If you haven’t been, La Note is a cute French bistro restaurant right on Shattuck in Berkeley. It’s very cute inside, french, homey and rustic and the food is always good.

We waited for 20 minutes and they sat us at the first 2-top table right inside the door… there was a few open ones farther back, I thought we would get one of those… ugh. They usually play French music… it was turned off or so low you couldn’t hear it.

Homemade jam on the table.

Here’s the menu.

The wall inside as you walk in.

Closeup of the menu. I ordered the Omelette fromage et jambon (ham and cheese omelette).

Wall of awards.

Unfortunately this is where things turn for the worse… just before we got our food, we were approached by the hostess who asked if we wouldn’t mind switching tables before our food came out so that they could use our table to help seat a party of 5 faster. I scanned the restaurant and saw a few open tables near the back, so we said ok and got up and moved. They freakin sat us at the worst table in the dining room – it basically was right in the walkway of where the servers get the food, right across from the entrance to the patio area (which we were told was closed, but then they started seating people out there early). Our table was in a really dark area, in the line of traffic… next to a column, kind of protruding out into the walkway. We felt like we were in the way, and they should seriously reconsider the location of that table, because it’s in a very awkward place.

So, our food came out. It was really good… here’s the ham and cheese omelette, it’s always my go-to item at La Note. They slice the ham up really small and thin which I appreciate a lot, and the cheese is emmenthal, which is creamy and mild. The eggs are buttery and rich and you definitely leave feeling very full. The potatoes are roasted with garlic and includes whole cloves, yum!

The photos below look bright because I brightened them.

Closeup of the ham and cheese omelette and roasted potatoes. Oh, and the butter is soft which is nice and easy to spread.

We were a little disappointed with the grapefruit because it was literally just a grapefruit sliced in half… really hard to eat with a spoon. You know how it goes when you try to spoon a grapefruit, squirting out all over the place… In the past, whoever was back there prepping used to loosen the fruit from the skin so it was easy to scoop out with a spoon, which was nice… oh well.

The table location was really a bummer this trip. You can kind of see how close it is to the door… There is a bench right behind me, about a foot of space behind my chair.

So, if you don’t mind waiting, go whenever… but for the best experience, go as early as possible. I do recommend going to La Note if you haven’t been before, the food is good, just try to manage your expectations when it comes to waiting because it can get crazy. They say the patio doesn’t open until 10am but the day we were there it opened around 9:25am. Sitting out on the patio on a nice day is the best… highly recommend.

La Note
2377 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
www.lanoterestaurant.com

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farmer’s scramble 9.35
with chard, caramelized onions, bacon, potatoes and cheddar cheese

This is one of those places where you order first and then they give you a number and then you sit down and they bring the food to you.  There was a white barking dog on the patio above the restaurant and some really bad fist pumping techno music blasting out of the windows which was kind of annoying… but the racket seemed to dissipate once the food was delivered and it looked GREAT.

I was pleasantly surprised with this scramble.  It was extremely flavorful and there was the perfect proportion of egg with the other ingredients (bacon, caramelized onion, chard, potatoes).  The sweetness of the onions went really well with the salty bacon and the chard added a nice extra leafy bite.  The scramble was also nice and hot.  It’s so annoying when you go somewhere for eggs and they come out warm but not hot – not this place.  This whole scramble was nice and super warm/hot not scalding, you could tell it was delivered straight from the kitchen, no warming lamps on this plate!  The scramble even stayed warm through the last bite, I really enjoyed this meal and would definitely order it again!!  It was the perfect amount of food, I left feeling comfortably full.

Mixing Bowl
4920 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 655-5630
www.mixingbowloakland.com

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I ordered the Short Rib Hash ($15) and side of Breakfast Potatoes ($3) because I was HUNGRY!!!  Oh, and a GIANT Pomegranate/Grapefruit mimosa.

Here’s the description of the hash:

Braised Prather Ranch short rib hash, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, golden yams, 2 eggs, horseradish, creme fraiche, au jus

When my dish came, I was very surprised.  I guess in my head I was envisioning a big plate of hash – lots of veggies, potatoes/etc with bits of short rib… you know, like corned beef hash but with short rib.  This dish was definitely a very modern interpretation – everything was purposefully placed, it looked so delicate and neat (see below).  After a half of a nanosecond I got over my “non-hash” surprise and broke the egg yolks and started mixing everything around. No time to eat like a sophisticated human being after waiting over an hour… lol.  This freaking dish was so AWESOME my plate was cleaned and wiped dry within minutes.

I ended up glopping forkfuls of the short rib and eggs onto the bread and eating it that way.  The (Acme) bread didn’t last long… then I ended up dipping my potatoes in it.  Overall the dish was very excellent.  So good that there was not even any liquid left in the bottom of the plate/bowl.  The meat was tender and juicy and a little bit smokey, just perfect!  I admit I was disappointed there weren’t more potatoes/veggies since it was supposed to be a hash… only got 1/2 piece of 1 brussel sprout (cut into 2 pieces), 2 tiny cubes of sweet potato and some onions.  Oh well.  It was good anyway, hehe.

