Downtown Oakland area

[tavmark]

I have to be in downtown Oakland Thursday and Friday this week and am looking for suggestions.

I tried a search but didn't really come up with anything. I'll be at the convention center Marriott but have a car and can drive. Lunch needs to be in that area though.

Any cuisine is acceptable, so long as the food is good, but ethnic (such as Indian, Thai, Mexican, etc) is preferred.

TIA

[nileg]

Downtown Oakland is also Oakland's Chinatown, so you will find plenty of decent but not top flight Chinese restaurants there. Here are a couple of the restaurants I liked when I was living in Oakland:

Try Battambang Cambodian Restaurant for Cambodian food:
http://www.themenupage.com/battambang.html

Try Le Cheval for Vietnamese food:
http://www.lecheval.com

There are a few good Mexican restaurants in Oakland but they are mostly south of Downtown near the intersection of Fruitvale Avenue and International Blvd (also known as East 14th Street). Most of the good Indian and Thai restaurants I've visited in the East Bay are either in Berkeley or further south towards Milpitas/Fremont.

But you can find even more and better options if you have the opportunity to cross the bay...the best Chinese food is in San Francisco, there are a ton of excellent Mexican restaurants in the Mission district, and top flight Indian and Thai restaurants are scattered across S.F.

[dimsumgirl]

Tavmark, I like Le Cheval for Vietnamese or you could try old style Cantonese at New Gold Medal at 391 8th Street in the Oakland Chinatown area. Happy eating!

[Melanie Wong]

This thread is two years old, but it's centered on eats around the Marriott.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/304532

I think you'd enjoy La Furia Chalaca, a small Peruvian restaurant a short drive away. Also hearing good things about the new incarnation of Breads of India, but I haven't made it to the new location yet myself.

[Scott M]

Tamarindo Antojeria

[klyeoh]

I love Tamarindo Antojeria a couple of blocks down from Marriott. I visit Oakland on a quarterly basis & usually stay at the Marriott for 2 weeks each time - I'll dine at Tamarindo at least 4-5 times during each trip.

My other 2 fave spots in Old Oakland are B Restaurant and Levende East - all 10 minutes' walk from Marriott.

Siam Bay next door to Le Cheval is good, but can be inconsistent.

My colleagues love Le Cheval and Breads of India, but I thought both were awful - compared to almost any Vietnamese & Indian joint I find in Los Angeles.

La Furia Chalaca is absolutely perfect!

[ML8000]

I think Marriott to Old Oakland is more like 3 minutes, it's 1-2 blocks away.

LC is good if you order the right thing. Lemon grass beef, fish in claypot and crab, plus a few other items. If you vary from these...it's not good.

A few doors down from Furia is Soizic Bistro (Cal-Asian fusion).

If you have a car and want Mexican food. look at this thread about taco trucks in Oakland. As a visitor, I'd suggest going in the day time, unless you're fearless. I consider it safe many would not. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/450404

[wolfe]

Here is a thread with a few additional suggestions.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/447839

[tavmark]

Oh cool. Thank you guys. I definitely will hit the cafe mentioned on the older thread for coffee in the morning. Out of curiosity, are there any coffee roasters in that area?? Or do I need to go into the City?

[wolfe]

Peerless Coffee is just a short walk away or walk away, 1 mile.
http://www.peerlesscoffee.com/

[ML8000]

There's also a Peet's right across from the Marriott in that big office building.

If you want to drive in the East Bay, there's also Cafe Trieste (which has it's original branch in SF) but not sure it's worth it.

[wolfe]

Peerless roasts on site.
.

[tavmark]

Cool. Thank you all so much. I plan to hit Caffee 817 for sure for my coffee. Looking forward to this and will try to report back.

[Stephanie Wong]

What experience led you to that conclusion?

Most often, room service is horrid, especially to a chowhound, and it's not clear the OP is actually staying in the Marriott. It's been a while since I've eaten in the Marriott's restaurants, but they didn't have much chowworthy offerings.

Old Oakland has gained quite a few good eateries recently. I vote for Tamarindo for something very close by. (2 short blocks from convention center entrance). Of course, Battambang is virtually across Broadway & 1/2 block away from the hotel's front door.

[tavmark]

Stephanie,

Is Caffee 817 in the hotel? From the old thread it sounded like it wasn't. I ask because if it is, then the coffee is probably supplied by someone else (i.e. a vendor).

