Notes on a Berkeley

It started with La Note. One of the most comforting brunch places I've ever seen. Decorated in a true French provencal style, La Note has stolen my heart. There's something about seeing brunch items such as "Fresh Bread Basket served with lavender honey and raspberry jam" that puts me in my happy place. The simplicity of a warm croissant smothered in jam and a steaming cup of coffee... it's perfection. Did I order that? Well, no. How could I pass up luscious, fluffy, sweet Oatmeal and Raspberry Pancakes?? After all, I was only there for a day! I planned on eating my pancakes and getting an almond croissant to go to munch on throughout the day. Didn't happen. I was too full. Anyway these pancakes were amazing. Dark and slightly doughy, covered in a swirl of raspberry coulis and powdered sugar. Caty got the Cote Nord- scrambled eggs over chewy toasted whole wheat bread smeared with goat cheese. That came with potatoes (big chunks of roasted red potatoes!) and roasted tomato halves. Très bien! We were full, but this was only the start to our day of gluttony.

Oatmeal Raspberry Pancakes

Cote Nord

We walked around Telegraph for a bit, stopped into Buffalo Exchange where I found a cute silky best-friend-approved top (slated to make its debut in New York in 3 weeks) and a black Proenza Schouler Jacket for only $16! Crazy! We also went to Fourth Street and walked around for a little bit. The shops were adorable. That's where Bette's Oceanview Diner is, a place that apparently makes delectable souffle pancakes that I'd seen on Diners Driveins and Dives before. I stopped into Chocolatier Blue, a fancy lil sweets place, and got two chocolates. One was hazelnut and the other had an angel food cake filling (almondesque)- both very good.

Hazelnut and Angel Food Cake Chocolates

We raced back to Shattuck Ave. to get to the Cheese Board Collective in time to meet our friends and house mates (Tristin and Ashelen) who were in Berkeley for their A Cappella Competition which was the whole reason we were in Berkeley. Cheese Board is a worker-owned and run pizza place that serves one vegetarian specialty pizza per day. The ingredients are locally sourced and organic. Yesterday's pizza was with roma tomatoes, mozzarella, feta, caramelized onions, lemon juice and zest, and cilantro. They are open for lunch, close for an hour and a half, and open again for dinner. The lines are loooooong, but it goes by quick since there's not much on the menu. We were greeted by our friends sitting outside and a "Guys, cheese board is closed" from Marjorie who happily finished her last bites of pizza and salad. We thought that they closed from 3:30-5, but it turned out they closed from 3-4:30. Whoops. We decided we'd come back for dinner. I went into Cheese Board's bakery and cheese store next door to grab a loaf of bread and I made the day's happiest discovery. Cheese Board sells Labneh. Cue the ear to ear smile on my face. Labneh is "kefir cheese" which is basically really thick unsweetened yogurt. At Sara's house, I gladly help myself to a bowlful of labneh drizzeled with olive oil, salt, and zaatar eaten with toasted pita and/or lavash. Good luck getting me to share. I crave it all the time, but they don't sell it anywhere in Santa Cruz so I had to buy one. I also got a blueberry ginger scone because, well... why the hell not? The scone was perfect with its crunchy outside, soft inside and chunks of crystallized ginger. Skipping ahead a little, we went back to Cheese Board for dinner and it hit the spot. One of the best Pizza's I've ever had. A thin crispy crust, but still a little chewy. No sauce, all toppings. Bright flavors. Oh yeah, baby.

Our glorious pizza.

Crystallized Ginger chunks in my scone.
Don't mind my gross nails.

Gimme gimme.

Cheese Board's kitchen and patrons.

Going back to 3pm and our disappointment at missing lunch, Tristin, Caty and I went to College Ave to grab some lunch for Tris before she had to go to campus for sound check. We got La Mediterranee (or Cafe La Med), but just a lentil salad because we wanted to save our appetites for dinner later. The lentil salad was so good! I have no idea what kind of lentils these were but they were really big, and light in color. The salad had roasted red and yellow peppers, tomato, and carrot in it. The dressing was lemon and olive oil I believe. The inside of Cafe La Med was super cute, tons of tile, an open kitchen, and high ceilings. I totally forgot to get pictures, sorry! The menu reminded me of the restaurant I worked at over the summer, Sunnin Lebanese Cafe.

