East Bay food

East Bay food

There's been a line to get into 1504 Shattuck since 1975. Customers queue in the morning to sample cheese or purchase freshly baked baguettes, brioche knots and focaccia. Come lunch time, the doors open at 1512 Shattuck, where live music entertains those eagerly awaiting their share of Cheese Board's rotating seasonal pizza. On occasion, the music entices those finished with their meal to utilize the parklet as their dance floor.

One of the things that Tiyo Shibabaw is looking forward to the most about moving her Oakland-based Burmese restaurant, Teni East Kitchen, to a new location in March is space for a steamer. It's a bigger kitchen, she says. The kitchen we currently have is very small, I would love to offer steamed vegetables and seafood. In fact, whole steamed fish is likely to be one of the new additions to the menu at Teni East Kitchen.

You may know Albany as a little East Bay suburb in Berkeley's shadow, home to a defunct horse racing track and a former landfill. But take a stroll down the city of 20,000's bustling Solano Avenue and you'll find some of the Bay Area's best French pastries, elegant sushi handrolls, and a natural wine bar so hip you'll swear you're in San Francisco.

It's the sixth location for the local chain, with others in Campbell, Palo Alto, Oakland and elsewhere. Since opening its first brick-and-mortar in 2019, Square Pie Guys has been credited with introducing San Franciscans to Detroit-style, crispy-edged square pizza. Oddly enough, its owner is from New York. The pizzas feature a cheddar-cheese edge, which gives them the signature crunch that differentiates Detroit from other styles.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the bar will serve small plates, entrees and cocktails, and a draft menu submitted to the City of Berkeley includes snacks like fritto misto, housemade potato chips and duck liver mousse crostini, plus a spin on Chez Panisse's famous garden lettuce salad. A coy Instagram post announced that Bar Panisse is walk-in only; diners can expect service Thursday through Sunday evenings from 4-10 p.m.

That Chevy's Fresh Mex on the San Francisco Bay waterfront in Emeryville was not unlike the famed Taco Bell Cantina in Pacifica a mid-range (at best) generic chain restaurant location that transcended into a cult-hit destination because of its remarkable surrounding waterfront scenery. And while I would not normally mourn the loss of a Chevy's Fresh Mex, it was legit sad when the the Emeryville waterfront Chevy's closed permanently in April 2024.

A little over a year after original owner Melissa Myers sold the neighborhood beer bar and bottle shop the Good Hop to two of its best customers, it is closing its doors. The bar announced its closure on Instagram after more than a decade in Oakland. Adam Clark, a former Good Hop bartender, and their partner, Monica White, a loyal regular at the Uptown Oakland bar and shop, took over the Good Hop from Myers in September 2024.

Old favorites are all over the menu at this Livermore Chinese spot, like spicy kung pao chicken, silky wonton soup, and flavorful tea-smoked duck. But you'll also find updated dishes, like buttery lobster shumai, a fun and vibrant "pizzetta" of raw sliced salmon atop a crispy onion pancake, and warm goat cheese wontons that taste like a crab rangoon's sophisticated older sister.

Like a lot of restaurants in Livermore, this spot's strip mall location might throw you off the scent of how good the quality of the food within is. You'll find plenty of classic Mexican specialties on the menu, like still-warm housemade chicharrónes, chicken tinga, and perfectly spiced equites. But don't ignore some of the less-expected dishes, like the parmesan-encrusted cauliflower with chipotle aioli for dipping, or the tender honey butter vegetables-stuffed chile relleno-a pleasantly light take on what is usually a heavy entrée.

For her series California Foodways, Lisa Morehouse is reporting a story about food and farming from each of California's 58 counties. Mike Reddick, who's worked at CJ's for about five years, sharpened knives. Larry Turner trimmed, rinsed and seasoned slabs of ribs, the way he's done for more than 15 years. Nick Gamble took inventory of the freezers. Watching and managing it all was Gamble's uncle, Charles Evans - CJ himself - who's nearly 80.

It has been a real delight to feed and get to know you as the seasons rolled by,

Though we're still pouring one out for Berkeley's beloved Standard Fare, the space won't be empty for long: the Bolita Masa team, known for their heirloom nixtamalized corn, plans to move in by February 2026. Café Bolita will serve daytime dishes like grab-and-go breakfast burritos, chilaquiles, and frittatas (a nod to Standard Fare's). Dinner is also in the works.

On a recent Wednesday, about a dozen customers lined up inside Bun Appétit Donuts just after 8 a.m. to scan the nearly 30 savory and sweet doughnuts, croissants and stuffed malasada-style pastries displayed behind glass. Classic sprinkle and glazed doughnuts were nowhere in sight, but these loyal patrons already knew that. They were up early for the store's elevated brioche doughnuts, including house favorites such as tiramisu, guava cheesecake and "everything," a savory doughnut like the bagel.

Pour Manners will pop-up at The Punchdown wine bar & bottle shop in Oakland on Friday, November 21st from 4-9pm. Pour Manners is a project of Boi Soth, serving izakaya inspired by the multicultural cuisines of the Bay Area. You can see our latest menu here. A glimpse at Friday's menu: 2-piece kushiyaki skewers: Chicken thigh with frizzled leeks, tare, yuzu kosho and sea salt Cambodian kroeung marinated steak with lemongrass tare, and kaffir lime sea salt Pork belly marinated in a calamansi ponzu topped with garlic chicharon and serrano pepper.

Razavi had been a regular customer at the market ever since he moved to Berkeley in 1976 from his hometown, Yazd, Iran, to attend San Jose State University. At that time, Middle East Market was the only place where Persian and Iranian immigrants could find familiar products from home, including teas, spices, sweets and rice, and it became a cultural and culinary hub for the Iranian community.

San Jose could soon gain another outpost of the beloved In-N-Out Burger chain as the company explores a location at 2641 McKee Road. The burger spot has submitted a preliminary review to the city, seeking feedback on its concept before moving to formal permits. This potential addition builds on In-N-Out's existing presence in the area, offering more opportunities for locals to enjoy fresh burgers and fries.

There will be moments, even years, when I forget about Vik's Chaat. But then I suddenly remember the giant, crispy, thin masala dosa, and a temporarily dormant craving returns. It's hard to find a place in the East Bay that has chaat the spicy, fun, Indian street snacks. I remember poking the garbanzo bean-filled pani puris and watching cholle bhature puff up as a cook fried it. Eating at Vik's is a hands-on, visceral experience.

The East Village Vietnamese restaurant Bánh Anh Em from Nhu Ton and John Nguyen has been popular since it opened in the spring: The line down the block is proof that, even in our age of overhype, customers respond to quality ingredients and strong flavors. Nearly every item on the menu comes loaded with ingredients made from scratch, including the bread in the bánh mì and the springy rice noodles in the phở. And some are punched up by items imported straight from Vietnam.

A buffet's worth of food pop-ups launched in the first year of COVID-19. Some flamed out, while others, like Cenaduria Elvira, became shooting stars. Now, the business that began in a Jingletown backyard and quickly gained notoriety for its focus on flavor-packed, lovingly-crafted dishes from the Mexican state of Jalisco, is ready for the next phase, a brick and mortar in Oakland's Jack London Square.

After closing their Walnut Creek location, Kopi Bar & Bakery is back inside the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA).