663662 Fri Oct 30 21:41:26 -0700 2009 25 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 5144529 My husband and I just moved to Alameda. We've both lived in the east bay before, and we have our favorite spots in Berkeley and Oakland, but Alameda is new territory. We ARE vegetarians, but aside from burger places, we love all kinds of food. We'd love to hear from some folks in Alameda about the following: Indian food/supermarkets breakfast spots bakeries pho/vietnamese dim sum/chinese pizza fresh veggies/farmer's markets best coffee shops thai mexican good supermarkets (health food store?) and kitchen stores any other suggestions would be terrific. thanks so much! Fri Oct 30 21:41:26 -0700 2009 211773 MissVeg 1 5144607 As you probably know by now, Alameda has two main business districts: Park St. in "downtown" Alameda and Webster St. on the West End. You probably also know there's a Trader Joe's at the shopping center, as well as a Bed, Bath and Beyond with a pretty good selection of kitchenwares. I avoid supermarkets, but when I need one I choose the Nob Hill next to the Fruitvale Bridge over the mega-Safeway at Alameda Towne Centre (long-time residents still think of it as South Shore -- they upscaled the name when they renovated recently). First, hie thee to the Alameda Marketplace, which houses: Alameda Natural Grocery (full line of organic everything, bulk bins, local produce, health foods, etc., a kitchen wares store, a fabulous bakery and an equally fabulous wine and cheese shop. Indian -- I haven't been there, but I've heard good things about India Palace on Buena Vista near Webster; there's a brand new (open a couple of weeks) outpost of flavors of India on Park St. that I haven't tried yet either. Breakfast spots: Alameda is famous for it's old fashioned coffee shops (Ole's and Jim's on Park St., Albert's on Webster). Marti's (off the beaten path on Encinal) is also good, as is Hob Nob (southern-influenced). There are several Mexican places that serve breakfast, my favorite being Otaez on Webster. There are also two dim sum places on Webster: East Ocean and Chef's Wok. Bakeries: Feel Good Bakery in the Alameda Marketplace. Bread is wonderful; pastries are wonderful but expensive. Boniere Bakery is an old-fashioned American-style bakery. I love the doughnuts, the other stuff can be hit and miss. Pho/Vietnamese: I like Little Saigon on Park St. Dim Sum/Chinese: East Ocean on Webster. I had some good meals, both dim sum and dinner at Chef's Wok, but keep going back to East Ocean. The American-Chinese dishes are made with care, and the traditional dishes are very good. Dim sum every days (menus during the week, carts on the weekend). For Northern Chinese, Ark on Park Street. There's also a new Chinese/Vietnamese place called Khanh Huong Chinese BBQ off the beaten path on Lincoln that has a little bit of everything (pho, Chinese BBQ, an array of Chinese and Vietnamese dishes). There are a lot of bad Chinese-American restaurants in Alameda, but my favorite for old-fashioned Chinese-American is Gim's Kitchen (take out/delivery only) near Park St. pizza: I'm not aware of any good pizza in Alameda Fresh veggies: Alameda Natural Grocery and Dan's Produce in the Park St. area; on Webster St. there's a year-round farmers' market on Tuesday morning and a seasonal market (May-December) on Saturday morning Thai -- there's no outstanding Thai -- King of Thai Noodles is probably the best; there is a good Burmese, though: Burma Superstar Mexican -- I like Otaez on Webster Upscale dining options: Acquacotta -- rustic Italian Pappo -- Cal Cuisine Angela's -- Middle Eastern-influenced Cal Cuisine Asena -- Mediterranean Speisekammer -- German Havana -- Cuban (not particularly authentic, but tasty nonetheless) Zen -- pan-Asian Sat Oct 31 00:08:13 -0700 2009 5144529 10159 Ruth Lafler 2 5150614 You might also want to check out Kamakura for sushi, across from Asena on Santa Clara. Although with Faith (the owner) there less and less, I feel the quality has gone slightly down. Mon Nov 02 17:03:11 -0800 2009 5144607 15758 S U 2 5168074 Don't forget within the Marketplace, Culina offers many vegetarian and vegan items in its deli case or off the hot line. The falafels and veggie burgers are both house made. I can't remember if they still have the vegan baked goods. Mon Nov 09 14:06:56 -0800 2009 5144607 84820 nerdigrrl 1 5144612 Arggh! I hate the new links feature! Sat Oct 31 00:19:15 -0700 2009 5144529 10159 Ruth Lafler 1 5145033 Excellent run down of Alameda Ruth! For my part, I think Tu Tai 2 on Webster is becoming my fav for Vietnamese in Alameda. Sat