Rockridge Neighborhood Food Walking Tour

Last Sunday we spent a glorious Spring day in Oakland's Rockridge Neighborhood on a delicious and informative food walking tour, "Rockridge Neighborhood Heritage Tour," offered by Local Food Adventures. 

Local Food Adventures is a small locally-owned company whose walking tours focus on Oakland, California, neighborhoods.  

I chose the Rockridge tour because Rockridge is one of my favorite Oakland neighborhoods.  Rockridge is one of the first Bay Area neighborhoods Jim and I discovered when we moved to California over 40 years ago.  While Rockridge has become more gentrified since we first discovered it, it has continued to retain its local neighborhood spirit. Rockridge is easy to get to; it's right off Highway 24 and has its own Bart station right in the midst of its bustling business district.

Over the past several years, with so much changing in the Bay Area, we've not gone to Rockridge as often as we used to. I signed up for the tour in hopes of rekindling my love of the neighborhood.

We were not disappointed and are already planning our next visit.

There were just four of us on our three-hour tour: Maureen and Mike from San Jose, who had come from San Jose on Bart from the newly-opened Warm Springs station, and me and Jim, who drove the 14 miles from home and were easily able to find parking in the neighborhood on a Sunday morning. (Note: Rockridge is a busy residential and business district; on other days and at other times of day, parking can be scarce, making Bart and excellent option for getting here.)

We met Debra, our guide, at the Rockridge Library. After introductions and a bit of talk about our favorite foods and food interests, made our first of six stops at A16 restaurant.  A16 is known for its Tuscan pizza.  

We were seated at the counter that surrounds the wood-fired pizza oven.  While we enjoyed some freshly-prepared pieces of frittata, the pizza chef told us a bit about A16, its pizza oven, and Tuscan pizza. Since it takes only 90 seconds to bake a Tuscan-style pizza in the oven's 900 degree heat, we got to watch the pizza being prepared from the stretching out of the dough to it's completion.  We had the Margherita pizza, a classic that is topped with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil and olive oil.  

Before tasting A16's Margherita, I've never been a fan of this simple pizza.  This tasting changed it all for me. It was amazing!

Next stop was Cactus Taqueria. I had eaten at Cactus Taqueria when it first opened in Rockridge, over 20 years ago.  I remember liking it and appreciating that all their meats are antibiotic/hormone free.  Our Crispy Chicken Tacos were filled to overflowing with Mary's chicken, guacamole, cheese, salsa and lettuce.  I love their self-serve salsa bar that features at least half a dozen salsas. Yum! And, of course, I'll be back sooner than 20 years from now.

Next stop was the bustling Rockridge Market Hall Foods, a European-style indoor market with a bakery, a coffee roaster, fresh produce, wine, meats, fish, flowers, packaged fancy foods, prepared foods, pasta, and cheese. Our focus was on the cheese section.

The cheese monger talked with us about cheese and the cheese shop's cheese selections.  We enjoyed two tasty cheeses, each garnished with preserves, also sold at the Market Hall.  

After our cheese tasting, we had some time to explore and shop in the Market Hall.

At this point, about half way through our tour, we took a break from eating and walked through some of the residential parts of Rockridge. We saw many examples of the neighborhood's Arts and Craft style architecture.  Architects Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck, working mainly in the first half of the 20th century, designed and influenced the design of many buildings in Rockridge and other parts of Oakland and Berkeley.   

Rockridge's College Avenue Presbyterian Church, constructed in 1917, was designed by Julia Morgan. 

Our next tasting stop was at Ver Brugge Meats and Seafood, an old-style butcher shop and market, complete with hand-lettered signs in the window to advertise the week's specials.

Here we tasted freshly-cooked house-made Whiskey Fennel Chicken Sausage and Pork Bratwurst that were paired with a deli mustard and a horseradish sauce  Both sausages were so tasty that I bought some, and a bottle of the deli mustard,  to take home.

We then went next door is La Farine, a French bakery that has been here since 1977. La Farine's signature pastry is their morning bun. 

Sorry that Jim's mini morning bun is half eaten in this photo; they are so good, it is hard to not devour them immediately.  I left La Farine with more morning buns, scones, and a loaf for bread to enjoy at home.

Our tour ended at Dreyer's Ice Cream. Dreyer's dates back to 1928 when it was founded as Edy's Grand Ice Cream in Oakland by Joseph Edy and William Dreyer.  Edy was a candy maker and Dreyer was an ice cream maker. The top picture is a painting of what the ice cream parlor looked like in times past. Today, Dreyer's is a subsidiary of Nestlé.  

 

Dreyer's Rocky Road ice cream combined both of its founder's talents into one ice cream flavor that remains popular to this day. Rocky Road, introduced in 1929, mixed chocolate, marshmallow and nuts into chocolate ice cream.  Before this time, the only ice cream flavors were vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry.  Our tour ended with a scoop of Rocky Road.

In addition to learning more about Rockridge and enjoying generous samples of foods at all six stops, we recieved a map of the area and discount coupons for future visits at most of the places we visited.

Local Foods Adventures other walking tours are the "Grand Lake Cultural Cuisine Tour" and the "Rockridge Ice Cream and Gelato Tour" (great suggest for where to take kids this summer). All tours include food tastings, food demonstrations and some history of the neighborhood  Our guide, Debra, knew Rockridge well and shared her knowledge and love of the neighborhood with us in such a way that we felt like had instantly become part of the neighborhood.

One last note:  I bought my tickets to this tour at a discounted price through an offer by Livingsocial.com.  Over the years, I've taken advantage of many Living Social offers and have saved money and been introduced to new services.  Their offers change constantly and often are from new companies who are seeking a larger market than they can market to on their own. Check them out and sign up for their emailings for the area in which you live. 

