Gourmet Ghetto

There is a part of Berkeley called (by some) the Gourmet Ghetto. Because of this nickname, I had certain assumptions about this place - namely, that it would be kind of ghetto looking, but still have awesome food. As it turns out, it is no longer the least bit ghetto looking and just has the nice food. I'll take it.

Chez Panisse is in this so-called Ghetto and is probably its most famous occupant.

No, sadly, I did not eat here. But I did quite a bit of ogling as if it were a historical monument.

Now I'm really starting to embarrass Natalie.

There is a cafe attached to the "real" restaurant that has slightly less high-end fare and hence cheaper prices. I was actually really excited about a lot of things on this menu and definitely plan on eating here sometime.

One of the unique things about Chez Panisse (other than it starting a culinary revolution in America) is that it doesn't give you any options. You eat what they are making that day for dinner. Take it or leave it. Unfortunately, I'm not the most adventurous eater in the world (yet), and this isn't exactly appealing to me.

One day I'll be checking out this menu (perhaps just at the cafe) on the inside!

Now onto where I did eat...Cheeseboard.

Who says you can't get good pizza outside of New York?? Actually, I do. This place was awesome, but I think great pizza is legitimately hard to find out here.

Cheeseboard is pretty unique too. For one thing, they offer only one flavor of pizza per day. Seems to be a theme in dah ghetto. Also, it's a collective and is owned by the people who work there. Everyone owns an equal share and has an equal say. Sounds like an interesting work environment.

The flavors they offer are unique too. We had fresh corn, zucchini, onions, mozzarella, feta, garlic olive oil, and cilantro. I haven't heard of about half of those ingredients on a pizza before. You can also see the limes they provided to squeeze on top if you so desired. I think Mitch was really into the lime on top.

We all loved every bite. This stuff was amazing. There were so many flavors and everything was cut up pretty finely so it all meshed really well together. Usually when you eat pizza the toppings are so huge that you can't help but just taste that one topping, and this way was so much better. The crust, the cheese, the toppings...oh man they were all perfect. I was in heaven.

One downside to Cheeseboard is that there is a ridiculously long line to wait in before you can snag your pie. Also, there is almost nowhere to sit, so everyone sits on the median eating their pizza.

You can see Cheeseboard in the background here and the other people on the median.

The median thing is less annoying than it sounds though because the pizza is just that good. You might not want to bring your parents on the median though. Or my parents at least.

And we didn't just get pizza, we obviously needed more Ghetto food.

So we decided to get some crispy potato puffs at Gregoire, this cute little French-ish takeout place. They came with a delish dipping sauce that I can't for the life of me remember anything about. Ha.

Mitch is an especially big fan of these little guys, and I'm going to go ahead and say he ate most of them. I was more focused on the pizza though, so I can't complain.

That's it for my Berkeley/Oakland recaps. And to think we did all this eating in one day. Oh gross, please don't think of that because then you'll realize what a glutton I am.

Top Cheffage

So, like last week I won't give anything away about who wins and who gets kicked off. My thoughts might not make sense if you haven't seen the episode though...

Did anyone else notice that the guest judge talked a lot like Kevin Spacey. Or to me I kept thinking "He sounds like the guy from American Beauty," and I kept thinking his name was Kevin Kline. ha. Thank you, IMDB for clearing that one up.

So as for the quickfire challenge...Ron somehow managed to make a comparison between Bob Marley and potatoes. And then said something like "Don't worry, be happy." That guy needs to worry though because he is going to get kicked off soon.

Sexist guy (Michael? Mike? Something.) informed us that Risotto is a style of cooking because he knew all the viewers would think he was a weirdo for pretending to make potato risotto. Okay, fine, you got me. I didn't know risotto was a style of cooking, but you didn't have to make me feel all dumb about it.

Again, Bravo really edits things to make Ashley seem crazy for yelling at Pretty (whatever) about the whole water thing. Maybe they are trying to make her into the next Lisa, whom everyone hated. I don't really see that happening though.

Anyone else notice that ice cream never freezes in time on this show? It's a forgone conclusion. Oh great, someone is making ice cream. Now there will be drama about it not freezing.

Jennifer's voice is incredibly annoying. She talks like she has a fake accent or something. Reminds me of the trashy mom from Gone Baby Gone (played by Holly from The Office).

And as for the elimination challenge. Anyone that watches The Next Food Network Star (which you should!!) will find this challenge quite a bit similar to their military challenge this past season. Lame.

When she finds out about the challenge, Ashley says, "We could be cooking for 300 people using toaster ovens and matches." Um yeah, you'll be lucky if you have matches. As it turns out, the kitchen isn't that bad in my opinion. Better than cooking on the fire on the beach like that one season. Kevin is able to predict exactly what type of food will be in the kitchen, which makes me think Bravo is annoyed at him for being practical. I'm starting to like Kevin a lot, especially when he says things like "We [he and Eli] bond as fat kids." You make the jokes for me, Kevin.

