13 - Rivoli - Berkeley

Rivoli Restaurant - 1539 Solano Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94707 (510) 526-2542

Last visit Sept. 13, 2008.

Rivoli's Website

It was an odd day in September. To begin, the morning started with me not getting enough sleep from the Friday night of of before. I had been thinking a lot of my radical spending the last few months and how disappointed I was of myself. My constant surfing for internet "deals" created a unwarranted allocation of funds to materials that were rarely used. I woke up with two hours of sleep and had to bring my sister, Sylvia, to the airport. We got into an argument about the way she packed that really aggravated my feelings. But she's family and I could not hold her to it for long.

The day went on as I had to get ready for my friend Ada's wedding. It was the second wedding of the year, and most likely one more before the end of the year. She spoke with me a few nights earlier, apologizing for the last-minute invite, and asked me to attend. I thought about the last ten years and how she's always been on my AIM list. "We are the only peoples that had thoughts like this," I thought as I put on my old blue shirt and black striped tie. I fell asleep for a moment, and I got a call from my girlfriend that she was ready. I picked her up and had her help me with my tie. Embarrassing as it was, she's much better than me at it. Driving to San Francisco was a breeze, and parking was not too bad. We got to Old St. Mary's church in the heart of San Francisco and found out that we were an hour early. The oddness began. My girlfriend, in her teal green dress, and I decided to get a bite to eat in the fast-food across the way. They had ice-cream, hotdogs, and beer. Yes, that's what they advertised. We got a beer and some "lau-mai-gai", which is sticky rice wrapped in a leaf. I never had that wearing a tie.

The wedding began and I was happy to see Ada and her husband-to-be Alfred walk the altar. Intensely happy, nothing could ruin that day for her. I have never seen a pair that at ease at a wedding ceremony. We finished off, I gave her a hug, and we charged back down to down-town.
I thought we could get a table at the Cheesecake Factory within 20-30 minutes, but no, it was impossible. I felt like a big klutz, and I really disappointed my girlfriend at the moment. If anything, I was glad that she was understanding and was nice enough to not get mad at me. She warned me that it wasn't going to be easy.

We got out of San Francisco and drove back to Berkeley, where I had to pick up my computer that's been dead for half a year. I finally took my G4-powerbook into the shop. There was a faulty harddrive and we had to swap it out for a new one. I checked out the new install and was happy to see her alive and well. First thing I did was turn it on, and changed the HD to "Loretta 2.0". Hopefully she'll sail fine from here on.

We tried to get a bite to eat again from a place in Berkeley, and to our dismay the waiter greeted us at the door. We went to the Bistro Liaison on Shattuck and found out that they closed from 3pm - 5pm to get ready for dinner. The waitress was nice enough to alert us that all the restaurants around there did that. What a big jip. In retrospect, I think my tie was cursed. I never got anywhere with that tie; but I did like how it look.

We went back to my girlfriend's house for a break. I needed to rest and she needed to get out of her heels. It was not her thing. Now you're wondering, "where does Rivoli come in?" Thanks for getting through the first 500 words. Yes we decided to go out to dinner and finish off the day nicely. I removed the tie and she went in her tank-top, jeans, and flip-flops to Rivoli's in north berkeley. The greeter told us that the wait was going to be 20 minutes, and I told her that we'd take it. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, this must be Ada's doing. I declined her request for the Chinese Banquet at Milbrae and she's put a hex on me; one that won't allow me to eat in peace for the rest of the day.

--- and now in present tense ---

Rivoli's is a cozy place. They are slow to attend to us, but after they took the order, they got the ball rolling. I felt a bit out of place because of my age, but I am at least dressed for the part - coming straight from a wedding and all. The girlfriend didn't care too much. We ordered the mozarella appetizer. It is quite good, even for a person that doesn't enjoy cheese much. The lemonade they gave me grabs my attention more. I have to admit it is the best lemonade I ever had, and it came with refills. I order the "two styles of duck", and my girlfriend orders the roast beef. Both are amazing entre's. The duck is tender and the roast beef is the softest I have ever tasted. Finally, food in our stomachs after a long weird day. I look around me at the middle-aged men and women, and spied a table enjoying a round of cappuccinos and espressos. I want one, but I know that it will keep me up all night. I need sleep. My girlfriend orders dessert: chocolate cake with chocolate ice-cream. Ultimately, through the tiring day of rejects and misses, we end with chocolate cake - and it was delicious!

Rivoli is a French/Italian restaurant on the edge of North Berkeley. By no means will you live life any differently if you haven't visited it. But if you do go, you'll enjoy it, even if it's just the lemonade.

Yelp's two cents

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

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