I'm definitely a Peet's devotee and usually go there because there isn't one anywhere close in the central valley, but am willing to branch out and try Peerless, especially if it's roasted on site.

[Stephanie Wong]

No, Cafe 817 is at 817 Washington, next door to Ratto's. Sorry, I don't know how to place a link to Places (which has links to other threads), but here's Cafe 817's website:

http://www.cafe817.com/cafe817withgal...

Search for Cafe 817 Oakland CA in "Restaurants & Bars" above & you should see the other threads for this area.

[kc72]

link

[klyeoh]

Out of 50 room nights which I stayed at the Marriott this year, I breakfasted at the Marriott Cafe twice, and Cafe 817 perhaps 20 times. The only other breakfast place I go to is Cock-a-Doodle Cafe, just one block down from Cafe 817 along Washington St. But Cock-a-Doodle's standards have sadly dropped the last time I was in Oakland (Oct 08).

If you happen to be there on Friday, don't miss the Old Oakland Farmers' Market - I liked All-Star Tamales. Bakesale Betty's also has a baked goods stand there.

[girljosh]

i'll put my 2 cents in for 1) B: walking distance from the marriott and probably the best burger in oakland; and 2) Spices 3 for incredibly cheap, incredibly HOT szechuan food.

[slipson]

Consider stopping into Shanghai restaurant on Webster st. in chinatown for some xio long bao and shanghai noodles.

[bbulkow]

If you're willing to drive to dinner, you're poised for all of the east bay and all of san francisco - oakland's like that - so you'll have to be more specific.

You're even right at 12th street bart, so Boulevard/Chaya/SlantedDoor/A million other places and the ferry building is very doable after work - that's what I'd do if I were you. Stop into the Slanted Door to put your name in for the bar, then stretch your legs checking out the view, then have a great dinner. Check out those "one night in san francisco" threads that start almost daily.

Or stay on BART to 16th street, walk west up 16th street, and within 100 yards simply follow your nose. Good street scene, lots of excellent places from cheap indian/pakistan (pakwan!) to Monk's Kettle (burgers and belgian) and Vietnamese and Schwarma and Crepes. If you're from LA we don't need to have a discussion about tacos, but .... it's a good few blocks. You'll find something you like.

In downtown itself - Old Oakland is currently a treasure trove.

If you like a belgian beer, The Trappist is excellent. Cosy warm joint. Young fun crowd too.

There's some kind of new place next to The Trappist that looks fun - some kind of modern thing.

If you like a burger with your locally produced beer, consider Pacific Coast Brewing, (own taps and excellent guest taps) especially on a warm day when you can sit outside, which will not be thursday and friday. Low stress, lots of tables, good wifi. You can do a million miles better for food, but sometimes after a tough friday all I want is a cold one and a burger without stress - that's where you should head.

I can't recomend Le Cheval at the moment. Leave it to the tourists.

[Ruth Lafler]

I can't recommend Le Cheval, either, when there are better Vietnamese (i.e. Binh Minh Quan) restaurants the same distance away in Chinatown. You don't have to go to SF for great Thai, since the chef at one of the best Thai restaurants in SF is now at Chai Thai Noodles in Oakland.

If you want something a little different, try Champa Garden for Thai-Lao food; you don't have to drive to hit the Mexican on International, either, you can take BART to Fruitvale (two stops on the Fremont line) from 12th Street. A search for "fruitvale mexican" will turn up a plethora of comments and recommendations.

[Melanie Wong]

Our visitor is coming from an area with some very good Thai-Lao choices (unstated), so if I were she, I'd pick something else since the restaurants at home are better and cheaper.

[Ruth Lafler]

Ah, but she did list Thai among her preferences.

[ML8000]

From 12th St in Oakland to the Ferry Building, it's 15 minutes by BART, plus a short walk.

Trappist is a couple of doors down from Tamarindo. If I were to stay in Oakland I'd do those two for a very easy and low key evening.

Also there's Levende East around the corner for drinks and food...drinks might be better there. More clubbish.

[bbulkow]

Searching "Downtown Oakland" gave me quite a few hits, this seems to be the most relevant.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/447839

[wolfe]

Or you could have read my post above from yesterday.

[tavmark]

So with many thanks to all the very helpful East Bay hounds, here's the report.

