fat on it. I thought that the vegetables that Scott chose to prepare it with were also cooked perfectly, and I liked the selection. In many restaurants, I have seen duck served on a bed of spinach, which completely ruins the flavor of the duck and makes the skin soggy.

In this case, the vegetables were lightly cooked, still crunchy, and very colorful. The thing that pulled everything together was the sauce. At first it tasted a lot like hoisin (Chinese plum sauce) sauce, which I have always loved on duck. But then, after another bite, I tasted the tartness of the dried cherries, which just added even more to the flavor. I liked the sauce so much that I even took my vegetables and started dipping them into it.

Our last course was dessert, which was a nilla wafer bread pudding with root beer syrup (homemade!) and homemade vanilla ice cream. This, as with all of the other courses, was delicious. I usually don't even like bread pudding, but this was great! As I shoveled mine into my mouth at record pace I began to get a little embarrassed until I looked around and noticed that everyone else was doing the same thing.

Now here comes the fun part. You can get Scott to cater for you, too! He's the self-proclaimed cheapest caterer/chef in the Bay Area (I can attest to that), who cares more about the integrity of the food and honing his skills than taking your money.

Scott is great at discussing menus and figuring out what works for his client (i.e., "I don't want to spend a lot of money but I want gourmet food." --me). He can be reached via email: mrspencer@gmail.com, but it's probably easier just to call him at (510) 301-2130.

Mangia Mangia, Albany

Have you ever had one of those days where you are craving pasta but don't feel like cooking it? I know, it's the easiest thing in the world to make but for some reason I just wanted to relax, sit down, and have a gigantic bowl of pasta made for me.

After a long day at school on Tuesday, I decided to go check out Mangia Mangia on San Pablo at Solano. I used to drive by it everyday on my way home from work and had always been curious. In an angry mood from rude, line-cutting commuters, I walked into the nearly empty restaurant. I was greeted by two very friendly waiters and led to a seat facing the door so that I could people watch.

As I sat down, I was brought ice water, a basket of bread, and two different dipping sauces. The first was a tart marinara-like sauce which was okay. The other was a mix of fresh minced garlic, salt, and dried red Italian pepper. By itself on the bread it was very strong, but I soon caught on that the olive oil on the table was there for a reason. Mixed with the good quality olive oil, the garlic mixture took on an entirely new flavor and texture; this time it was a bit softer, lighter, but still had great flavor and heat.

I first ordered a mixed green salad with gorgonzola, pear, and walnuts ($8). It's a somewhat tired salad on most menus, but I still order it frequently, and this was the best version I've ever had. The baby greens (mostly peppery arugula) truly were baby greens--sweet, crunchy, and so small that I didn't even have to use my knife. The pears were soft with just enough crunch and extremely sweet.

One problem that I often have with these salads is that the walnuts are overly sweet and they overpower all of the other ingredients. These walnuts were still sweet, but they weren't caked in sugar and had a very good, natural, but crispy texture to them. I also liked that the chef crumbled up the gorgonzola into smaller pieces and didn't overwhelm the salad with too much of it. Finally, the dressing is very light, and doesn't smother the greens. Instead, it just allows the ingredients to work together and make a great, tasty salad.

Next, I had linguini with seafood in a white wine cream sauce ($13). Unfortunately, even though I came for the pasta, I wasn't thrilled with it. While the pasta itself was cooked nicely, the sauce wasn't very good. It was supposed to be a white wine cream sauce, but the proportions seemed to be a bit off. Wine or cream sauces need to either have a majority of cream or a majority of wine in the sauce. This was about fifty fifty, which led to a watery cream flavored sauce.

On the good side, the seafood was cooked well. I was given a variety of shrimp, scallops, salmon, and mussles. All of it was perfectly cooked, but the salmon flavor took over everything else. Plus, they put some fresh veggies on top which actually made it worse! The problem wasn't with the fresh red and yellow peppers, but with the fact that they put shredded carrot on top. The carrot and the salmon ruined what already was a not very good sauce.

