07 - Vik's Chaat Corner - Berkeley

Vik's Chaat Corner - 726 Allston Way (between 4th St & 5th St), Berkeley, CA 94710, (510) 644-4412

Last visit: June 1st, 2008

Vik's Chaat Corner's Website (with menu!)

It was the first Sunday of June and we wanted some Indian food. Through the freeways we went and stopped by at my alma mater, UC Berkeley. Well, not that far, we were in Berkeley though. My girlfriend said that this Indian place is kind of hard to find, but pretty good. I'm not a big Indian fan, but I do like Tandori Chicken, so I went along.

After turning a corner on a street that I can't remember, we see people eating. They were eating on the sidewalks! It was quite a funny scene, like a streetvender in Asia. A lot of the clientele were college students, but there were quite a few people of the older crowd too. Take out was wrapped in tin-foil and tables were scarce. The place was booming with customers, and the line kept on moving.

We got in and ordered our food to go. I had a chicken plate with a Thumbs-Up Cola and my girlfriend had a lamb wrap with some appetizers. The cola was really good, it reminded me of cane cola. Great for rum and coke, but I had no rum. I'm not too rehearsed with Indian food names, so I will not even try. We ate by my car and went about our way. Next time I want to try the giant puffy naan thingy, it looks tasty.

Now here's the thought: if so much of Hong Kong's Chinese cuisine is influenced by the British, how much of India's cuisine is changed by them also? I mean the British brought their system of government, laws, cricket, and most likely tea. Not a bad deal if you cut out all the years of oppression. But who plays cricket these days? :)

Yelp's two cents

06 - Le Cheval - Oakland

Le Cheval - 1007 Clay St. (between 10th St & 11th St), Oakland, CA 94607 (510) 763-8495

Last Visit: June 20th, 2008

Le Cheval's Home Page


It was the first day of summer this year when I returned to Le Cheval's Vietnamese restaurant. To say it's fusion is using the term loosely, but I think they have clientele that say it's not Vietnamese enough to call it just Vietnamese. It's the third time being here, and once there was no line.

We sat down in the back of the room, under the paintings of horses. Naturally, horses were the theme of the restaurant. The ceilings are high and their only countermeasure against the heat were old ceiling fans. I must admit, we drank a lot of water. The room was remarkably loud with chatter; perhaps it's the acoustics of the room, but it did kind of remind me of restaurants in East Asia. I wanted to sit closer to my girlfriend because it was kind of hard to yell across our menus.

We ordered the spring-beans and chicken and the caramelized snapper fish clay-pot dish. They were both good, and I have to say most dishes here are pretty good. We skipped the appetizer because we were in a rush, but I do recommend the calamari salad, one of my favorite salads. The orange beef is done well here, if you're into red meat.

A friend of mine told me that they had margaritas the size of fishbowls there, but I looked on the menu and only saw margaritas on the rocks. I guess he must have been talking about some other place. I instead took a beer, Tiger from Singapore. It was nothing to rave about. I realize I've been trying a lot of "international" beers, but none of them stick out. Anyone have a good recommendation? The girlfriend had a lemon drop, but she gave me the face of disapproval for it. We packed up the food and left for the evening.

My thoughts tangent to this topic, what are the lingering affects of the French colonization of Vietnam? I mean, over a 100 years of political dominance must have trickled down to some food rules. I know that the drip coffee came from the French, and probably the patte. Now what else is there? Must be an essay being written about this now.

Yelp's two cents

05 - Carpool Foodie

On the casual carpool today, I spoke with this woman who was a complete foodaholic! All she could talk about was restaurants. We were speaking of the neighborhood in Oakland where I'm from, and she mentioned various restaurants on Grand Ave.

Then, she asked me what my favorite restaurant in the area is. Y'know, I never really ate much around the area; I'd always just went out to Chinatown. But, not wanting to offend, I offered up my opinion on the tasty breakfast at the Lakeshore Cafe.