So now it's 4:15, we drop Tris off on campus, run around town a little bit and meet Caty's friend Katrina for our splendid and overdue pizza date at Cheese Board. When we left the restaurant, the line was winding down the street, almost around the corner. The people of Berkeley need their pizza! We had some time to kill so we drove up to the Lawrence Lab to gawk at the most spectacular view of Berkeley. It was clear last night and we could see everything. We could see the ocean, the Bay Bridge, and Golden Gate Bridge, and the lights across the bay in San Francisco. It was finally time to go see the girls sing and they did such a great job!! After the competition Caty and I stopped for one last Berkeley treat- King Pin Donuts in the Asian Ghetto. The only donut I really like is a cake donut with vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles (which is weird because I don't really like sprinkles). King Pin had exactly what I wanted, but it was half rainbow sprinkles, half coconut!! I was so happy. We ate our donuts in the car and drove back home to  relax after one of the longest, but best days we'd had in a while. The day ended with a smile, just as it started with one.

Congrats on your first ICCAs girls!

A pancake induced smile.

Heart Shaped Pizza

Continuing with the Valentine's Day theme from my previous post, Ricotta Pound Cake, I want to share with you all one of my passions. PIZZA. I'd say my pizza passion started last year when my friend Rosy and I realized you could buy fresh pizza dough from Whole Foods for 2 dollars per dough. We'd go a little crazy with our Friday night pizza and trashy tv nights. I know some people have a weird aversion to Whole Foods because it can get a little pricey, but do not buy Trader Joe's pizza dough. I repeat- don't do it! It's good for making soft pretzels (just roll it into a thin log, make a U shape, and cross the sides over) but it is extremely hard to stretch into a pizza. The Whole Foods dough is made on site, packaged as you order it, and fluffy as a cloud. But what does this have to do with Valentine's Day? My house mates and I invited some friends from the next block over the day after valentines day for pizza making, and we ended up making heart shaped pizza! It was adorable. The one wrong thing that happened this night was that neither Whole Foods, nor Trader Joe's had basil in stock. I couldn't believe it. But we made due on the Margherita with dried herbs.

Heart Shaped Margherita.

Our favorites are...
Goat cheese - with sundried tomatoes and carmelized onions (cooked beforehand). No sauce, just a drizzle of olive oil
Margherita - the real way with buffalo mozzarella, slices of tomato, and basil (sauce optional)
Veggie- orange pepper, mushroom, spinach in the sauce
Mexican- drained and rinsed black beans, corn, chopped cilantro, pico de gallo, mozzarella and/or cheddar, and a squeeze of lime (no tomato sauce)
(the pictures are out of order)

The Mexican

Veggie

Goat cheese.

Rosy and I watched a youtube video on how to stretch a pizza dough by hand and it gets easier with time, but some parts are going to be thinner than others if you're amateur like us. I recommend using a rolling pin until the dough is about a foot in diameter, then lay the dough over your knuckles and turn it around until it gets stretched out. Always flour both sides of the dough and your work surface. The best thing to do in terms of cooking it is to heat the oven to 450. If you have a pizza stone, through that baby in there while the oven heats up. If not, throw a heavy cookie sheet in there for 10 minutes before putting the dough on. This will help the dough get nice and crispy on the bottom but stay soft inside the crust.

When you're putting sauce on, remember that no matter what, a crust will appear. Don't leave a one inch margin around the edges to form a crust, you'll end up with a 2 inch crust. Spread the sauce and toppings to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch away from the edge. Cooking times will vary, but ours usually take about 15 minutes. If you have two in the oven at once, switch the racks half way though so that the bottom of the lower pizza doesn't get charred. At the end, if everything is done but you want the cheese to brown and bubble, pop that sucker under the broiler!

This weekend Caty and I are going to Berkeley to see Ashelen and Tristin's (our house mates) A Capella competition. As excited as I am to hear them sing on a real stage, ever the foodie I'm just as excited to eat at two great restaurants that Caty has raved about for the year that I've known her. The first is Cheese Board Collective, a vegetarian pizza place and bakery that serves one pizza a day. This Saturday it is "Roma tomatoes, onions, mozzarella and feta cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic oil, cilantro." YUM. The second is La Note a classic provencal restaurant- definitely want to try the pain perdu or pancakes there. More posts to come. Happy eatings!