eatshopsleepberkeley

Shorebird Park

Administrator — Wed, 21 May 2008 05:10:45 +0000

Shorebird Park is part of the Berkeley Marina. The Berkeley Marina has lots to offer, so I will have to split it up in a couple different posts.

I picked up the kids today and took them to get a snack at Bette’s To Go. Then we headed on down to the Marina to do the 1.5 mile loop at Horseshoe Park with the dog. It was very windy and the waves were breaking and spraying us as we walked the trail. Gael and I often run down Frontage Road along the shore, and sometimes we do the loop. There are tons of birds and squirrels to see, nice patches of grass to lay on, hills to fly kites on and benches on which to sit and watch the waves and the San Francisco skyline.

After the walk I took the kids to Shorebird Park, which is next to the Adventure Park (which is so cool, it needs its own post). Shorebird has a new wood play structure, bathrooms, picnic tables, bbqs and access to a small, sand-and-pebble beach. It is also right next to Cal Adventures, so you can watch the sailboats and windsurfers on the bay.

Shorebird also has a nature center which we have yet to check out.

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Bettes To Go

Administrator — Wed, 21 May 2008 05:05:29 +0000

I used to eat at Bettes pretty much everyday when I worked at Clear Ink. The kids love it, and its close to both of their schools so we often stop by for a snack on our way home or to a playdate. They serve a variety of foods and sugary treats so everyone can find something they want to eat, even Me (Mommy) who is on weight watchers. Typically I can get a lentil or fruit salad and Owen can get a slice of pizza. Ruby almost always gets a baguette and fruit salad and washes it down with an Orangina.

Igor eats here pretty much every day. He likes the panini and the chocolate pudding. He often gets the soup of the day as well. You can sit outside in the sun and enjoy your food. The iced coffee is really good, too. And so is the pancake mix they sell (grab a bag by the door). I’ve also eaten the burritos many times. The salads are all delicious, too.

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Guerilla Cafe

Administrator — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:48:04 +0000

Igor and I met for lunch at Guerilla today. I’ve been waiting to eat here for a long while; my kids won’t set foot in the place because the music is kinda loud for them. It has always appealed to the graphic designer in me, with the brightly painted walls and giant graphics, and the hip music that can be heard from the sidewalk (they often have a live dj).

So when I sat down at the counter with the colorful, cool circular wood inlays my MOMishness dissapeared and I was instantly transported back to my days as a thirty-nothing dot-commer. It felt good.

So, oh yeah, the food. I had a hibiscus tea which came with a lime cross-section and a sprig of mint. It was tasty and low-cal (all this restaurant reviewing is wreaking havoc on my weight watchers weight loss plan! In fact, I ran 2 miles to the cafe, and 2 miles back.) Igor and I both had the lentil coconut soup (very, very good) and then we split a caprese and an eggplant panini. The eggplant was good, but I wasn’t very into the bell pepper that came in it. It overpowered the eggplant. The caprese was creamy and delicious on foccacia bread. The side salads were also good.

I didn’t have coffee, but they serve (and sell) blue bottle!! I am going to have to come back for the gourmet waffles, which I hear are the bomb.

Igor will post his comments separately. This should be interesting because the man is the biggest food snob (in a good way) I know.

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The Juice Bar Collective

Administrator — Tue, 20 May 2008 04:19:47 +0000

I’ve lived in Berkeley for 10 years now, and somehow I’ve managed to never eat at The Juice Bar Collective! My ex boss and friend, Igor, who is the most picky eater I have ever met, ate there everyday when he worked in the neighborhood. So today I took Owen and Chewie the Dog down to Vine street to try it out.

I had always envisioned it to be raw and vegan, for some reason. So was I surprised to find out it wasn’t. They sell meat dishes. But they had plenty of vegetarian, and some vegan options. So I opted for the polenta pizza with artichokes and sauteed onions. It was mighty tasty.

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I tried to get back in line for a smoothie, but my son was pulling on my purse in an effort to get me to take him to the bakery at Walnut Square, Love at First Bite. (Review coming soon).