Then, she asked around where in the City I work. I noted around 4th and Folsom. She then noted about a restaurant named Lulu's, an upscale yuppy trendy expensive place across the street from my office. In an attempt to sway to other conversations, I asked her about her work. Oh, then she mentioned restaurants around her workplace and then her former offices.

Food, food, food!

04 - Au Coquelet Cafe - Berkeley

Au Coquelet Cafe - 2000 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94704, (510) 845-0433

Last visit - June, 2008

Celebrated as the latest cafe to close in Berkeley, Au Coquelet is one of my favorite eateries around the bay area. It's just always there for me whenever I want a coffee or a slice of pie. I first discovered it when I was a freshman at Cal in 1998, and I've been going there regularly ever since. It's competitive edge? It opens till 2am, and for some reason, that was worth walking eight blocks for from my unit 2 dormitory.

Flash-forward ten years, and it's 2008.

Me and my good friend Ivan went there for a late night dinner Wednesday night to hammer some things out for a new resume I was working on. We walked in from the back door, parking was two blocks away, which wasn't bad for a place like this. The place was booming for 10pm, but we noticed something different. We were seated by a bus-boy. I guess they don't want to sell at the counter and let you fend for yourself anymore. They wanted to make you feel like you're at a restaurant. Now the new system is quite dumb, because there's only one waiter at night, and there are like fifteen tables in the back. Ivan almost collapsed when the food came, a simple turkey sandwich. I had a woodchuck cider from the front counter, which the girl attended to in a minute.

Too bad for the new system, or it'd be a good night. But I wouldn't discount the cafe on one single event! The other fourty times I was there, they were pretty damn good! Their pies and cakes are decent, and their burgers are good. Try the cranberry tart, it goes good with coffee. Hell it also has wi-fi and cigarettes, not many cafe's have that and close after midnight. I'll definitely be stopping there again.

note: Au Coquelet means "the rooster or cock" in French, duh, I know.

Yelp's two cents.

03 - Manpuku - Berkeley

Manpuku Japanese Restaurant - 2977 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705, (510) 848-2536

Date of Visit - June 13th, 2008

Ramen in the bay area really caught on in the last couple of years. People usually associated Japanese food with sushi and Teriyaki chicken, but these days my friends would make plans to speed down to San Mateo to get good ramen. What's the appeal of noodles in broth with chashu pork and sliced fish cakes? Maybe it's the soup.

Ramen actually started in China, but what we associate with ramen now is strictly Japanese. It's really different from what you get from packages of Top Ramen. For instance we catagorize ramen into flavors like beef, chicken, and seafood. But in Japan that's unheard of. It's actually broken down by the soup, in which it's broken down by the region. There are four major ones: Tonkatsu (pork bone stock), Shio (salt flavored), Shouyu (soy sauce), and Miso flavored. Not only that, but it's also split up into regions like Sapporo, Tokyo, Kitakata, and Hakata. My favorite being Hakata Ramen (from Fukuoka, which is the new name for Hakata), and yes, Manpuku serves this.

Anyways, away from the history lesson, Manpuku was packed. I went there with the girlfriend because I craved curry rice. I'm not going to give you a history lesson on that, but I do like it once in awhile. The place started about two years ago and you frequently see students lined up out the door. Parking is scarce, but you'll be fine if you take some side streets. Inside is actually quite similar to ramen stalls from Japan, except of course, the waiters are Korean. And it's small, less than 6 tables plus a counter. You pay before you eat, I like that actually.

The food came slowly, but it was good. I think it was good because I really missed curry rice. It came with chicken cubes, potatoes, and red radishes. I think it would've been good if they put in sliced apples, something I remembered from Japan. The girlfriend had the Winter Ramen, which was supposedly spicy, but not enough for her tastes. She thought it was alright. I remember ordering the Hakata ramen there, but it was not too good; too many unnecessary vegies. It's hard to make good Hakata ramen outside of Japan. Still, for ramen in the bay area, it's decent, close by, and it's cheap.

