Little did Alice Waters know the boomerang effect the opening of her simple restaurant, Chez Panisse, 21 years ago would have on America`s gastronomy. Or what it would mean for that area of Berkeley where she decided to locate.
Not only did Chez Panisse gradually creep into the American foodie lexicon as the birthplace of California cuisine, but the restaurant helped spawn a food boom along a boulevard stretch of Shattuck Avenue only two blocks from the University of California-Berkeley.
Residents and visitors came to call it the ”gourmet ghetto.”
Within eight blocks of the Berkeley BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station lie a bakery and cheese cooperative, a coffee and tea shop, a chocolate/pastry shop and an upscale supermarket. Not to mention Chez Panisse and its upstairs cafe and a number of ethnic restaurants, juice bars and sidewalk cafes.
It`s pure nirvana for food lovers. Most of the owners of these establishments take their professions as seriously as Alice Waters does. And that means they produce quality foods worth searching out (and perhaps packing up for friends at home) during a trip to the Bay area.
It`s easy to take a morning stroll north along Shattuck Avenue after a 20-minute-ride on BART across the bay from San Francisco. Browsing, nibbling and buying foods could take an hour or two, after which a restful lunch at Chez Panisse`s cafe eases any aching feet for the walk back to BART. Or if you have one of those sought-after dinner reservations at Chez Panisse`s downstairs dining room, plan to come early for a walking/shopping tour of the neighborhood.
First stop is Andronico`s Park and Shop. The outside of this typical-looking supermarket does not disclose its special qualities. But step inside and head to the right and you`ll find the produce section. Beyond the freshest-looking salad bar you may ever see (with prepared cold dishes such as Oriental noodles, three-pepper salad and marinated eggplant) are rows and rows of fruits and vegetables that suggest a market in some tropical nation rather than the United States.
Neatly displayed are horned melons, dragon beans, fresh water chestnuts, lotus root, carob beans, dried red bananas, cactus pears, pricey ($19.98 per pound) chicken-of-the-wood mushrooms (which look like slices of striated flagstone) and much more. No way you`ll mistake Andronico`s for a Midwest market.
Once you`ve whetted your appetite at the market (and perhaps stuffed a bag full of exotic produce for later snacking), head up the street for a relaxing cup of coffee and some people-watching at the French Hotel cafe. This charming old brick building houses a small hotel and a cafe where coffee drinks and pastries are available. More importantly, it affords a sunny streetside view of Berkeley regulars, students as well as other residents, who also are pursuing foodie pastimes.
Remember, diets are all ”off” this morning. When you find The Cheese Board, you`ll know why. This combination bakery and cheese cooperative proves impossible to resist. More than 250 cheeses are sold here, including European imports and delectable California goat and jack cheeses, all listed on a crowded green chalkboard high above the counter. Because it is a cooperative, The Cheese Board offers very reasonable prices. Seniors over age 60 get a 10 percent discount.
The earthy, strong aroma of cheese almost is matched by the aroma of baking sourdough bread from the open kitchen at the back of the shop, where the owners/bakers mix and knead huge piles of dough before shaping them into baguettes and rounds and sliding them into large ovens.
The selection of breads changes daily. You may find such unusual loaves as cheese onion curry, brioche cinnamon rolls, sesame sunflower, provolone olive, as well as the fine sourdough baguettes. Just try to get out the door without buying one.
Angle across the boulevard, still in a northerly direction, to a shop called Cocolat for a sweet chaser to the cheese and bread. Cocolat is well-known to chocoholics as one of the first U.S. shops to produce French-style truffles. Alice Medrich began the shop in this unlikely shopping center location in 1976 after a stay in France.
Since then, nine more Cocolat shops have opened: The chocolates are distributed in Bloomingdale`s and Macy`s department stores and through mail-order sales. Medrich recently sold the company but still creates new desserts for it.
The tiny shop is sparkling with gold accents and peach-colored walls, all to enhance the array of chocolate brown desserts in the case. In addition to Medrich`s creation, the California truffle (a golf-ball sized confection with all kinds of filling), the case holds tortes and tarts, pastries and candies. All are meticulously decorated. All are irresistable.
But rich chocolate needs a rich chaser, and Peet`s Coffee and Tea is just the spot to find it. High quality, dark-roasted coffees are the big draw at this shop. It`s located just around the corner and a block away from Cocolat, at the corner of Vine and Walnut Streets. Here you`ll find students sipping cappuccino and families loading up on full-bodied Sulawesi-Kalosi, aged Sumatra or Arabian Mocha Sanani coffee beans.
The smell of roasted coffee beckons those outside to come try the coffee of the day or peruse the array of coffee- and tea-making equipment for sale in the back of the shop.
Peet`s has been around since 1966 and was one of the first companies in the U.S. to focus on high-quality coffee, a trend that took off in the 1970s. The shop on Walnut and Vine was the original roasting, warehouse and retail facility started by a Dutchman, Alfred Peet, and was one of the first shops in the gourmet ghetto. Now the firm has its headquarters in Emoryville, Calif., and retail locations in six Bay-area cities, plus a mail-order business.
Walking back to Shattuck, your feet may be telling you it`s time for lunch or dinner. (And if you haven`t overindulged in goodies so far, so may your stomach.)
Chez Panisse is just a few steps south, though it can be hard to recognize with its bounty of vines growing up the fence and the huge tree shadowing the porch and entryway. It looks like an cool oasis, and it is. A culinary oasis.
Inside, the birthplace of California cuisine offers a decor of pleasingly warm wood tones, detailed in Prairie-style trimming and sconces and plenty of fresh flowers. The restaurant is small, seating only 50, with a view of the busy, open kitchen in the back. Upstairs is Cafe Panisse, where more casual meals feature crispy, thin pizzas from wood-burning ovens, plus pastas and salads.
When Alice Waters first opened Chez Panisse, she offered a set menu that changed every day according to what looked good in the market. It was a startling concept then, and it remains one now. Diners have learned to accept Waters` menus with hardly a quibble. Whatever servers bring, they have learned that it is prepared well and simply. Much of the produce comes from local farmers and ranchers who, the menu states, ”practice ecologically sound agriculture.”
A recent menu for $45 offered an antipasto with wilted amaranth greens, roasted peppers and anchovies; guinea hen and chanterelle ravioli with fried sage; grilled veal paillard with sauteed corn and Chino Ranch lima beans; and a Santa Rosa plum tart.
Certainly an appropriate finale to a filling tour of the gourmet ghetto.
Taking the cook`s tour
Where to find Berkeley`s ”gourmet ghetto”:
Andronico`s Park and Shop, 1550 Shattuck Ave.; 510-841-7942.
The French Hotel, 1540 Shattuck Ave.; 510-548-9930.
The Cheese Board, 1504 Shattuck Ave.; 510-549-3183. Closed Sundays and Mondays.
Cocolat, 1481 Shattuck Ave.; 843-3265. For mail-order information, call 510-784-1182.
Peet`s Coffee and Tea, 2112 Vine St.; 510-841-0564. For mail-order catalog, call 800-999-2132.
Chez Panisse and Cafe Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Ave.; 510-548-5525. The cafe is open for lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturdays. Chez Panisse is open for dinner only, Mondays through Saturdays.
