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A comforting sense of place swept over me, however, the first time I stepped inside the chocolate-brown, orange-trimmed, wood-sided Brown Sugar Kitchen.
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The young woman next to me is swooning, as I am, over a tea called Jasmine Pearls.
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Cocina Poblana, the upscale family-owned restaurant that opened in January at Jack London Square, boasts home-cooked meals blending styles from two regions of Mexico.
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Around since 1890, Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto is a restaurant with a history.
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Dig’s Bistro is my notion of an ideal agreement between cuisine and surroundings.
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In 15 years covering the cocktail business, I have had some amazing libations but never imagined I would really want to sip them with my pasta.
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With the opening of The Trappist in Old Oakland, things are changing.
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The aqua exterior suggests there might be something fishy going on inside Maritime East in Berkeley, the site of the former Zax Tavern.
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Walking into Flora on a busy night, there’s a tangible feeling that something exciting is happening in downtown Oakland.
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I find the wines made from this grape to be so elegant and food-friendly that I would gladly drink them at every meal.
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The chef duo at Digs Bistro comes with a joint pedigree that runs a lot longer than the single page of the every-changing menu.
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“Meet me at Oliveto Cafe at 9 and we can have the breakfast pizza,” she says. Pizza for breakfast?
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Set inside the old Cadillac dealership at Harrison and 27th streets, Oakland’s first Whole Foods Market is a stunner.
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Brother and sister Ahmed and Reem Rahim have a knack for perfect packaging.
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I was never much for after-dinner drinks, so I presumed for many years that Port wasn’t for me.
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A few months ago I heard DiBartolo hired a new chef and things had turned around. So I decided to give them another try. I’m glad I did.
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After a year and nine months spent dealing with red tape, Ashley Young opened Gelato Firenze in August.
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I admit it. I’m biased. I’ve got a soft spot for husband-and-wife run restaurants.
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As the weather gets cooler, we’ll start spending more time indoors. For many of us that means more time in one of our favorite places: the local bar.
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If you’ve got three of something, so the saying goes, you’ve got a trend.
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Three weeks after opening, the wait was 15 minutes for a table at Flavors of India, the mellow, new eatery with a moderately priced menu on Lakeshore Avenue.
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By recent counts, more than one in 10 Americans have some Italian blood, and many trace their roots to Campania.
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Since chef Shotaro “Sho” Kamio came aboard in 2006, he has elevated the fare at Yoshi’s to cement its status as Oakland’s top Japanese restaurant.
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Gregorio Pelayo paid his burrito and fajitas dues before opening El Agavero Mexican Cuisine and Bar in Montclair Village.
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Organizing your own tasting is a great way to explore wines in greater depth and get to know your palate.
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Adding water to wine may sound like a practice designed to increase production and cheat the consumer.
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Expect to find assorted creative offerings involving heirloom tomatoes on the fall menu at Riva Cucina.
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I’ll get right to it: Wood Tavern is the most thoroughly delicious, enjoyable restaurant to open in Oakland this year.
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Chef/Owner Louis Kao offers his creative take on Asian fusion with a menu of noodle dishes from various Asian cultures.
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Guy Birenbaum makes the melt-in-the-mouth pastry for his brioches and chicken pies from four ingredients.
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The lunch “hour” has become an anachronism. Those leisurely 60-minute lunches went out the window with employer-funded pensions and affordable health care.
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It’s not quite Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but when a longtime chocolatier named Charles (better known as Chuck) has a 4000-square-foot chocolate factory and opens a retail store and cafe with a view into the candy kitchen, it’s difficult not to think of Willie Wonka.
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Korean food’s day is coming. It doesn’t have the brand-name recognition that Chinese, Japanese or even Thai cuisines do, but I think it’s only a matter of time until the hearty, spicy and fresh flavors of Korea go mainstream and win a wider following.
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Riesling has long been a favorite of sommeliers, who tout its versatility with food. Now there are signs that consumers, at long last, are beginning to recognize the grape’s charms.
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Sideways jabs aside, Merlot remains an enormously popular wine.
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Grasshopper leapt from the limelight—only to be replaced by an equally popular new venue.
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It's unusual for a restaurant to pick up and leave the city and relocate in the East Bay. But that’s what Somerset did.
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Lively, friendly and dependably delicious, Dopo may be Oakland’s perfect neighborhood restaurant.
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Beckett’s Irish Pub and Restaurant on Shattuck Avenuehas a new neighbor—and the contrast couldn’t be more striking.
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The couple got much of their winemaking training by working for Eric Texier, a vintner in France’s Rhône Valley who works with grape growers committed to low yields and natural farming methods.
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Many people think that decanting is something done just for old wines, which can have a lot of sediment. The sommelier carefully pours an old wine into a decanter, usually with a candle or other light source illuminating the neck of the bottle.
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Fiki’s Pudding, an artisan, organic bakery in Oakland’s Laurel district, has added new and tasty flavors of health and deliciousness to the 73-year-old Food Mill health market/natural food store’s menu.
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I don’t know exactly when it happened, but the quantity and quality of the food on Oakland’s Piedmont Avenue has been giving Berkeley’s better-known Gourmet Ghetto neighborhood stiff competition for some time now.
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Just when we thought Piedmont Avenue had all the food bases covered, two new venues open.
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When I think of a wine that celebrates romance, I think of a sparkling one.
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Vietnamese on Piedmont and a New Star at Yoshi's
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Supper soul food at Oakland's Southern Cafe.
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Best of Food and Drink in Oakland
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A dining review of Oakland's Mexican restaurant Tamarindo.
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Look to Southern Italy and Spain for new and exciting wines.
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Casual yet urbane, not perfect but often delicious, B is one of Oakland's bright lights.
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Jojo is a jewel of a restaurant on Piedmont Avenue.
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Finding the right wine to pair with barbecue can be tricky. Berkeley's T-Rex Barbecue specializes in doing just that.
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