49 - Powderface Cafe - Oakland

3411 E 12th St, Oakland, CA 94620, (510) 536-3223

Last visit: July, 2010

(Image source: Yelp.com) This seems like a great place to have a cup of coffee and enjoy a pastry. Their beignets are really good and reading from what others have said, it's becoming a bit of a phenomenon for east Oakland. Order a set up and you get three made for you then and there, not pulled out of a Cost-co tray. These are really good, and the powder sugar makes a fool out of your face.

Let's be real, this place can charge $5 bucks for their delicate sugar triangles if they are transplanted to College Avenue or Emeryville's Bay Street, but it's in East Oakland and it doesn't seem to be moving. I really want to urge people to go out there try the cafe regardless of your fears of the area. The Cafe is located in a plaza and the clientele ranges from construction workers hurrying for a cup of coffee to kids studying for their school work. The store is new and built with clean counters and comfy chairs. To give it character, the owner(s) lined the walls with photos of past customers who have enjoyed a powdered face. That face can be yours, so please give them a shot!

41 - Olivettos - Oakland

5655 College Ave, Oakland, 94618, (510) 547-5356

Oliveto's Website

Last Visit - February 2009

Oliveto's is a well-known restaurant in Oakland. It has seasonal menus and a deep selection of wine. The people that go there, are usually well dressed. I guess it's a place to cross off your restaurant list - and that's exactly why I wanted to go.

We got reservations for one of the rainiest nights. Yeah, it started with a leap out of the car. We got there around 5:45, exactly in time and got our bread and water around 6:00. I guess that's what it boils down to, bread and water, no matter how fancy you dress up the bread platter or the water cantor, it's still what it is. I looked through their winter menu and was a bit lost in the language. I felt embarrassed when I had to ask what the Steelhead was, which is of course a fish. They also had pigeon, wild boar, free-roaming beef, and rabbit. It was not your usual menu. I ordered the beef in the end, and my girlfriend ordered the rabbit. We were recommended a light red wine, "nothing too dry" said my accomplice. It arrived in a half-bottle and it started the night off right.

The fish was good and so was the rabbit. I'd have to say, when you're eating rabbit, you'd have to arm yourself with no thoughts of cute bunnies. "It's just food; food for you," I told myself. But then again my mind drifted to Golem in the Lord of the Rings movies and how he devoured the poor rabbit. It was weird, but all in all, I took a piece from my girlfriend and I found it quite delicious.

By then a few more parties have settled in on the tables around us. We had a little window that showed the streets below and I was happy to see umbrellas move about. The wine was just right for the night and so was our entree's. The dessert was chocolate cake, it's something my girlfriend prides herself on - trying all the chocolate cakes of the world. True to the rumors, the cake was amazingly rich and softer than any you'd get a super market. It reminded me of confections in Japan and I yearned for a nice cup of green tea. It was a sweet way to end a fabulous meal and dreamy night.

It's probably how I would remember it, everything was "just right". If I had to compare it, it'd be close to Rivoli's, except Rivoli's beats it by just an edge.

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.