North Berkeley Gourmet Marathon
I’d never thought I would walk an over-two-mile round trip just for food. But Carolyn Jung at Food Gal convinced me that A Taste of North Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto just sounded too good to ignore, and with a mere $25 ticket it was well worth the ankle exercise. Granted the weather turned its cold back on us, we couldn’t drag our feet to all 27 locations, nor were we enticed by the smell of wine, we felt good at the end of the day knowing that our tummy was full, a beggar’s tummy was appeased (with a cup of Greek soup from Soop, a lime-chipotle drumstick from Poulet, and a square of brownie from Andronico’s), and we found a new favorite.
The marathon started off creamily with Bistro Liaison‘s Quenelle souffle – salmon and scallop mousse in a lustrious shrimp sauce. Captivating from the very first bite. Oh, guess what? It’s not on the menu.
Taste of Himalayas – Most Generous Tasting “Sample” ever. We were allowed full freedom to load our plate with whatever our eyes desired.
Taste of Himalayas - Lamb momo and orange dessert
Taste of Himalayas - vegetable samosa, momo, and pakora
Both the lamb and the vegetable momos (dumpling) are adorable pockets of goodness. The pakora (deep fried vegetable) hits the grease spot. The samosa is utterly beany. The unidentifiable bright orange dessert feels like fish roe.
Crepevine – The Least Expectable Taste. Its cute facade sugarcoats a trendy menu with international crepes that fare more or less like Subway sandwiches: edible, not bloggable.
Crepevine - Salad and Greek crepe with feta cheese, roasted almond, spinach, and calamata olives in tsatziki sauce
Chick-O-Pea’s (in Barney’s) – The Nicest Service. We arrived just as they ran out of falafels, and the owner offered Mudpie a beer while waiting for the new batch.
Chick-O-Pea's/Barney's - Falafel with hummus, tahini, and zachuq
(We didn’t take the offer.)
Cha-Am – what can I say, Thai food is comforting.
Cha-Am - chicken pad thai
Chocolate Tasting at M. Lowe & Co. Jewelers – Most Beautiful Sample.
Chocolate tasting at M.Lowe & Co. Jewelers
The taste? See’s Candies‘ truffles are better.
Alegio Chocolaté – Most Educational Tasting. Also our first try of whole Chile finest chocolate bean, bitter just like a roasted coffee bean. The enthusiastic host is a man of hand and mouth, as we Vietnamese would say: chopping and crushing chocolate bars into bits, speaking expeditiously about each kind’s origin and composition, grabbing onlookers’ quizzical attention with the busiest, most irresistibly chaotic display of the brownish hues.
Alegio Chocolaté - chili pepper dark chocolate
The 80% dark chocolate flavored with chili pepper pictured above is only for the bravest. We took the challenge. Then Mudpie sheepishly tasted a darling chocolate covered peppercorn and felt sick for the rest of the journey. Lesson learned: sometimes cute looking things can kill you.
Also snuggled in the Epicurious Garden with Alegio Chocolaté are the aesthetic Chinese Imperial Tea Court, where we had a taste of puerh tea and some uberspicy hand-pulled noodle…
Imperial Tea Court - cold noodle and onion pancake
…and the beautiful takeout Kirala 2, with a sample of sake maki (tuna) roll, Californian (crab and avocado) roll, and potato croquette.
Kirala 2 - California roll, sake maki roll, and potato croquette
Soop – housing the Most Expensive Banh Mi’s.
How about Soop with banh mi?
Unfortunately the banh mi wasn’t on the tasting menu. Instead, the 4oz greeting of Avgolemono soup is undeniably proper: Greek soup with shredded chicken and long grain rice in enticing lemon flavored chicken stock thickened with egg.
Gregoire – Best Dessert of the whole event. Possibly the best dessert I’ve had in a long time.
It’s just a takeout, but it’s not just a takeout. Despite the chilly breeze, people queue up for its delicious fine tastes, changing seasonally, and perhaps for a friendly joke or two with the chefs to warm up your mood.
“So Mai, just what is your new favorite?”, you may ask. The pork belly sandwich at Trattoria Corso. Look out for a post on this Florentine exquisite in the near future.
Hi there, You have done a fantastic job. I’ll definitely digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this website.
