November 2011, Volume 8, Number 6

World-Class Word Chef

by By Anna Mindess(Photography by Mitch Tobias)

Although her job revolves around food, Dianne Jacob doesn’t spend her hours mincing and mixing in the kitchen of her lovely Montclair house.

Media Shelf

by Janelle Bitker

New Books from the Bay Area

The Six Questions

by By Ginny Prior(Photography by Pat Mazzera)

Tokuda’s mission is to eradicate French and Scotch broom — invasive plants that are choking native vegetation in the Oakland hills.

Gearing Up For Tacos

by Janelle Bitker(Photography by Chris Duffy)

Alfonso Dominguez is all about bringing real Mexican street food to Oakland. That’s why he doesn’t have a taco truck parked on International Boulevard — in Mexico, tacos are served in little...

Picture This

by Christopher Danzig(Photography by Chris Duffy)

Oakland has no shortage of public murals. You can find them under freeways, in parks, on business walls.

Where It's At

by Kimberly Chun(Photography by Chris Duffy)

Conscious hip-hop may have fallen out of fashion in the mainstream, but it never quite died in Oakland.

A Plant’s Gotta Do

by Anneli Rufus(Photography by iStock.com/Mojkan)

When your Venus flytrap looks hungry, don’t feed it hamburger. Don’t even feed it flies.

East Bay Book Notes

by Elise Proulx(Photography by Chris Duffy)

For more than 30 years, Marcus Bookstore has given Oaklanders — as the sign outside the front door reads — a place to find “books by and about black people everywhere.”

Secret Eats

by Kimberly Chun(Photography by Chris Duffy)

October 2010 was an extraordinary Filipino-American Heritage Month for Oakland native Jay-Ar Pugao — that was when he opened No Worries, the first Filipino vegan restaurant in the country.

Murmur This

by Janelle Bitker

Everyone knows that Uptown Oakland is bumping the first Friday of every month — young hipsters sporting flannel and fedoras flood the streets, food trucks dish out the gourmet goods and music...

House of Worship

by Christopher Danzig(Photography by Chris Duffy)

Across Lake Merritt from the ultra-modern Cathedral of Christ the Light is a much smaller, older Catholic church.

Do-Gooders

by Christopher Danzig(Photography by Pat Mazzera)

Nikki Henderson has led People’s Grocery in West Oakland for less than two years, but the 27-year-old is quickly rising to the top of the local food justice pyramid.

Water Flowing Underground

by Anneli Rufus

Paved-over creeks and culverts are part of the East Bay’s watershed, that massive meshwork by which fresh water reaches the sea.

Real Estate Wrap Up

by Elise Proulx(Photography by Chris Duffy)

Anne McSilver, editor of the American Automobile Association’s Western travel magazine Via, had long perused real estate listings and counted visiting open houses as a hobby.

History Lesson

by Ann Leslie Davis

Oakland has birthed its share of celebrities, including MC Hammer, the Pointer Sisters, Mark Hamill (of Luke Skywalker fame) and the perennially quoted Gertrude Stein.

Entrepreneurs

by Carolyn Jung(Photography by Pat Mazzera)

Arora and Velez have created local jobs and given greater credence to the burgeoning grow-your-own-food movement sweeping the nation.

Eats

by Janelle Bitker(Photography by Pat Mazzera)

San Francisco has had a booming food truck scene for years, but finally, trucks are driving across the bridge.

Taste of the Town

by Derk Richardson(Photography by Lori Eanes)

For a restaurant to become a steady favorite, it has to gratify all the senses (and not dramatically displease any).

Out on the Town

by Linda Leonard

What's going on in the month of November!