Did not get into Oakland until after 10:00 Wed night so it was straight to sleep. Morning found me headed straight to Peets (and yes it is literally just across the street from the front door of the hotel.) Got my coffee with an extra shot and a croissant and was ready to go. Lunch was with a co-worker and we were walking and ended up at Cafe Verbena (Verbana?). She had a gorgonzola burger that looked pretty good and I ordered the crab cake and the butternut squash soup. The soup was garnished with toasted pine nuts which made it standout from the standard soups of this kind. I really enjoyed it. The crab cakes were good, not outstanding, but good and came with salad on the side that paired nicely. We split a glass of wine (I was there for work after all, otherwise .....) It was a Pinot and I want to say it was "Mark (something)" but I'm drawing a blank on the full name. After that, back to work.

Now dinner was where I really appreciated this board. When I told my co-worker I planned to go to Trappist and Tamarindo she said they were both really good. She told me that Trappist doesn't have food but that I could get some to go from Tamarindo and bring it over there. So that's what I ended up doing. A quick peek into Trappist showed that the bar looked pretty full so I went to Tamarindo and ordered the empanadas. After about ten minutes, took them next door. The empanadas, three small ones, were excellent. Just the right amount of food.

Now the beer. Wow, I really like this place. Small but not tiny. And a very good selection of beers you don't find elsewhere. Bartenders were attentive, knew how to pour a beer, and very knowledgeable about what they serve. Although I thought I'd only have one or two and then leave, it ended up being four (different ones) and I don't remember the names, except to say that the first one was an Easter beer and it was very good. 'Course after four beers I was hungry again, so it was one more stop at Tamarindo and this time it was the sopatitos that I ordered to go. Had these at the hotel and again they were excellent. One in particular stood out because it had a spicy kick to it that was excellent when paired with the masa.

Next morning it was Peets again (yup I'm a creature of habit.) Lunch break was shorter this time so I ended up getting a mocha from Cafe Teatro and some type of dessert bar. Finally, it was time to head back but because it was almost 5:00 p.m. and traffic is just so wonderful at that time, I made a point to search out Peerless. Found it (after initially heading the wrong direction) and left with half a pound of dark French-Italian roasted beans and a decaf lattee. All in all a very good time food wise.

[Ruth Lafler]

Thanks for reporting back! Yes, it's Caffe Verbena (like the plant). I think it's surprisingly good for what's basically a business-lunch place. I think if it were in a different location it might have a better reputation, by which I mean it would have a reputation!

[klyeoh]

Caffe Verbena's by the same folks who run Fog City Diner at the Embarcadero, right?

[Ruth Lafler]

Yeah, I didn't realize until I checked their website, but it's part of the Real Restaurants Group: http://www.realrestaurants.com/

[tavmark]

Update. Had to return to downtown again for work. This time I'm at the Courtyard. Ended up at Breads of India. I'm pretty sure this is a new(er) and larger location - 10th & Clay (?). I love Indian food, especially naan so I was hoping this would satisfy the craving I have for good Indian food (cuz with the exception of one Bay Area transplant restaurant in the Central Valley, it's just really hard to find). I ordered the vindaloo and was talked into ordering it with seafood, I ordered the shrimp and naan that had bits of jalapeno peppers (sorry I can't remember the name.) The vindaloo sauce was very good, a bit heavy on something but I can't pick out the spice to identify it. The shrimp were overcooked. The naan however was outstanding. Light, puffy, hot, and with just a bit of spice (compared to the vindaloo it was almost sweet.) Service was decent (it was pretty slow, maybe three to four tables were occupied.) Had the British beer from their list and all I can say is "ashy." Definite aftertaste that takes a bit of getting used to and all I could think was 'smoke." All in all, I say three out of five stars. Tonight, maybe Spices 3 if it's open for dinner.

[daveena]

The last few times I went to Spices 3, I found the food almost inedibly salty - the one dish I consistently like is the fried tofu with 1000 chilis.

Agree that the naan at Breads of India is great, but I found my chicken (I forgot what they called it, but it had been overmarinated in yogurt to the point of mushiness, with very mild and uninteresting spicing) dull and expensive.