Everyone makes a HUGE deal about serving chowder on a hot day. I cannot begin to count how many times it was brought up. They only mentioned the chili thing once though, even though those dishes seems pretty similar in my mind. Ron says he knows the troops love chowder, which makes no sense. You have no problem understanding his every word though because...he...speaks...so...slowly...that...you...only...miss...something...if...you...fall...asleep. I seem to take issue with the way a lot of people speak on the show.

Was this the first time on Top Chef that during a challenge there was an executive chef who was not responsible for any dishes and just managed? I found that interesting.

Do you think they made every contestant talk about how much they loved the military and the troops? Every 5 seconds there was a clip about how so and so has a second cousin in the military. Great story. Also, I particularly liked Padma dressing in a leopard print mini...for the troops of course!

I promised not to discuss the results, but I will just say that this season has been fairly predictable so far. The good people seem to always win and the bad people seem to always lose.

Berk

I only just recently learned how to spell Berkeley, so when I was planning this weekend's trip with Natalie I just kept calling it "Berk" (because I didn't know how many "e"s were in it).

They sell quite a bit of tie dye on the streets of Berk, but probably mostly for the tourists as opposed to the hippie residents. Don't get me wrong, we saw quite a few weirdo hippie types, but for the most part it's just full of students.

Here is a picture of College Ave, where we got Ici. I love these kinds of streets in college towns. Who doesn't?

Apparently every time Natalie and Mitch come to Berkeley, Natalie makes them come here - Jeremy's. It's like a cute version of T.J. Maxx. At first I thought it was a men's-only store and I was like "Wait, Mitch makes you guys come here every time?" Then I realized it was more Natalie's doing.

I feel like Paris Hilton - no one has ever snuck up on me to take a picture of me shopping! I'm not at Kitson in LA though. For better or for worse.

I reserve this smile for shopping and eating.

Check out the happy couple. Aww.

I really wanted to go visit the campus of U.C. Berkeley, and it was nothing like I expected. There are almost zero dorms and the buildings don't really match the way they do at some universities. Tons of students were outside having fun, though, which is a good sign.

Here is a picture of the (under construction) symbolic piece of architecture at Berkeley.

I found this Victory Garden in the middle of campus to be somewhat comical. It's definitely not out of place at a school like Berkeley.

Little tomatoes hoping to grow big and strong one day. I'm not sure who the heck is tending them and who will get to eat them. I certainly didn't have my own garden in the middle of campus when I was in college. I didn't go to Berkeley though.

I really loved Berkeley, and I can't wait to go back.

Ici

After the Eat Real Fest in Oakland, we headed up to Berkeley - another first for me - and we hit up College Avenue. Natalie and Mitch kept calling this "going to College," and John and I thought they meant Berkeley (the school). We thought they were weirdos for this, but apparently they just meant College Ave. On College there is this ah-may-zing ice cream shop called Ici. It was 90+ degrees on Saturday, and since we all abstained from ice cream at the food fest, clearly we had to stop at Ici.

Above you can see their display of flavors on the wall - how cute is that? They have lots of normal flavors (chocolate) and tons of unique flavors too (lemon vanilla). They use organic and sustainable ingredients, perfect for Berkeley. And one of their three founders used to be the pastry chef at Chez Panisse. It's no surprise this place is delicious!

There is a huge twisting line in a very small room, and I thought it was great they put out water for their suffering customers. Sadly for me, it was sparkling water. I really do not like the taste of sparkling water. On my first date with John he ordered sparkling water (to impress me of course) and I choked it down. At the end of the night I think I told him how much I hated it. In fact I think I told him the truth - that it tasted like dirt. Who wants bitter water? Not me!

I'm smiling while drinking it, but really I'm not psyched. I guzzled for the sake of avoiding dehydration though.

Behind me you can see some of the adorable candies and things they have. Peppermint marshmallows, macaroons, peanut brittle, and candied orange peels. It was hard to restrain myself from buying a whole arm full.

I was only able to restrain myself because I knew this amazing treat was coming my way. You can see it's melting fast in the heat, but I'm doing my best to keep up. I got pine nut praline and it was everything I dreamed it would be. One of the best parts of this place is their cones. They are homemade (natch) and then down at the bottom the last inch is coated and filled with chocolate. Why haven't other people started doing this? It helps make sure there are no leaks and gives you a delicious bite at the end.

This was just our first stop in Berkeley, and I was in heaven. More on our trip later.

So Wrong it's Right

I totally have a thing for fruit and veggies that are the "wrong" color. Here are some raspberries from the farmers market that I got awhile back. No real reason to get the different color, but I just get a kick out of it.

I also enjoy orange and purple cauliflower (purple especially) and recently discovered - and ate - purple "green" beans. I'm not sure what to call them them; purple beans? Yellow watermelon is fun, and I tried a slice of white peach (white on the outside, not just the inside) the other day too. I get orange cherry tomatoes every chance I get, because they are the sweetest tomatoes imaginable. Sweeter than grapes, honestly.

I heard white asparagus isn't as healthy as the green kind, so I've never gotten that before. Apparently they are white from being in the shade or something bizarre.

Anyone else a fan of these color-confused plants? Am I just susceptible to persuasive plant marketing??