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Dining out - Southern Inspired Blackberry Bistro

by Stett Holbrook

Photography by Phyllis Christopher

I had a realization while eating at Blackberry Bistro recently: A Southern fried breakfast—one with grits and biscuits and fried eggs and bacon—is the most satisfying kind of breakfast there is. At least that’s how I felt after my meal at this popular breakfast and lunch restaurant in Oakland’s Glenview neighborhood.

The Down South ($10) is a big, comfortable meal of eggs, creamy grits, crispy fried potatoes, two thick slabs of Hobb’s applewood smoked bacon and a light and flaky buttermilk biscuit. It’s a truck driver’s special with a refined touch. This isn’t the kind of breakfast you’d make at home. It’s made for restaurant dining, preferably on a slow moving weekend morning. And preferably at Blackberry Bistro.

And then there’s the Shrimp ’n’ Grits ($12), a dish that has become the restaurant’s signature. Chef and co-owner Robert Dorsey says when he first opened three years ago, people weren’t ordering as much grits as he was making. He concocted this dish to entice them, and grits (a kind of corn-meal mush) have been flying out the door ever since. It’s a beautiful, plate-filling composition of molten cheese-covered grits topped with a tangy jumble of sautéed onions, tomatoes, green chiles and fat, juicy shrimp. It’s enough to make a grits lover out of anyone.

As excellent as these Southern-inspired breakfasts are, the rest of the menu is just as good. Mi Rancho ($8.75), a messy but satisfying scramble of eggs and chorizo served over tortillas and ringed with soupy black beans, is a close second to the Down South breakfast. And Dorsey says he’s won over many a carnivore with his tofu scramble ($8.50)—firm, crumbly tofu sautéed with fresh spinach, green onion and the subtle sweetness of butternut squash.

Lunches are just as strong. I loved the griddled corn cakes ($10.50), crispy yet creamy inside and filled with jack cheese and the mild tang of green chiles. The one disappointment I encountered was the bistro burger ($9.50). The meat was too densely packed and cooked past my requested medium rare. Small, white-streaked tomatoes and a good but oversized bun didn’t improve things. But the hand-cut Kennebec fries and house-made mayo and pickled onions were nice touches.

Inside the cozy restaurant, the walls are painted saffron yellow and an earthy red. The effect livens up an already bustling dining room. While friendly, service can get backed up when the restaurant is in full swing, and some servers get rattled when the orders start piling up. But all is forgiven once the food arrives.

This stretch of Park Boulevard has only a handful of dining options, and Blackberry Bistro serves the neighborhood well. It occupies a prime corner spot, and there’s almost always a line of hungry people clutching morning coffee and newspapers waiting to get in. Local residents on the move can make a pit stop for tea and coffee or some of the restaurant’s excellent housemade pastries like the whipped cream and caramel-topped banana bread pudding ($4).

Since November, Dorsey has been serving hearty and eclectic Friday night dinners with dishes like blackened chicken and Dungeness crab gumbo, slow-cooked beef and grilled skirt steak with potato gratin.

Blackberry Bistro is Dorsey’s first restaurant, but he’s been in the food business for two decades and has diverse culinary interests. Before opening the restaurant, he cooked at Oakland’s famed Bay Wolf. His résumé also includes stints at other top Bay Area kitchens such as Café Rouge in Berkeley and Firefly in San Francisco. He also counts the family meals he ate growing up as an influence.

“I was raised in Berkeley but I have some deep Southern roots,” says Dorsey, a lanky 33-year-old who looms large in the restaurant’s small kitchen. As a result, Blackberry Bistro is a place where you can get biscuits and grits as well as an asparagus salad or tuna confit. “I’ve just absorbed things like a sponge. I have a lot of influences.”

Blackberry Bistro is the kind of place that makes you wish you lived nearby and could call the restaurant your own. If you do live here, consider yourself lucky.

THE DETAILS

BLACKBERRY BISTRO. New American.
Breakfast 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and lunch
11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
Dinner 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday. Brunch
8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 4240
Park Blvd., (510) 336-1088. CC  $$