Here are my Chinatown faves:

Pho Hoa Lao II (faves - #26 pho bo kho, #9 pho with beef tendon, brisket, and rare flank steak)
Shanghai Restaurant (faves - rice cake with mustard greens and pork, lion head meatballs, Shanghai-style sweet and sour pork, xiao long bao)
Shandong (faves - steamed pork buns, hand cut noodles with mustard greens and pork, dan dan noodles with hand cut noodles)
Ba Le - cold cut banh mi
BC Deli - shredded pork banh mi, big vermicelli with shredded pork and coconut, Chiu Chow style rice cake with egg and radish, banh xeo
Napolean Bakery - "cupcake" (steamed sponge cake), egg custard tarts
Battambang - drunken quail, stuffed chicken wings, num banchev (Cambodian-style banh xeo). They also make a great prahok ktiss (fermented fish and pork dip) that's not on the menu - they make it with a lot more prahok when my Cambodian friends order it, but it's still good even when tamed for the non-Khmer palate.
Chef Lau - pumpkin and salted egg yolk fritter, salt and pepper fish, pot stickers
New Gold Medal - jook, bitter melon with scrambled egg
Gum Wah - duck noodle soup

[nicedragonboy]

Is there a downtown Ba Le location? I thought there was just the East Oakland and EC locations.

[daveena]

I think Ba Le is a pretty common name for banh mi shops, so I don't know if this one is related to the others. It's on 812 Franklin.

[Ruth Lafler]

Mouthwatering. I've never tried the Shanghai-style sweet and sour pork at Shanghai. What menu is it on? I've been ordering recently from the 3/$15 menu, which has the lion's head meatballs and some other good things (last time we had the eggplant and the chicken with chestnuts claypot).

[daveena]

You know - I'm not 100% sure, because they have so many menus, and I may have just overlooked this before - but when I went last week, there was a menu that looked a little different to me, with lunch specials. Smaller portions (2 lion's head meatballs instead of 4), with a lot of rice and some bok choy, for $6 or $7. The Shanghai sweet and sour was on that list (and I can't remember seeing it on another menu, either). It's really good - deep, caramelized sauce, well balanced with black vinegar.

[Ruth Lafler]

LOL. As I've said many times, Shanghai has the worst case of multiple-menuitis I've ever seen. I've seen a lunch specials menu on the back of the "regular" menu, but this sounds different. I'll have to ferret it out!

[tavmark]

I went looking for Shanghai (googled it and it said 940 Webster). But I couldn't find it. Is this the same place as Fortune Restaurant???? I wasn't sure so I basically gave up on the Asian food tonight. (First time I headed down Webster all the signage on one side of the street said I was in the 100? block, went down Webster between 7th and 8th and everything was 800, so I went back between 9th and 10th street and the other side of the block had 900 address?????????? Could not find anything (in English) that said Shanghai so feeling a bit intimidated (Armenian, Frensch, Spanish, Italian I can handle but I have no idea when it comes to Chinese or Lao of what I'm looking at) I headed back. Although I considered Trappist again I didn't want to repeat so I went to Pacific Coast Brewing. Beer is pretty good but I have to say that Trappist is better (IMHO). (Thought about hitting B for a burger, but decided beer was more to my calling.)

So next time I'll just have to ask the ever gracious east bay hounds to accompany me through China town. :))

[daveena]

Oh no! Shanghai is 930 Webster, a few doors down from Fortune. It's a fairly narrow storefront, with lots of pictures of food in the windows. Definitely worth seeking out on your next trip!

[klyeoh]

Am going to check that out on my next business trip to Oakland next month. BTW, it'll be my last trip to Oakland (sad), as my company's moving out of the SF Bay Area after more than a century there - cost-cutting measures.

[daveena]

Oh, that's too bad! I've really appreciated your posts on downtown Oakland eats. I'm of course a little worried our Asian food won't be able to compare with what you can get so easily in and near Singapore, but Shanghai's been pretty consistent for me (except the XLB, which range from mediocre to fantastic), and my last meal there was very very good.

[klyeoh]

Yes, am sad that we're leaving Oakland - there won't be a APL Building anymore in a few months' time. 10 places I'm really going to miss Downtown:
Tamarindo
B Restaurant
Levende East
La Furia Chalaca
Cafe 817
BC Deli
Tai Yuen
Ruby King
Battambang
House of Chicken n Waffles, Jack London Square

or, and the Friday Farmers Market in Old Oakland (loved the All-Star tamales)

[Ruth Lafler]

Sorry -- I should have added a locator. Shanghai is in the block of Webster between 9th and 10th, next to the take-out dim sum place and opposite the big shopping center/parking structure. I don't know if it says Shanghai at street level, but it has a big overhead sign.