Tomorrow I meet Igor the picky at Guerilla cafe for lunch.

The Holistic Hound

Administrator — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:55:12 +0000

Today after we ate at the Juice Bar Collective around the corner, we took our Dog Chewie to The Holistic Hound. It was chock-full of mouth-watering human-grade and organic food, homeopathic medicines and other doggie paraphernalia. They had jars of treats, such as apple oat sweet potato cookies. I almost bought one for myself! We ended up getting Chewie a package of moist organic chicken treats in a hurry and left because house-trained Chewie marked a stack of magazines. (but they were super gracious about it)

1510 Walnut Street, Berkeley, CA
510.843.2133

See the owner in a video describing the store’s philoshopy below:

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turn here short films cool places: videos about berkeley ’hoods

Administrator — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:36:32 +0000

I just ran across this cool site called turn here, which has a bunch of videos about businesses and neighborhoods in san francisco, LA and New York. Check out the ones about Berkeley.

They encourage you to post their videos, so here is one about ghourmet ghetto:

Glendale La Loma Park

Administrator — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:46:57 +0000

There are several cool parks in Berkeley, but one of our faves is La Loma in the hills. We can easily spend 4 hours or more here on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

There are three parks in one at La Loma. The upper playground is for tots and babies and has a small twisty slide, a train, some swings and a sand area. The middle playground has a much larger wood play structure, with a big slide, monkey bars, a cylindrical treadmill thingy and swings — all in a giant sandbox. The lower field has a large baseball field and a dilapitated basketball court and “rock smashing quarry.” (At least that is how my kids use it. They love to smash rocks and look for crystal)

Each “level” has a great view of the city, awesome trees to climb and there are picnic tables and bathrooms! Today we played for about 3 1/2 hours and had a picnic. The adults played frisbee and the dogs ran around off leash on the grass field while the kids made “dust clouds” on the baseball field.

Berkeley Bowl is a supermarket but they have a great “food court” with japanese, chinese and mexican food in addition to a traditional deli and bakery. They also have stuff like raw veggie wraps. When no one can decide what kind of food they want to eat, we head on over to Berkeley Bowl and everyone can eat something different. For example the kids can get mac and cheese with a side of edaname, and I can get raw vegan food.

In addition to the food court, they have the most insane produce section I have ever seen! If you ever need an exotic ingredient that you’ve never heard of, chances are you can find it at Berkeley Bowl.

2020 Oregon St
Berkeley, CA 94703
(510) 843-6929

Rick and Ann’s

Administrator — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:02:20 +0000

Rick and Ann’s characterizes their menu as “Comforting American Food.” They serve the basic traditional breakfast (pancakes, eggs, potatoes, yogurt with granola) as well as some more esoteric offerings like the Italian Platter (grilled sweet italian sausage, creamy polenta, red and green bell peppers…) Sue and I opted to share the Four Fungi Feta Omelet (made with shitake, oyster, portobello and white mushrooms) and then a stack of buttermilk pancakes (I assume because we were discussing Sue’s latest culinary adventures making her own buttermilk and cream cheese). Everything was delicious. The coffee was good, too. We had to wait about 1/2 hour to be seated (there is usually a wait to eat here), but there is a Peets next door so we were able to get a couple lattes while we waited. Located just across the street from the Claremont Hotel.

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Claremont Regional Preserve (great hiking trails)

Administrator — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:37:44 +0000

A couple times a week I hike behind the Claremont with girlfriends. It’s a steep, approximately 4.5 mile, 1.75 hour round trip (if you go to the top). There is a nice bench with an incredible view of San Francisco at .75 miles. It’s dog-friendly, and you can hike with your dog off leash. It’s a great place to get a workout while spending time with friends. During spring I love the smell of the Scotchbroom and Pine that line the trail at the top, it reminds me of fresh laundry.

You’ll see some wildlife up there, mostly cute rabbits with brown bodies/white tails, birds and galloping deer, but occasionally you might see a snake. Rattlers have been seen up there as well. We just try not to hike too late in the day when snakes love to sun themselves on the trail.

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Read more about the Claremont Regional Preserve.