Oct 31 09:15:56 -0700 2009 5144529 72348 nicedragonboy 1 5145135 I like Aroma restaurant on Blanding. Check the website for details: www.aroma-ca.com I had an amazingly delicious spinach and mushroom saffron risotto made by the chef recently. You might call and ask Chef Raymond if you have a particular veggie dish that you want. He is very flexible and if you don't see what you want on the menu, he could create something featuring your favorite veggies. Sat Oct 31 10:16:18 -0700 2009 5144529 12307 dimsumgirl 2 5145309 I agree - we've been to several special events at Aroma as well as events that Chef Raymond has catered for our group. He is very willing to work with you on special requirements. Restaurant has a nice location on the water. Sat Oct 31 12:03:44 -0700 2009 5145135 10378 RWCFoodie 1 5145143 My two favorite things to eat in Alameda are the hand-pulled noodles at Ark, and the fish and chips at The Hobnob. Neither are veggie, unfortunately... Sat Oct 31 10:21:50 -0700 2009 5144529 44059 daveena 1 5145163 The places I've been to worth the drive from Berkeley to Alameda are Speisekammer, East Ocean, and Acquacotta. The eponymous soup at Acquacotta is a great vegetarian dish. Also Forbidden Island for tiki cocktails, though it's probably better to take the bus. Burma Superstar is good for vegetarians. Angelfish makes good sushi. Farmstead is one of the three or four best cheese shops in the Bay Area. Sat Oct 31 10:34:45 -0700 2009 5144529 11369 Robert Lauriston 1 5146094 I like Chef's Wok! I've known at least one vegetarian who liked Spiessekammer- they have 2 veggie dishes on the menu- a spaetzle and cheese, and a veggie strudel, plus nice salads (beet, carrot, cucumber)... Sat Oct 31 20:53:28 -0700 2009 5144529 196663 kmah 1 5146763 Hi, We're new to Alameda as well and have been exploring the restaurant and food scene here as well. I think Dan's Produce is the way to go, really good produce and a fraction of the cost of veggies at Marketplace. I think Marketplace is massively overpriced and the qualitity is no better then Dan's. I ike Hob Nob for brunch, good pancakes and bloody marys. Pizza is hard, Alameda Pizza on Webster is the best we've tried on the Island, it's fine, nothing like Cheeseboard in Berkeley. Coffe shops-you have to try Wescafe and Little House, we flip between then, both highly cute and with good coffee. Wescafe is on Webster (near Lincoln) and has a great outside area in the back, really nice people. Little House is on Blanding (near Park St. Bridge) and has good food, I really like the crepes. Food can sometimes take a while, but the coffee comes out right away. Thai-there's Toomies and King of Thai both on Park, they are both fine, but not great. I would cheack out Chai Thai on International in Oakland, it's a close drive from Alameda and really good. Good luck! Post back what you find! Sun Nov 01 09:02:18 -0800 2009 5144529 1103236 epiccellars 2 5146773 Oh, right. I forgot Little House Cafe for breakfast. The french toast make from leftover croissants is awesome! The produce at Alameda Natural Grocery is almost all organic and identified by producer, if that's important to you. Most of the produce at Dan's is not, thus the price differential. I also find Dan's to be dirty and the quality of some of the items to be questionable. That said, I'd rather shop there than the supermarket, and some of their stuff is quite good. Sun Nov 01 09:07:38 -0800 2009 5146763 10159 Ruth Lafler 3 5147039 How can you forget when you were the one to plant the flag? http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/513559 Sun Nov 01 11:17:37 -0800 2009 5146773 105235 wolfe 4 5147074 I had to block it out -- if I didn't, I'd be down there for brunch every weekend, which would be hard on both my waistline and my wallet. But I knew I'd forgotten at least one breakfast place. Sun Nov 01 11:34:19 -0800 2009 5147039 10159 Ruth Lafler 1 5146777 Thanks so much, everyone! I promise to update everyone on our finds. Sun Nov 01 09:11:10 -0800 2009 5144529 211773 MissVeg 1 5146893 How is the farmers market? Sun Nov 01 10:12:13 -0800 2009 5144529 11369 Robert Lauriston 2 5146895 Link: http://www.chow.com/restaurants/53008/alameda-farmers-market Sun Nov 01 10:13:22 -0800 2009 5146893 11369 Robert Lauriston 3 5146996 Since I work in SF I never get to the Tuesday market. They have had a seasonal Thursday evening market that is small but has some good vendors. I haven't checked out the Saturday market yet, I'll have to put that on my to-do list -- a lot more convenient than schlepping over to Grand Lake and fighting the crowds! If it's