Eating in Berkeley

Having lived in Berkeley for two years now, I have discovered several truisms about eating here.
Since I've done some of that work, I figured I might as well report on what I've found. Of course this list is biased towards my tastes, but then again, so is Berkeley as a whole.

Warning: most of this information was written down off the top of my head, so may be inaccurate or out of date. Corrections (and additional suggestions!) are welcome.

Breads of India

What: Indian food, California-style
Where: Sacramento Ave. at Dwight. They have a second location (Zaika's) at Shattuck and Virginia, but the original is better.
When: lunch (11:30-2:30?) and dinner (5:30-9:30?) every day.

So it's not authentic. So it's a little bland for my tastes. I don't care. I happen to like my Indian food made with olive oil, and the bread. Oh, the bread.

Breads of India takes the Alice Waters approach to Indian food: use fresh ingredients. The menu changes each day, with three veg and two nonveg entrees; the indecisive can opt for a combination plate. Entrees are chosen from across the wide Indian culinary landscape, so keep an open mind. And of course, don't forget to choose from among the breads--all are soft, chewy, flavorful, and fresh out of the oven.

Not quite as cheap as some of the other entries on this list, dinner here may run you $15.

Cha-Ya

What: vegan Japanese
Where: Shattuck Ave., between Virginia and Lincoln
When: dinner only (opens at 5 PM?), and arrive before 6:30 PM; the wait can grow to an hour or more after that.

It's the only vegan Japanese restaurant I've ever been to, maybe because any other one would have such a high standard to live up to.

Modulo the meat, you can get your standard Japanese fare here (sushi, tempura), but part of the fun here is in the adventure. There are a number of vegetables on the menu you may never have heard of; don't worry, they're all good. You'll get some miso soup to whet your appetite, and you might want to wash the meal down with Berkeley's own Takara Sake (produced across the street from Vik's).

Japanese food is not cheap, and Cha-Ya is no exception, but you'll have to work to spend $20, and in a pinch you can come in under $10.

The Cheese Board Pizza

What: what do you think?
Where: Shattuck Avenue, between Cedar and Vine
When: Tues-Sat for lunch and dinner. Beware that they close at 7 PM, or sooner if they run out of food; this is not unusual on the popular Friday and Saturday nights.

The Cheese Board Collective is a holdout from the late 1960s--a true collective, where members get together to make all decisions and share all proceeds. (They recently advertised an opening for a new member, with a mere 5 year commitment.) In addition to hawking fine cheeses and breads in the Cheese Board store two doors down, they make a peculiar but wonderful type of pizza: no tomato sauce, not much crust, but lots of exotic cheeses, fresh vegetables, and a brush of olive oil. They only make one type of pizza per day (posted out front), which enables them to process even long lines with ease.

Get your pizza ($2 per slice; two is already a decent meal) and your beverage (wine, anyone?) at the counter; if you opt to dine in, enjoy the live jazz acts or wander out onto the Shattuck Avenue median (the closest grassy spot). If you're taking your pizza home and don't plan to eat right away, ask for "light bake"--you'll get a partially-cooked pie needing only a few more minutes in the oven.

Thai Buddhist Temple

What: Thai, naturally.
Where: Russell Street, between Milvia and Martin Luther King (by the branch library). Parking is tough.
When: Sunday, 9ish to 1:30, or whenever the food runs out. Get there before 11 to avoid the longest lines. Also, this is outdoors, so beware of rain.

I wish I had found this sooner, but judging from the crowds, others have not suffered my fate. The temple runs the Sunday brunch as a fundraiser--all the labor is provided by volunteers to best provide you with cheap eats and good karma.

Proceed down the outdoor corridor into the courtyard with the tents set up. Your first stop will be the cash counter at the back left, where you will trade dollars for metal tokens which you'll spend elsewhere. You can fork over a token right there for a Thai iced tea or coffee, which you'll probably need given the spiciness of Thai food. Then, get in line for papaya salad, fried chicken, mango and sticky rice, or various curries. A heaping plate of two curries is a steal at $5.

After you eat, you can peek in on the temple services (no shoes indoors, please!) or sometimes watch a cultural performance.

Udupi Palace

What: South Indian
Where: 1901 University Avenue (at Martin Luther King)
When: 11:30-10 every day but Monday, but the food on weekdays does not seem to live up to the same standard as on the weekends.

Ever since Pasand (on Shattuck Avenue) was exposed as a front for people smuggling and prostitution, the conscientious diner has been hard-pressed to find South Indian food in Berkeley (except a few items at Vik's). No longer; the folks who run the Udupi Palace restraurants in Fremont and Sunnyvale have brought a smallish franchise up to Berkeley.

Note on the name: Udupi is a sleepy coastal town in the southern Indian state of Karnataka famous as the home of a prominent temple to Lord Krishna, and as the birthplace of the masala dosa. (These are not unrelated: Krishna is considered a great epicure, so good cooking is an important part of his worship.) Thus any restaurant named for Udupi can be expected to specialize in South Indian cuisine. (Ditto if its name includes the outrageous misspelling "Udipi", but beware of inauthenticity.) Oh, and Udupi is also where my family is from.

Anyway, the restaurant lives up to its name with an all-vegetarian menu of dosas, uthappam, and the like. It's pretty cheap (no dosa above $6), quick and quite tasty; the dosas are even better than at Vik's. Grab a "Mysore" or "Udupi" dosa for an exercise in spice tolerance. And don't be afraid to eat with your hand(s); that's what napkins are for.

Vik's

What: Indian food, mostly chaat
Where: Addison Road at 4th Street; beware that parking in the adjacent lot is only permitted along the rows closest to the store.
When: for lunch every day but Monday; closes nominally at 6 PM but sometimes sooner.

Vik's is the ultimate triumph of substance over style. You eat in a converted warehouse in a post-industrial West Berkeley neighborhood, the only utensils are spoons, and it's fabulous.

Don't come here expecting chicken tikka masala or lamb vindaloo. The main part of the menu consists of a variety of snack-like items, some familiar (samosas, pakoras), some maybe less so (chole bhatura, bhel puri, dahi papri chaat). Weekdays you can also order a more conventional-looking "special" (one veg, one nonveg option); weekends the menu expands to include idli sambar, masala dosa, pau bhaji, and more. I'm especially keen on the vegetable kathi.

Place your surprisingly affordable order at the counter (don't forget the mango lassi, or Limca or Thums Up for you homesick NRIs), then listen for your name pronounced with an Indian accent through a handheld microphone. Typically the items you ordered will appear one at a time; this is typically instantaneous except during busy times (12:15-12:45 on weekdays, 1-4 PM on weekends), when a masala dosa can take over 15 minutes. Then grab a seat at one of the tables, or at the counter along the back wall, or just head outside and sit on the sidewalk. Remember, substance over style.

When you're done, you can sample some Indian desserts, or head next door for your Indian grocery needs. (Indeed, once the snack bar was a tiny counter at the back of the grocery store, until heavy demand compelled the owner to expand.)

Kiran S. Kedlaya (kedlaya(at)math.berkeley.edu)
Last updated: 22 Nov 2002