Here’s the beer garden area. It’s awesome because you bring your dog and hang out… love it so much! There are plenty of picnic tables outside, half of which are under a covered area.

But the star of the show is Telegraph’s Beer Brat sandwich. OMG. This thing is freaking amazing. I have to admit, I usually don’t go for sausage on the menu, but the first time I went to Telegraph it just sounded good, so I ordered it… and I’m so glad I did!

Here it is… they serve it on tray with kettle chips. I appreciate how they cut the sausage in half so that it is flatter in the bun. It also includes coleslaw (the tangy kind, not creamed).  I love this sandwich because the sausage has just enough of a spicy bite, it’s a little more on the sweet/hot side than the smokey kind. The bread is soft and light, not dense and overwhelming like some sandwich breads can be.  The slaw is tangy and compliments the sausage perfectly!

Have you noticed all of the trendy chicken + coleslaw sandwiches popping up everywhere?  Well this sausage + coleslaw freaking sandwich puts them all to shame.  There, I said it.  Eat this one instead. You won’t be sorry.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Telegraph also has frozen cider slushies. I’m serious… and they’re really good, especially on super hot Oakland days!  Here’s a photo of the slushie I took with my iPhone…

 I’ve been to a few beer gardens in the East Bay, and I have to say… I love Telegraph. It’s the perfect place to hang out – it’s casual and low-key, affordable and the food is great.

Unfortunately I’m the kind of person who orders the same thing all the time, but I’m really excited to try something new next time I go to Telegraph!

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I love the garlic bread, it’s soooo good…

Here’s the spaghetti and meatballs. The sauce is the thick and tangy kind, not overly spiced. The meatballs are LARGE and provide just the perfect amount of meat for the dish.  You don’t feel like scrappin the spaghetti because there’s no meatball left.  These balls are big.

This place is good if you have a strong hankering for basic spaghetti and meatballs.

The post Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack – Spaghetti and Meatballs appeared first on Fryhole.

So, the reason we went back to T-Rex is because we liked it so much last time (read previous post here) and we wanted to try out more things on their tasty menu. It was pretty busy for a Wednesday lunch.  Maybe there were alot of people in the area on their lunchbreak – the place was definitely packed.  One of the reasons I was also really excited today to go to T-Rex was to try the Chicken Fried Bacon appetizer.  YES, you heard me, CHICKEN-FRIED-BACON.

The other things we ordered included… Mac and Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, Deviled Eggs and the Fried Chicken Sandwich. I ate this food about 8 hours ago and I can honestly tell you that I am STILL FULL.

Onto the food… there are alot of photos in this post!

Started off with a Hoegaarden…

Mexican Coke – T-Rex has a nice selection of bottled sodas on the menu.

[above] Chicken Fried BACON.  I never had Chicken Fried Bacon before.  It was interesting… not really what I thought it would be.  There were two dipping sauces – a Dino-Mite Mustard and Ranch.  The Dino-Mite mustard was definitely infused with horseradish and had a nice little bite to it… I actually preferred it to the ranch for this appetizer.  Check out the bite-shot:

I’m glad I tried this, but I have to say – I dont know if I’d get it again.  Not that it wasn’t good – but the bacon became kind of lost in the breading and it was more about the breading than the bacon… You could still taste the bacon though, which btw, was cooked perfectly.  I guess I was expecting it to be a little saltier or something…hmph.

Here’s a shot of the deviled eggs.  It came with a little handful of arugula salad as well.  These were just OK.  There are alot of variations to deviled eggs and this version was definitely more yolky than other my version which has a little more mayo and mustard, making the yolk part sweeter and more tangy.  Ehh.

For lunch, Hav ordered sides of Mac & Cheese and Mashed Potatoes.  The mac and cheese was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  You definitely get enough for a whole meal and it was rich, creamy and super cheesy (sharp cheddar and parmesan).  What I liked best is that it was made with orecchiette pasta – my favorite!  This dish alone is worth disco fries… hands down!

Here’s the mashed potatoes.  They were also just OK.  They mixed very well, almost as smooth as a puree… definitely needed MORE BUTTER!  They are called “Mashed Potatoes with Smoked Garlic and Chives”… I think if they had just a bit more butter they would be better… somehow they just tasted a little too bland.

This is the Fried Sonoma Chicken Breast with Ham, Gruyere and grilled Scallion Aioli Sandwich.  It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. Being that T-Rex is a BBQ joint, I was expecting a piece of fred chicken – you know, with the big chunky pieces of breading, with a slice of ham and cheese on a nice kaiser roll or something of that sort… but I got chicken cordon bleu instead on a VERY soft roll.  This roll was sweet and so soft that the first thing to come to my mind were steamed Mcdonalds burger buns (no offense!).  It didn’t taste like McDonalds, but it felt as soft as McDonalds.

The chicken breast was very juicy, moist and tender.  It was really good.  The breading on the chicken breast was the little fine kind – a pretty thin layter of crispy breading.  The ham was good too but there was only 1 thin slice so the flavor of the ham kind of got lost in the sandwich since there was so little of it.

What saved this dish were the BBQ potato chips… LOOK AT THEM!

These chips are AWESOME.  They are thick cut with a great crunch, and the BBQ seasoning is sweet and salty.  I love these chips.  I usually opt to substitute fries when chips are involved with sandwiches, but at this place, the chips rule!

We were completely stuffed but we had to check out the dessert menu.  Behold the pumpkin spice cupcake, doesn’t it look cute?  Well, sorry to bust your bubble but it was pretty dry, and the icing was kind of hard and tasteless… don’t get it, go to Teacake in Emeryville instead.

Here is the Devil’s Food Cake and a latte.  The cake was also just OK.  The icing wasn’t really icing it was more of an aerated style frosting… so it crumbled when you cut into it.  The cake wasn’t very moist either… it had a very subdued chocolate flavor, which was kind of deceiving from the looks of it.  Looked good though…. guess T-Rex isn’t into baking as much as they are into BBQ-ing.  At least I know now!

Ahhh!  You’ve made it to the end!! Here is a shot of myself entering a serious food coma…

Today’s visit was good, not great:

T-Rex Barbecue
1300 10th St
(between Camelia St & Gilman St)
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 527-0099
www.t-rex-bbq.com

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