The breakfast potatoes: these potatoes were A-MAZING!!!  I accidentally yelled “OMG!” after I took the first bite!!  They were crispy and hot and salty, buttery with dill sprinkled around.  The crispiness of these potatoes were what made them amazing and addictive! I didn’t care that I was already full from eating the entire bowl of short rib hash, I needed to finish this bowl of potatoes.  I swear to the gods I could eat a bowl of these potatoes at every meal for the rest of my life! And guess who much this bowl of potatoes cost? $3, yay!

Mission Beach Cafe

www.missionbeachcafesf.com

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The place was packed.  Luckily we got the last table and didn’t have to wait… I ordered the Bacon Scramble which was one of the specials for the day.  It came with home fries and a side of toast (sourdough).

The dish kind of threw me off guard but in an ok way… I was expecting more of just eggs scrambled around with bacon… this was more like a veggie omelet with bacon in it too… there were olives, peppers, green onion, tomatoes and avocado on top.  It was good but not what I expected.  Cost about $11.

My friend got the strawberry ricotta stuffed french toast (with 2 slices of bacon).  I took a bite and it was REALLY GOOD.  I’m not a huge french toast person but I would definitely go back to this place to get this dish.

719 Washington St
(between 7th St & 8th St)
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 465-5400
www.cockadoodlecafe.com

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Anyway, everytime we go there on a Sunday when they have brunch I always order the same thing.  The Basil Pesto Tofu Scramble.  I can pretty much depend on this dish being pretty spot on each time – salty, pesto-y… the homefries are also pretty good although I usually add alot of salt… and the toast is pretty good too, usually pretty crunchy and sliced thick.

So there it is in all its glory… the scrambled tofu is the closest thing to eggs as you’ll get at Herbivore. All in all, this is a pretty good dish… so good in fact that I am afraid to venture off and try other things on the menu.

Just an FYI if you order coffee or a latte with your breakfast, they don’t have real milk or half and half.  It’s soy milk.  And they don’t have Splenda or sweet and low… only natural sugar and agave nectar.  They also don’t have coke or sprite or any of your favorite sodas.  Just San Pellegrino Aranciata and Limon and some other natural sodas… so don’t get your hopes up if you’re thirsting for a freakin Coke, you won’t get it.

Herbivore
2451 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 665-1675
www.herbivorerestaurant.com

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HOLY CRAY to the 5th…. this place is AWESOME. It’s kind of fancy inside but don’t be fooled, you can be as dressy or casual as you want. There were people in jeans (including myself) and people semi-dressed up (after churchers). They were playing Barry White and Aretha Franklin… perfect!

I took one look at the menu and knew instantly what I would order: CHICKEN FRIED BENEDICT. I got a side of bacon too (applewood smoked) and Hav and I split an order of the beignets as a morning appetizer. I’m going to post the photo of the chicken fried benedict first, because I want that image to appear on the homepage…. lol.

NOTE: Bacon was extra… the dish doesn’t come with it, I just put it on the plate to make the plate look fuller. Basically, the dish is called “Chicken Fried Benedict”. It’s fried chicken (boneless) atop an English muffin, with a poached egg on top, covered in hollandaise sauce. They also give you a little side of their house special smokey hot sauce, mmm.

I’m not the hugest benedict person mainly because it’s too wet and mushy, but I decided to try this dish because the idea of juicy fried chicken in the morning sounded perfect. Let me tell you, this dish is AMAZING. Everything about it was awesome – I think the fried chicken really balanced out the soft liquidy/creaminess of the benedict. The hot sauce was also super yummy and it had the perfect ratio of heat to hotness to smokiness. My only suggestion would be to add toast or home fries or something else as a side item because I would’ve liked something to dip in the sauce.

Now check out the beignets:

The beinets were just simply to die for. They are soft and light and have a sweet sugary buttery flavor. The powdered sugar really give them an extra kick. They’re very rich for being so light… soooo good we even took the last one home!

Hav ordered grits with her meal. As much as I love corn, I’ve never really been a huge grits person – but the grits at Pican are seriously so good I would add them to my last meal list. These grits are so buttery and corny – you know what I mean! They have an extra kick of the corn flavor – salty, sweet and buttery corn. I was already stuffed from the chicken benedict and I couldn’t stop myself from eating these grits. I will definitely order a side for myself next time…. and had I known I was going to eat the grits I would’ve taken a photo of the dish without spoonmarks… sorry!

Lastly here’s a photo of my orange juice and latte. What a nice simple presentation!

Pican is A-CLASS… LOVE IT and can’t wait to go back and try something else!

Disco fries all the way baby!

2295 Broadway
(between Grand Ave & 23rd St)
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 834-1000
www.picanrestaurant.com

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Above is the Smoked Brisket Scramble with Pasilla Peppers and Onions, Toast and Home Fries.  It was pretty good.  I can’t say it was the most amazing scramble I’ve ever had, but it was definitely good.  There wasn’t so much smoked brisket in the scramble, but you could taste the smokey essence of the meat and the medium spiciness of the peppers.  Frankly, it was a little mushy.  For the scramble, I think either the eggs could’ve been cooked a little more or maybe the onions could’ve been cooked less — to give the dish a little more texture, otherwise it was just a mouthful of mush.  Tastey mush though!

