Berkeley - as in Bohemia

I wanted to spend more time here. A place like Berkeley tugs more of my heart strings than say, Santa Rosa . It's the rebellious vagabond streak, if you will, or the flower child that never blossomed finding her wings. It does help that Chuck also enjoys the avant garde. Walk around Fourth Street. One of my stops was Miki's Paper , a customer, and a Japanese paper store. There is a Crate & Barrel outlet right across, but it was disappointingly small. California's nouvelle cuisine can be had, indoors or al fresco. Café Rouge was superb. April Cornell also has a foothold as does Dansk . If you enjoy Sur La Table , there is a huge one across the street from Café Rouge.

The neighborhoods change in mood and esthetics fairly quickly around here. Telegraph Avenue is pulsing with activity, as one would expect in a town with the median age under 25. It's a combination of Soho, South Street, and London's Camden Lock.

Found a great ceramic store with majolica pieces down University, and an Indian grocery/arts & crafts/bookshope emporium right across the street.

Quick Tips:

Comfortable shoes will serve you on Fourth Street and Telegraph Avenue. There's lots to see and much ground to cover. If you enjoy ethnic foods, you will find just about everything under the sun here in Berkeley. There's great emphasis on things Mexican and Indian. We spotted a Pakistani restaurant that was closed. Not having had the experience of a hotel in Berkeley, I can't make any recommendations, but we did spot a Holiday Inn Express on University, and they usually offer a good value for an overnight stay.

Best Way To Get Around:

Driving, again, is the best way to get around except when you reach Telegraph Avenue. Parking is going to be hell, not only on the street itself, but well within several blocks north and south of it. Its proximity to the UC-Berkeley Campus doesn't help matters. Bicycles abound, and you might want to consider this as an option.

For more on San Francisco and other Northern California Cities:

San Jose

Healdsburg

Go West!

Petaluma

Sebastopol

Santa Rosa

Slumming in San Francisco

San Francisco II

Rohnert Park

Café Rouge is comprised of a restaurant and meat market situated side by side. I found the outdoor seating very appealing, and so we took a table on the raised sidewalk and enjoyed the sun of the day. Waiters are very gracious here, and the menu is heavy on meat, but also very nouvelle cuisine. Chuck and I shared the Grilled radicchio and fennel salad with lemon vinaigrette and botarga and the Housemade charcuterie plate: pork pâté, mortadella and liverwurst; served with olives and cornichons. The Charcuterie plate was very French and very tasty. The portions are normal by comparison to everywhere else, and I suppose that is what is meant by "nouvelle" cuisine.

The owners are very proud of their meat market, where they purchase products directly from the growers and are assured that it is hormone free. All of the charcuterie is made by the restaurant's chefs. They offer over a dozen kinds of different sausage and rotisserie chicken is a specialty. Voted in the top 100 restaurants by Chronicle Review. You can view their website at Cafe Rouge

Other Recommended Eateries in Northern California are listed below:

Dojima

Lori's Diner

Bacchus

Café des Croissants

East West Café

The Tides Wharf

Café Bangkok

Taqueria El Sombrero

Original Joe's

Talavera is not only the name of the shop, but is also a certain style of ceramics which is a fusion of forms from Italy, Spain, Islam, China and Mexico. These were first produced in Spain blending Spanish and Moorish styles in a region called Talavera de La Reina. Blue was introduced later through the influence of the Chinese. The art came to Mexico via Dominican Monks.

This shop would have been passed by, if it had not been for some pieces displayed outside on the sidewalk; it's impossible not to catch the splashes of color on the pots. The store is quite small and narrow. So objects are displayed everywhere, even high up on the walls where there were some wonderfully painted sinks. Not all the pieces had the usual indigo and yellow that is so recognizable as Mexican ceramics. Prices are quite reasonable. You'll see some wonderful examples in the photos.

Across the street from Talavera Ceramics was a huge Indian emporium of all sorts of goods imported from the subcontinent. As soon as you walk in and bear left, you are greeted by ayurvedic remedies in bulk and bottled. They are shown with their Sanskrit names with an English translation. Further on the left are statuettes and other religious objects and boxes. They got larger as you made your way to the back of the store.

They have a great selection of teas, including chai, but you'd expect to pay much less from a direct importer. A box containing 20 bags of spiced chai sold for $4.00; Darjeeling was quite predominant, as was ceylon tea, and bulk teas. Aside from the Indian brands, they carried Twinings as well. There was a selection of grains and condiments and canned goods.

Through the mid-section of the right side of the store was an entryway which led to a bookstore which would satisfy the beginner or advanced cook of Indian foods from different regions. There were also children's books, Ayurveda books, and some outdated travel books. In the same section, were also some cards which were printed in India for various occasions.

Incense was available in packs of 20 and up to 500. Carved round and rectangular tables were for sale. Shoes and sandals; henna and face jewelry. Quite an array but hereagain, along University Avenue, there are many similar stores which feature Indian dress and/or foods. This one is one of the largest, and one can order from them online.

I got a henna tattoo in an Indian Shop in Boston; read about it here:
India's Antiques & Music
We also visited a superb Indian area in Singapore:
Little India

Sur La Table (On the Table) speaks to the dreams of every gourmet cook on the planet. They claim to stock over 72,000 items, and I won't dispute that because I think there are more than that. I had seen my first of these near Pike's Market in Seattle, where the company is based. But, you never tire of looking at displays at Sur La Table, especially if you are constantly refurbishing your kitchen mentally.

The store on Fourth Street is one level, but is ample enough to have their classes on the same level. They are a few notches above a store like Lechter's but in the same price range as New York's Fortunoff's in Wesbury Mall. Being especially fond of ceramics, I'm always looking at dinner sets and have been particularly attracted by the square dish sets which are more and more prominent these days. Every conceivable gadget, product, spice and pot is here. Don't know how to cook? Choose one of hundreds of books they stock and will be happy to sell you. If you can't make it to one of their stores, you can shop on line at Sur La Table. Even if you don't buy anything, there's no denying the pleasure of looking at beautiful things for the kitchen.

Chuck wanted to show me Telegraph Avenue which hugs the University of Cal. at Berkeley. It was on the opposite side of town, so we drove in that direction and somehow managed to go around the campus stadium, and some of the student housing and lots of Greek fraternities. As we approached the area, in the midst of a plaza, was a Chinese man with placards all over his body protesting the killing of Chinese by the Japanese. He stood on top of his makeshift soap box and I'm not sure he was drawing much attention to his cause. Let's say that this may not have been the concern "du jour".

It is nearly impossible to park on or around Telegraph Street. You can understand why they have what they have there due to the proximity to the University. In addition to the funky shops and unusual eateries are street vendors who line both sides of the street and sell everything from jewelry to politically incorrect T-Shirts.

We went around the blocks more than 3 times during which time I spotted handmade jewelry, hand-crafted pottery, wind chimes, candles, books, artwork and rastafarian hats, as well as talented henna artists.

Amoeba Music was crowded, and has a sister store in San Francisco which is larger. Here you'll find two huge rooms full of music covering all genres, from jazz to hip-hop to Latin and techno.

The street was animated with activity, and after having gone around more than 3 times, we decided to head back to San Francisco. This is definitely a walking venue, and we will walk it on future visits.