Note: 1.) sushi is pretty good, but if you're getting individual plates, it's sold by single pieces. 2.) Manpuku means "I'm full" in Japanese, often used with a childish nuance.

Yelp's two cents

02 - the Pho King - East Oakland

the Pho King - 638 International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606, (510) 444-0448

Date of Visit: June 15th, 2008

Going to the Pho King gave me the motivation to blog about food. No not because of it's exquisite stature in the world of Vietnamese eateries, but instead just the shear number of Pho noodle houses in Oakland creates a need for people to recommend them. Ahh, the smell of beef boiling.

I went to the Pho King for lunch for the first time today. Yes, I've drove past it thousands of times, but never stepped in until today. It's really small! I think it had about 12 tables, but people were lined up out the door. They also had a really quick turnover. People came, ate, and left. It was a very homie place. The kitchen was in the back and they were not shy about showing it to you. You saw the staff preparing the beef and soups. Not a bad deal.

For pho' places I like to make judging plain and easy, if it's clean and it's fast, it's good. I really don't think there's a bad way to make pho if you follow those rules. They fulfilled those requirements, so they are on my good-list. I got their large beef noodle soup, I didn't want to get the XL, which would've been a cauldron of food. We ordered Drip-style coffees that got me wired for the rest of the day; but I 'm an addict for those.

They have a specialty there that's pho noodles with spicy pigs feet (or knuckles). I'll have to try that next time.

Yelp's two cents.

01 - Jim's Coffee Shop - Alameda

Jim’s Coffee Shop, 2333 Lincoln Ave., Alameda, CA., (510) 523-5368

Date of visit: June 14th, 2008

One of the things me and my girlfriend like to do is find breakfast diners on Saturdays and Sundays. It's odd, but there's not too many if you think about the bay area. We really like Ole's Waffle house, but it's always packed. This Saturday we went to Jim's Coffee Shop in Alameda. We had spotted it before with a line out the door the week before ~ what does that mean? good food.

We arrived through the back entrance. It's pretty shady in the back, it reminded me of diners along freeways between So-Cal and Arizona. But when you go inside, the place is booming. The clientele ranged from seniors enjoying the paper to punk-rockers eating pancakes, and of course there were families. This was around 1pm. The decor is retro stuff from San Francisco before the 50's. Old newspaper clippings from 1942 and old black and white photos from the 1907 earthquake can be found lining their walls. There's also a fervor about racing there, probably the owners sponsor cars for Laguna Seca raceway.

The food is good. I had the linguisa and eggs (x3) and was stuffed. Their portions are large, and quite cheap for what it is. The coffee is nothing to rave about, but service for it is spectacular. I think it's a great place for a morning conversation. She had a waffle, eggs, and bacon. She said the bacon was crispy and tasty, which made the trip worthwhile, "Good Breakfast find" was what she called it. And that's what it is.

Yelp's two cents

00 - Re-introduction

I like food, I really do. I'm just not excited about it. I have many friends that would spend their weekends perusing websites about the latest bakery that opened or converse about the last time they went to a fine dinner. Some people make it their reason for traveling, to verify the greatness of the "authentic" dishes. Some people drive hours on end to find the best burger joint, or pizzaria, or pho' noodle shop. They don't settle for mediocrity. For the most part of my life, I see food as fuel. I'm like the other rats in Ratatouille. But wait, don't leave this blog! I'm here because I'm changing, because I'm learning, and because I love blogging.

So goals for this blog? It's a mental journal for all the diners and bars that I've been to. It's going to be some place to highlight eateries that are not so easy to find without guidance. I want to bring some light to hole-in-the bars and hidden favorites amongst my friends. And it's going to be a place to get my writing habit back into shape. Hopefully I can get some of my friends to contribute too, for they're much better "fooders" than I am.

Rating systems. I really am lazy about stars and numbers. I think what's important is cost; yes I'm a cheapster. I'm stingy with my food expenses. I'll put that on. The rest, I think I'm just going to stick to thumbs up and thumbs down - or in this case, yummy or yucky.

Bon appetite.