1I think this internet site holds very excellent pent articles content.
2There is noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made certain nice points in features also.
3I would like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing this site. I’m hoping the same high-grade website post from you in the upcoming as well. Actually your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own site now. Actually the blogging is spreading its wings rapidly. Your write up is a good example of it.
4Hi! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could get a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty finding one? Thanks a lot!
5he blog was how do i say it… relevant, finally something that helped me. Thanks
6It’s exhausting to find knowledgeable people on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re speaking about! Thanks
7Thanks , I’ve recently been searching for info about this topic for ages and yours is the greatest I’ve came upon till now. But, what concerning the bottom line? Are you sure in regards to the source?
8I really like your writing style, superb information, appreciate it for posting :D.
9I loved as much as you’ll receive performed proper here. The cartoon is attractive, your authored material stylish. however, you command get bought an nervousness over that you want be turning in the following. ill certainly come further beforehand again since exactly the similar just about very regularly within case you protect this hike.
10I truly enjoy looking at on this internet site, it holds wonderful articles. “Beware lest in your anxiety to avoid war you obtain a master.” by Demosthenes.
11I like this website because so much utile stuff on here :D.
12I have been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this site. Thank you, I’ll try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your website?
13Do you have a spam problem on this site; I also am a blogger, and I was wanting to know your situation; many of us have developed some nice practices and we are looking to trade techniques with other folks, be sure to shoot me an e-mail if interested.
14Hello, you used to write magnificent, but the last several posts have been kinda boring?K I miss your great writings. Past few posts are just a little out of track! come on!
15Hi my friend! I want to say that this post is amazing, great written and come with approximately all vital infos. I’d like to look extra posts like this .
16Hello this is somewhat of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding experience so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
17This web site is really a walk-through for all of the info you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll definitely discover it.
18I love it when people come together and share opinions, great blog, keep it up.
19Hi, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, fantastic blog!
20I have been exploring for a bit for any high-quality articles or weblog posts on this sort of house . Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this site. Reading this information So i’m happy to show that I have a very good uncanny feeling I discovered exactly what I needed. I most unquestionably will make certain to do not overlook this web site and provides it a glance on a relentless basis.
21I believe this website holds some really wonderful information for everyone :D. “Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The Eternal.” by Alighieri Dante.
22We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your website offered us with valuable info to work on. You’ve done a formidable job and our entire community will be thankful to you.
23I like what you guys are up too. Such smart work and reporting! Carry on the excellent works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it’ll improve the value of my web site :).
24This blog is definitely rather handy since I’m at the moment creating an internet floral website – although I am only starting out therefore it’s really fairly small, nothing like this site. Can link to a few of the posts here as they are quite. Thanks much. Zoey Olsen
25I’ve been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this web site. Thank you, I will try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your site?
26Fantastic website. A lot of useful information here. I am sending it to some friends ans also sharing in delicious. And naturally, thanks for your effort!
27I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later on. Many thanks
28Some truly good information, Sword lily I noticed this. “As long as a word remains unspoken, you are it’s master once you utter it, you are it’s slave.” by Solomon Ibn Gabirol.
29I have read a few excellent stuff here. Definitely value bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how so much attempt you place to create any such magnificent informative website.
30Hello, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog site in Ie, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, excellent blog!
31Attractive component of content. I simply stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to claim that I get in fact loved account your blog posts. Any way I will be subscribing in your augment and even I success you get entry to constantly fast.
32Thank you for sharing with us, I conceive this website really stands out :D.
33Some truly excellent information, Gladiolus I discovered this. “Men in no way approach so nearly to the gods as in doing good to men.” by Marcus Tullius Cicero.
34I’m not sure the place you’re getting your information, however great topic. I must spend a while finding out much more or figuring out more. Thank you for excellent information I used to be on the lookout for this info for my mission.
35I’m typically to blogging and i really appreciate your content. The article has really peaks my interest. I’m going to bookmark your website and keep checking for brand new information.
36Real fantastic info can be found on site. “You have to learn that if you start making sure you feel good, everything will be okay.” by Ruben Studdard.
37wonderful post.Never knew this, thanks for letting me know.
38Regards for helping out, superb info. “Job dissatisfaction is the number one factor in whether you survive your first heart attack.” by Anthony Robbins.
39