Saddened, I picked out the noodles and seafood and ate them individually. When I was about halfway finished with my meal, the waiter came up and asked if I would be interested in having their famous chocolate souffle. Since they make it to order (and it's entirely worth it, said my waiter), the souffle should be ordered about 15 minutes prior to the end of a meal. I gave in, and it was worth it.

The souffle ($8) comes to the table in a little ramekin on a plate, drizzled with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It is delicious. Please ignore my review of the pasta, and just go to get the souffle (and the salad if you are feeling healthy). It will be worth it for you, too.

The chocolate flavor isn't too sweet or too rich so as to make the souffle impossible to eat. Instead, it is just perfect. It has about five different textures to it as well. On top, it has a little bit of crunch where the cake has had a chance to harden a bit. In the middle, there is molten chocolate which I kept burning my tongue on because I wanted to eat it fast. Just outside of the liquid center is gooey, sticky batter. Lastly, on the outermost section on the bottom is spongy, light, chocolate cake. Seriously, get the souffle.

Mangia Mangia is located at 755 San Pablo Avenue in Albany. They take reservations at (510) 526-9700.

Their website isn't working, but to see a photo of the souffle and read reviews that aren't nearly as well written as mine, see Yelp!: http://www.yelp.com/biz/mmU8dN3D6TWCesGPdxC1gg#hrid:B0opWjwtw-nbOJvhxUK_1g/query:mangia

Bakesale Betty, Oakland

My mom always raves about this place's pies, but I never knew that they serve regular food, too! Paw Paw had cut out an article from the newspaper on Bakesale Betty the last time I was at her house, and it mentioned that they serve the best chicken pot pies and fried chicken sandwiches. I had to try it out.

As fate would have it, one of the girls I work with had to go pick up a friend who lived near Lake Merritt for lunch. So, we headed off to pick him up and they asked for a recommendation as to where to eat. Conveniently, her friend needed a ride to Berkeley, and Bakesale Betty was on the way there.

The place itself would be very hard to find if it weren't for the huge line of people outside during lunch time. Even the firefighters from next door were lined up, so we knew it must be good. There isn't even a sign on the door, and there is no menu--the only reason we knew we found the right place was that there was a piece of butcher paper taped to the wall that said "Fried Chicken Sandwich...Chicken Pot Pie...Egg Salad Sandwich."

Being the amateur food critic I am, I allowed everyone to get the same thing (a fried chicken sandwich) and didn't try anything else. A gigantic sandwich (packed with 3 huge pieces of fried chicken) and a water bottle cost $8.00. Sounds expensive, but I was full after only half of my sandwich, so split two ways, it is only a $4.00 lunch.

The sandwiches are made on soft, fresh rolls, piled high with a cabbage, fresh jalapeno, and vinegar slaw, along with three pieces of juicy, crispy, slightly spicy fried chicken. Leilani had a little bit of trouble with the jalapenos, but since they were fresh I didn't think that the spiciness was overpowering. In fact, it was just about perfect. My biggest problem was that the seating provided by Bakesale Betty is limited to stools and milk crates, so I had cabbage pieces and napkins flying everywhere.

Despite the huge line that consistently stood outside the cafe, the turnover is fast. We stood in line for about two minutes before we were helped, and the employees were very efficient. They even take credit cards!

Lunch was delicious (everyone complimented me on my recommendation even though I'd never eaten there before). I didn't get hungry until about 5:30 that evening, and the chicken was still crispy then, which is one of my tests for fried things. Still crispy and still delicious. I highly recommend trying their sandwiches! I promise next entry will not be something fried (I hope).

Bakesale Betty is located right on the corner of 51st and Telegraph. Parking may look daunting but actually isn't bad at all if you go around the corner.

5098 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA
(510) 985-1213

They are open Tuesday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Crixa Cakes, Berkeley

I had a dream two nights ago that I bought a chocolate cake and ate the entire thing. Unfortunately the dream didn't fulfil my hunger, and I woke up craving cake. Yelp.com is my new reference for food recommendations, so during an as usual busy day at work, I typed "chocolate cake" into their search engine. Crixa Cakes, on Adeline, the first to show up. It was also the first place in Berkeley I had ever seen listed with five stars.

