5 of us will be driving from the airport up to Sonoma, flights get in around 1:00 p.m., so need a good place that stays open a little late, by the time we get bags and find the place. Any kind of food, upscale is good, nothing greasy.Thanks a million!
Di4cats
Jul 18, 2005 02:28AM
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Luka's at Broadway and Grand in Oakland serves it's full lunch menu till 2:30 and a limited menu after that (including their very good burger and fries). Excellent upscale warm sandwiches (excellent ingredients)served with dressed mixed greens. Some other entrees including, usually, a steak. Take 880 N from the airport, exit at Broadway, go north about 1.4 miles and it will be on the SW corner of Broadway and Grand.
Link: http://www.lukasoakland.com/
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The restaurants in the Berkeley 4th St. shopping area are just two blocks from the University Avenue freeway exit. Cafe Rouge serves lunch all afternoon, Eccolo till 2:30, O Chame till 3:00. Also the fabulous Sketch ice cream for dessert.
http://www.caferouge.net
http://www.eccolo.com
http://www.themenupage.com/ochame.html
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I was going to suggest a less-traveled road and send you to Soizic on Broadway and 3rd St. in Oakland (down by Jack London Square/Oakland Estuary) but their website says they only serve lunch til 2...if you get out of the airport pronto, you could probably make it.
Lovely place, very arty (owner did murals, etc.) and great food. Espec nice salads. Ginger creme brulee dessert is a must.
Otherwise, Luka's Taproom on Grand and Broadway is really good and fun.
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La Furia Chalaca (Peruvian) is right next to Soizic, and serves lunch until 3pm. It's not the lightest of options, but they have a ton of appetizers which would make for a decent light meal.
Link: http://www.themenupage.com/lafuriacha...
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It is, however, not quick. The service there is what I've come to think of as authentically Peruvian: achingly slow.
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Correction: What we really need is a place that can serve us lunch pretty quickly, and we have a senior who is on a lowfat, vegetarian diet, so the place needs to have some lighter options. Close to the airport would also be good.
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There's nothing decent close to the airport. Berkeley Fourth Street is around 15-20 minutes up the freeway on the way to Sonoma.
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That area is pretty bleak. You said upscale in your OP, and if that's the case, then go to Berkeley or Rockridge area. plenty of recs here for those areas. However, if you need to get something fast on the way out of the airport, they recently opened a fast food mall at the Hegenberger exit, which is on the way out of the airport to the freeway. There is an in & out, jamba juice, some pizza place and I forget what else.
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Rockridge is a significant detour off the route from OAK to Sonoma. Berkeley Fourth Street is three blocks off the freeway they're going to be driving down anyway.
If the luggage isn't all locked in the trunk of a sedan, I wouldn't leave it on the street in downtown Oakland.
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I think the luggage will be just as safe or not as safe on a Friday in downtown Oakland, as it would be in the 4th Street area of Berkeley. (The only place I've had a car broken into in 40 plus years of first living and now working in both Berkeley and Oakland was Berkeley!). If you don't go downtown in Oakland during the week during the day perhaps you don't realize that it is *quite* busy in a way that would discourage someone from breaking into a car. A much bigger problem would be finding parking on the street, given the downtown Oakland Farmer's market on Fridays, although most of that will have cleared out by the time that the OP comes through.
I'd recommend Cafe 817, which is open until 3 p.m. Some nice salads on the lunch menu, fits all of the OP's criteria.
If the OP is at all worried about parking, the City Center garage is right there, and wouldn't be expensive for just an hour or so. Very accessible from the airport on the way to Sonoma via the Broadway exit. (head North on Broadway to 8th, turn left, go two blocks to Clay, turn right, and enter the lot at 11th and Clay, following the signs. Walk through the lot to the 8th Street side and the restaurant is two blocks away on Washington near 8th. All this assumes you don't find a meter on your way to the garage. You may even be able to find parking almost in front of the restaurant. ).
Link: http://www.cafe817.com/default.html
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I agree about the safety of the Oakland. There are some mildly iffy areas, sure. Some sections off 98th Ave, and up in the 40th-50th St areas. But the main drags where you'll find most of the food are pretty darn safe.
My car was broken into once in Oakland, but I left it overnight in a parking lot on the wrong side of Broadway, mostly because I wasn't in shape to drive -- and it was an old car. But my car was broken into twice in Berkeley in much safer seeming locations.
One new thought: what about Won Thai up in Pinole? It's right off I-80 (literally off the exit), and has ample and free parking.
It's a bit of a way from the airport -- maybe a half an hour drive at that time of day. So that may be too far. But it's good...
Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...
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Another nice Downtown Oakland option is Huynh Vietnamese, 381 15th St. between Franklin and Webster (1 block off Broadway). It's pretty, food is good if not super-gritty, and there are tons of vegetarian choices. They certainly serve lunch until 2, but I think later. You should be able to park on the street but if not there's a cheap garage one block away.
I've never had a car broken into in Downtown Oakland, even when I've parked here on the quiet of a Saturday (as opposed to the relative bustle of a workday). I did have a car broken into on 4th St. Berkeley, on my wife's graduation day, when we were so foolish as to leave a gym bag in view in the middle of the day.
Relatively near the airport there are a lot of taco places--but it doesn't make sense to leave LA for tacos and they're not lowfat or vegetarian.
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