[wolfe]

How about with the blue awning between S&Y travel, yellow awning and Cam Huong, green awning. On the street view, google, I can clearly see Shanghai on the awning.

[tavmark]

If it's still there, I must have been underneath the signage (apparently I didn't walk down the block long enough the first time when I was across the street.) Oh well, I will have to go back next time.

[Ruth Lafler]

Yeah, but you can't see the awning very well if you're on the sidewalk, there are no signs on the storefront itself, and the entrance is small and set back up a step. I know where it is and I almost walked past it the other day.

I went to check out the Shanghai sweet and sour spareribs lunch special daveena mentioned. And yes, they have a new menu (as if they didn't have enough already!) which appears to be a subset of their old "main" menu. It's a full-size laminated page with lunch specials on one side and Shanghai specialties on the other. I suspect this menu was designed to be more "gringo friendly"/friendly to people who don't know much about Shanghainese cuisine.

They were really hopping at lunch time on Monday. I had the spareribs, which were good but very rich. I also got an order of "vegetable buns" off the dim sum/noodle menu. These were soft, smooth steamed buns with a filling that can only be described as "green." Seriously. It was an intense shade of green, and it tasted very ... green. I didn't care for them on their own -- to vegetal -- but they were delicious when used to mop up the sweet and sour sauce from the ribs.

[klyeoh]

Thanks to all your various descriptions above on how to locate Shanghai restaurant, I didn't have a problem finding it at all on my first attempt today. 5 minutes walk from Oakland Marriott where I'll be staying the next couple of weeks.

It really felt like a family-run place in there - small & a bit cluttered. The food portions ("Only one size available", quipped our waitress)were really too much for 3 people. We ordered:
- hot-and-sour Szechuan soup;
- xiao long bao (8 pieces in a basket);
- Wuxi-style crispy eel;
- soy-braised pork leg (the house speciality).
The bill (incl. rice, tea, tips) came up to US$50 for 3 pax. Quite an interesting place, though I find the food a bit "localised", i.e. Szechuan soup was not sour nor spicy enough, the Wuxi crispy eels were not sweet nor vinegary as I expected, the xiao long bao looked quite ugly (though they tasted quite ok), whilst the soy-braised pork leg was also less sweet than those we'd find in Shanghai/Asia - also lacked the fragrance & depth of flavors, thoug the texture was right.

I need to go back & try the noodles/rice cakes. Waitresses there were very friendly & obliging - we spoke to them mainly in Cantonese, with bits of Shanghainese thrown in.

[klyeoh]

Enclosing some pics taken at Shanghai restaurant when we lunched there last week.

In fact, we were back there again for lunch today, and this time, we tried:
- braised lion's head dumplings;
- stir-fried Shanghainese rice cakes with vegetables;
- xiao long bao (again);
- soy-milk with crisp-fried Chinese "donuts" ("you tiao")

Very rustic, robust cooking - okayfor me when I'm here in Oakland, but definitely am looking forward to some finer Shanghainese cooking when I'm back in Singapore next week!

[neekoh]

Phnom Penh at 8th St and Alice. It's cambodian and I like it better than Battambang. Service is friendly and fairly fast, although lunch may be busy.

[wlassowsky]

Tamarindo is great, on 8th between Broadway and Washington...small plates, mexican...Flora is also awesome, great reviews, tho i have only had lunch there...not particularly ethnic, but good (not cheap!)food....but our old standby (for over 10 years) for the best Cambodian food (is that really a category? ;-) is Phnom Penh on 8th Street, at Alice, just a walk away from the Marriott, in Chinatown...can't go wrong here! and the owners are really, really nice! (and its NOT expensive!). have fun, enjoy Oakland!

[klyeoh]

Just went back to Siam Bay for dinner tonite. We ordered the pad see ew (braised flat rice noodles) with chicken. Oh boy, it really hit the spot.

And the baked seafood red curry in a pumpkin was absolutely delicious - as good as any curries I've had in Bangkok. Just wished they'd used fresh crabs instead of crabstick.