Berkeley.
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42 places
Rooms you can walk into, ranked the way I would send you.
Key: what the badges mean
★ Michelin star · Bib Bib Gourmand · Green ★ Michelin Green Star · Michelin in the Michelin guide, no distinction · J Jeff's own note · Jeff ★★★★☆ 2019 his own rating out of five, and the year he gave it · new the venue itself opened recently · just added recently added to Jeff's list, whatever its age · 2◆ independent chef/industry recommendations · ! hygiene caution in force · ? no current public hygiene record, not a caution · keep walking Jeff has been and would walk past it · the line under a name says when to go: Destination (plan around it) / Solid (the dependable send) / Listed (on the radar). Under it, where the entry states one: how the room takes bookings, and the date I last checked the entry.
Go here first.
Where I'd actually send you first: the rooms I'd put a visitor in on night one, in town rather than an hour down the highway, spread so six cards are six different answers. Producers, markets and the rest of the city are below.
Chez PanisseMichelin
Destination · Restaurant · Berkeley · $$$$
booking essential
Downstairs there is one four-course menu a night, written off what came in that morning, and you eat it or you do not.
IyasareMichelinjust added
Solid · Restaurant · Berkeley · $$$
book ahead
Alice Waters calls this one of her best meals in the Bay Area in a year, and her instruction is short: take the omakase nigiri and let the counter decide.
Cheese Board Collective Pizzeria
Solid · Restaurant · Berkeley · $
walk-in
There is one pizza, it changes every day, and it is always vegetarian.
IppukuBib
Solid · Restaurant · Berkeley · $$
book ahead
The yakitori list runs thigh oyster, tail, neck and shoulder, so somebody in the back is breaking down whole birds. The grill is binchotan.
Jupiterjust added
Listed · Pizza · Downtown Berkeley · $$
book aheadthe room’s own account
Wood-fired pizza and house ale under pressed tin, with church pews from St John's Presbyterian for seating.
Hoi Polloi Brewingjust added
Listed · Beer · Lorin District · $
walk-in
People's Park Pale Ale pours at 5.2 percent, hopped with Citra, Mosaic and CTZ. Viet Vu brews it in Oakland and sells it on Alcatraz Avenue.
Somewhere tonight.
One tap hides everything shut today and everything that needs a booking, then sorts the rest by how close it is to you. I don’t publish opening hours, because they go stale faster than anyone can check them. Check the door before you go.
The dependable sends
Good cooking needs no occasion, and these are the ones I hand out on a normal Tuesday. 5 here.
Viks ChaatMichelinjust added
Indian · West Berkeley · $
walk-in
The lunch tray is the move: tandoori chicken with a smoky char, basmati, dal, raita and papadum, $15 on the MICHELIN listing.
Broc Cellarsjust added
Wine · West Berkeley · $$
walk-in
Chenin Blanc off Frei Vineyard in Solano County, fermented on native yeast with little or no added sulfur. Chris Brockway has made wine on this corner of Fifth and Gilman since 2004.
Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen
Jewish deli · Gourmet Ghetto · $$
book ahead
Pastrami cured in house off Bill Niman's grass-fed beef, on a rye Peter Levitt worked out with Acme's Steve Sullivan. Three owners have sold deli at 1475 Shattuck since 1955.
The Local Butcher Shop
Butcher · Gourmet Ghetto · $$
walk-in
Whole carcasses, every farm inside 150 miles, and no premium on the rib-eye over the shank. Aaron Rocchino cooked for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse before he opened it in August 2011.
Tokyo Fish Marketjust added
Japanese · North Berkeley · $$
walk-in
The seafood counter carries more than a hundred kinds of fish, bluefin from Japan and halibut caught off this coast, with live Dungeness in the tank.
On my list
These are on my list; I haven't been yet. 31 here.
ComalBib
Restaurant · Berkeley · $$
book ahead
The big flat tortilla griddles that give Comal its name sit in the open kitchen, and the wood-grilled rock cod tacos come off them with avocado aïoli and spicy cabbage slaw.
Arinell Pizza
Pizza · Downtown Berkeley · $
walk-in
A thin New York slice you fold in half, off the same Shattuck counter since 1975. Ron Demirdjian learned the style from an Italian pizza maker in upper Manhattan and brought it west.
Fournée Bakeryjust added
French · Claremont · $
walk-in
Baguettes, levain sold by the section, walnut and sunflower rye, and canelés on the pastry shelf. Frank Sally taught at the San Francisco Baking Institute before this became his first shop.
Kirakujust added
Japanese · Southside · $$
book ahead
Anago tempura and maitake with kabosu citrus come off the specials board. Daiki Saito trained in French kitchens in Japan and pours the sake on a Kikizake-shi licence.
Revival Bar + Kitchenjust added
Californian · Downtown Berkeley · $$$
book ahead
Amy Murray built this kitchen big enough to take a whole goat and use all of it, snout to tail. It sits in a 1901 building at the end of Berkeley's theater row.
Triple Rock Brewing
Beer · Downtown Berkeley · $$
book aheadthe room’s own account
Pinnacle Pale Ale, Red Rock Ale and Black Rock Porter opened this brewery on 14 March 1986, and Jeff Kimpe still brews on the original seven-barrel system.