The menu made me crave chocolate cake even more, so immediately after work, I attempted to drive up there. Crixa Cakes is a very cute, small bakery across from that triangle parking lot across from Kirala. Confused? So was I. It didn't help that as soon as I turned on to Adeline from Ashby, there was some sort of crime committed in front of Kirala. Twenty cop cars (including two meter maids!), a fire engine and two ambulances all rushed to the scene, preventing me from continuing down Adeline. After driving in circles for a very long time and trying to figure out what was going on, I reverted back to my original mission. I think the easiest way to find parking for Crixa Cakes is to either park in that mystery triangle lot (is it for Kirala? The mountaineering place?) or to do what I did--I turned down Carleton, made a left, and then made a left Derby and parked along the Volvo dealership wall (not the side of the Co-Op, you need a permit). I'm not sure if this makes sense on a day that 20 cop cars aren't parked on Adeline, but it worked yesterday.

So anyway, this place is very cute. It's tiny, and hard to miss if you aren't walking right in front. They have both outdoor and indoor seating. Online, the Yelp.commers had all raved about the Carmella Cake ($4.75 for a mini cake), so I had to get one:

"Moist chocolate chiffon cake with vanilla whipped cream, bittersweet chocolate mousse, and butterscotch caramel."

And the Cherry Chocolate Mousse Cake sounded amazing as well ($4.95 per slice) so I got a slice of that too:

"Chocolate sponge cake with a light soak of dark rum, tart cherries and creamy bittersweet chocolate mousse."

The New Orleans Bourbon Cake also looked beautiful and chocolatey, but after seeing how huge the slice of Cherry Chocolate Mousse Cake was, I decided to call it quits. Plus, when I asked the woman at the counter which she preferred, she said that the Bourbon one was a little too strong for her. My Asian side cannot handle liquor and the last thing I need is to get drunk off of a cake. Carmella and Cherry Mousse it is.

I got my two cakes to go, but it looked like the place would be fun to hang around in as well--they have a good selection of teas up on the board.

I took the cakes home and after seeing them, Andy immediately got two forks and two giant glasses of milk. These cakes are gorgeous, but they also look very very rich.

We started on the Cherry Chocolate Mousse cake first. I'm trying to be somewhat intellectual with this food blog but honestly, it was just soooooo goooooooood. The bottom layer was a chocolate sponge cake. On top of that was a layer of mousse with cherries and rum, and on top of that, another layer of the sponge cake. It was topped off with bittersweet chocolate mousse. Normally when I've had cakes claiming to have mousse, they've just been frosted with a really rich, thick sugary chocolate layer. No more. This cake was rich but not unbearably rich. The sponge cake was smooth, not too sweet, and very...spongy? The cherries were, as promised, tart and went perfectly with the cake. No, the rum did not get me drunk, there was just a light flavor that complemented everything well. The mousse was the highlight, though--someone at Crixa Cakes really knows how to make a mousse. It was light, almost airy, to go along with the sponge cake. All in all, it was amazing. Even Andy liked it--that says a lot.

We then ate the Carmella. The Carmella was also a taste of perfection. The cake again was light and airy. In the middle, there was some fresh (not too sweet!) whipped cream, and the top was covered in caramel and bittersweet chocolate mousse. Rich, but not heavy, so I definitely kept wanting more. The caramel was not the overwhelming flavor of caramel I usually expect. Everything contained a wonderful buttery and smooth taste. Andy liked this one too, but he said he preferred the Cherry one. When it comes down to it, I'd probably crave the Carmella more.

Go here. Please, go here. It is worth a trip. If you get it to go, make sure you have plenty of milk on hand. As far as portion sizes, I'd say that splitting one Carmella between two people would be pretty satisfactory but I guarantee you'll want more. Crixa Cakes also sells goods that are not of the chocolate cake variety, such as apple cake, pie, and all kinds of other things.

Crixa Cakes:
Tuesday through Thursday: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

2748 Adeline Street
Berkeley, CA 94703
(510) 548-0421

You can check out their website: www.crixacakes.com
Or the reviews on Yelp.com: www.yelp.com/biz/TS07BQsyZqwcEgraAbiMbw