like the others, it's fairly small with mostly produce vendors and very little in the way of prepared foods. Sun Nov 01 10:55:49 -0800 2009 5146895 10159 Ruth Lafler 4 5147377 The Saturday market is nice, small, but a good variety. I went near the end of Summer and got some great blueberries, still have some in the freezer. It seems like a lot of the farmers are there, or they've hired very knowledgable people to work the booth. There is a really good Indian food stand from Watsonville, excellent Tika Masala and Eggplant curry. They weren't there yesterday, hopefully they'll be back next weekend. does anyone know if the market is year round? Sun Nov 01 14:12:52 -0800 2009 5146996 1103236 epiccellars 5 5147462 According to the website it's through December 26th. Interesting about the Indian food -- from the comments on yelp where everyone was raving about it I could tell that is wasn't just the ubiquitous Sukhi's, as there was mention of naan being made on the spot. Sun Nov 01 14:43:37 -0800 2009 5147377 10159 Ruth Lafler 6 5147534 I wish I could remember the name of it, it's escaping my mind now. In the past, they've been at the back of the parking lot, not on the street. Hopefully they will be there this week! I'll take better notes this time. Sun Nov 01 15:09:49 -0800 2009 5147462 1103236 epiccellars 7 5148250 We went to the farmer's market on Saturday. We got some beautiful rainbow chard and some delicious pears as well as a nice little bag of baby spinach. There was a LOVELY woman selling middle eastern food-- she said it was her first time at the farmer's market, and she was very sweet. We bought some hummus from her, which is quite tasty, and she gave us a sample of baklava (so yummy). There were only a couple organic vendors, but probably about 8 fruit/veggie vendors, the Indian food guy (very generous with the samples, and very tasty parathas), the olive oil guy, gourmet dog treats, two bakeries (la farine, and another...I can't remember which) and some soaps and lotions. Oh, and the fish taco guy. We went at 9:30 am which seemed a little early to me for tacos (not so much for my native Californian husband, who eats Mexican every chance he gets after his two year exile in New England!). We were a little sad that there was no coffee there. It's a nice little market-- small, but some good variety. We also had brunch today at Little House. We shared a spinach, potato and cheddar omelet, which was excellent (the wheat toast was nothing to get hopped up about, but the raspberry jam was great) and the cinnamon french toast with bananas, which was delicious and decadent. We sat outside, and the service seemed a little befuddled by our unusually large party (there were 5 adults and 1 child) but we'd go back in a heartbeat, probably just the two of us. Sun Nov 01 22:15:28 -0800 2009 5147534 211773 MissVeg 8 5174643 We went this past weekend and also encountered the woman selling middle eastern food. We bought the hummas and the spinach pie. I enjoyed both a lot. The hummas was traditional; the woman had some disparaging words for newfangled flavored hummas. Hummas was obviously the food she grew up with. (I think she said she was from Lebanon, but I can't swear to that...) Soft and creamy. The spinach pie was nice and crisp on the outside and soft and flavorful on the inside. Other regular vendors worth mentioning are Scream sorbet and La Farine bakery. Sukhi's is there, but the Indian place everyone is talking about is not Sukhi's, though I don't remember their name either. The fish taco guy is good too. Wed Nov 11 20:33:45 -0800 2009 5148250 15705 Martin Strell 9 5174849 The non-Sukhi's Indian vendor is either Gourmet India Clay Oven or Gourmet Clay India Oven. I bought a couple of samosas ($1) and I thought they were quite good -- I liked the spicing, and the potatoes were cut in a small dice and not cooked too soft. ScreamSorbet is now offering some of their most popular flavors in pre-packed cartons ($9). As usual, they had some interesting flavors that were reflective of the season, including one with persimmon and an apple cinnamon that proved to me it was possible to capture the essence of apple in a frozen form (and wasn't too cinnamony). Wed Nov 11 23:19:57 -0800 2009 5174643 10159 Ruth Lafler 9 5181071 If anyone is interested in more about the woman selling delicious middle-eastern food at the Alameda farmer's market, I found the card she gave me with her web site listed on it. The site is mostly about her catering service, which I cannot vouch for: www.aniscatering.net . Sat Nov 14 08:27:01 -0800 2009 5174643 15705 Martin Strell