I am usually very particular about my potatoes as well.  These potatoes were good — they were cooked with garlic and onions and were cut in quarters.  For breakfast potatoes I kind of prefer my potatoes in smaller bites and cooked in butter (or on a skillet with butter).  These potatoes were good but they weren’t my “favorite” kind of home fries.

Overall, brunch was good.

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

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I used to work at a restaurant in Pennsylvania before I move to San Francisco. When I walked into T-Rex Berkeley I felt like I was entering a hipper, cooler, more modern version of my old restaurant/bar… it smelled the same (kind of like an old tavern meets cleaning products meets smoking meat) and the menu layout was identical and used the same font (only the nerdy graphic designer in me would notice this).

T-Rex was definitely off to a great start once I saw the Hoegaarden on the beer list. They brought it back with an orange though (oops!)… oranges are for Franziskaner, lemons are for Hoe… most people don’t know that though (just like how you never drink Guinness from a can!) Anyway, we ordered alot of food, check it out:

These ribs were AWESOME. They were very flavorful and seasoned perfectly with just the right amount of spices. They came with both a sweet and a hot bbq sauce, both of which were really different from one another. I prefered a mix of the two – the sweet one was very sweet and tangy and the hot one had a more smokey peppery flavor. I haven’t had ribs in a long time so these really hit the spot. I didn’t eat the toast and I wasn’t so wild about the potato salad either, just wanted the meat…

Growing up, my stepdad grilled ribs and other goodies during the summer, so I have become a seasoned rib eater, and I’m not just saying this because he’s my stepdad – but alot of these bbq people have alot to live up to. I don’t know what he does to them, but they are so good that I can’t really order ribs anywhere else because they’re never as good as his. T-Rex ribs get an A.

Ooh, now onto the single side dish that I measure many of my favorite restaurant’s upon – the french fry. As you can see, these are thicker cut fries with skins ON. I’m no potato expert but I’m guessing they were freshly cut yukon gold potatoes? They were much starchier than normal russet potatoes and you could tell that the oil they were fried in was fairly new since they didn’t have the “fried”, “buttery” grease, it was “cleaner” grease if you know what I mean… This was the first of 2 fry orders. The first round came out a bit dry (but good enough that I ate most of them) – I think they were under a heatlamp too long… the second batch was much fresher but by then I was too full to eat anything else. The ketchup was also homemade and it had a nice kick to it. Good ketchup.

More brunch appetizers… the Maple Sugar Beignets with Espresso Custard (topped with fresh whipped cream). The beignets were to DIE for. I’m not really the queen of sweet tooth but I definitely could’ve eaten this whole order if I wasn’t sharing it with 2 other people. It was amazing and if you ever go to T-Rex you need to try them. Beignets are great – if you don’t know what they are, they’re a light fluffy dough, usually stuffed with something (chocolate, fruit, etc), but these were just the dough and you put the espresso custard on top (or just dip it). Definitely A++ on the beignets.

Finally the main dishes. My friend and I decided to split 2 entrees. I ordered the “Tart of T-rex ham and gruyere cheese, carmelized onions and two over easy eggs and toast.” She ordered the “Pulled pork sandwich with bbq potato chips and cole slaw”

When I got my dish, I didn’t recognize it – I thought I was getting a tart? I was definitely expecting a puff pastry or some elaborate ham and cheese croissant-like dish… what I got was a flat disc of pastry, on top of the pastry was some ham, cheese, then the 2 eggs over easy. They forgot to give me toast, and I felt bad asking for it since the waiter already made a mistake and he was trying really hard to make up for it. So, the arugula salad made up for the missing toast. I don’t think I would order this dish again – it wasn’t bad but it didn’t blow me away like I thought it would. My suggestion – add something to give it a little crunch, or maybe put the entire thing inside a pastry? I know it’s supposed to be a tart but there was just something missing, sorry.

Holy KRAY-berries (my word for OMG OMG!!!) look at that Pork BBQ Sandie! I think out of all of the pork bbq I’ve ever eaten, this was probably the BEST. My friend said the sauce was too vinegar-y for her, but I thought it was perfect – the perfect amount of sweet and tangy without losing the flavor of the pork itself. And the bun was nice and soft and wasn’t one of those annoying crumbly ones that fall apart (or get really soggy). The chips were amazing too, nice light, sweet bbq flavor and they were thick-cut with alot of crunch, just the way I like ’em. By this point I was way too full to try the coleslaw.

As you can see from the above pics, T-Rex is a colorful, laid back place. It’s really nice, and they have a nice outdoor seating area upstairs as well as a little section upstairs with sofa’s/armchairs where you can eat and watch “the game” from one of their flatscreen tv’s. I will definitely return to T-Rex.

T-Rex BBQ
1300 Tenth Street (Cross St. Gilman)
Berkeley, CA 94710
(510) 527- 0099

http://www.t-rex-bbq.com

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