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!