BACK TO NORMAL...ALMOST

When I was in Boston a few weeks ago, I spent most of a day in and around Copley Square.  I was curious to see what evidence of the Boston Marathon bombings remained as well as to revisit one of my favorite parts of Boston.

Historic buildings surrounding Copley Square include the Boston Public Library (1895; the first public library in the United States to allow people to borrow books), Trinity Church (1877), the Old South Church (1874), the John Hancock Tower (1976), and the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel (1912).

Copley Square, and the surrounding several blocks, known as Back Bay, was where my father worked most of his career. Summers I worked at his office and spent many a happy lunch hour browsing in the exclusive shops that lined Boylston and Newbury Streets from Arlington Street all the way up to Massachusetts Avenue.  Jim and I bought most of our art from galleries on Newbury Street.  I did research for many a high school and college paper at the Boston Public Library.

Today, this area is the main "nice" shopping area of downtown Boston, but it is not as exclusive as it used to be.

A bit to my surprise, in the short time since the Marathon bombings, there was little sign of damage or destruction. There are scattered memorials to the Marathon victims, but, nothing very organized...all very impromptu.

Frankly, I was surprised at how "normal" the area looked.



The biggest memorial is right in Copley Square.



On a warm May day, it was attracting many; a sobering reminder of what had so recently occurred just a block away.



What impressed me most was the "wall" of running shoes.



The most moving Marathon memorial for me was that on the wrought iron fence around the Arlington First Church.


Visitors were invited to write a mesage on a ribbon and tie it on the fence.



A few shops had memorials in front as well.


This is the Lord & Taylor whose surveillance cameras videos helped establish the identity of the bombers.


And, the Marathon finish line is still painted on Boylston Street.  Some locals have told me that it is always there but this is the first time I've ever noticed it.




But, for the most part, life in Back Bay was going on as it always has, particularly on a balmy spring day.

Tour the Mission District with GraceAnn

I've know GraceAnn Walden since the early 1980's when I started the Where-To-Guide and she was just getting started with her walking tours of San Francisco and East Bay neighborhoods.

At that time she invited me to partake of her North Beach Tour, an informative and entertaining walking tour of San Francisco's Italian neighborhood. GraceAnn's tours last for 5 or more hours and include history, a meal, snacks and food shopping along the way. She's an "insider" to all the neighborhoods that she tours, so anyone who takes one of her tours comes away feeling like they, too, are part of that neighborhood.  She gives a brief history of the neighborhood, points out places of interest, and introduces her guests to many colorful locals.

I've considered GraceAnn's North Beach Tour to be her "signature" tour and often take guests on it. One time, when I was doing the spouse program for a meeting group, our most memorable day was a day spent with GraceAnn on her North Beach Tour.

Most of GraceAnn's tours currently cost $80 per person, a price that is quite reasonable, given that it takes most of a day and includes a complete meal and other tasty edibles.

GraceAnn's Latino Mission Tour has long been on my wish list. Finally, last Saturday, with Jim, Mary Ann, and Dean, we took this tour.



Our day started at the corner of Potrero Avenue and 24th Street where GraceAnn gave us a brief history of the Mission.

From there, we headed north on 24th Street toward Mission Street. We only covered about 8 blocks, about as far as Harrison or Folsom Street, but there was so much for us to see and do.

Our first stop was at Dynamo Donuts, a relative newcomer to this neighborhood.

Dynamo Donuts is as popular in this neighborhood as some of the cupcake places in New York City.

Every day, people line up on the sidewalk to order their choice of the day's donut offerings. Other than hot and cold beverages, the only non-donut on Dynamo's menu is a Donut Bread Pudding.

GraceAnn chose four different flavors of donut for us: Spiced Chocolate, Passion Fruit Milk Chocolate,  Vanilla Bean, and the ever-famous Maple Glazed Bacon Apple. We had coffee or tea with them.



I liked them all, but favored the Spiced Chocolate for its subtle flavors of cinnamon, chile, and chipotle. The Bacon donut was surprisingly wonderful, too.






We devoured every last donut crumb while sitting on Dynamo's sunny, flower-filled back patio.

A tour with GraceAnn always seems to include the unexpected.



This time it was a stop at Pops for a Bacon Bloody Mary!

Pops is a bar just a few doors north of Dynamo Donuts. It's at the corner of 24th and York Streets. We stopped in front while GraceAnn told us about what a lively place it was after dark. Then she spotted this sign

and could not resist trying a Bacon Bloody Mary even at 11 a.m....after all, it was "for research." No one else in our group was up to the challenge but we did ask GraceAnn to get extra straws so we could have a taste.



We chatted with the bartender while she mixed this concoction which she then garnished with a spear of pickled asparagus, pickled green beans, olives and, of course, a long slice of bacon.



By the way, it was delicious!!!

Another "unscripted" part of our tour happened when a totally tricked-out red convertible drove past us with a lovely young woman in the back seat on her way to her Quinceanera.

At La Palma market,



GraceAnn told us how to prepare fresh yuca (aka "yucca" by the non-Spanish-speaking) and even picked out one for me to buy.



GraceAnn's recipe: peel it, slice it, simmer it until tender (for an hour or so), drain, toss with butter, garlic and fresh lime juice; salt and pepper to taste.

She took us inside this market where several of us purchased handmade tortillas, spicy yuca chips, fresh oranges and other goodies.

GraceAnn pointed out the Brava Theater whose architecture is a reminder of past days in the Mission.



It dates back to 1926 when it was a vaudeville house called the Roosevelt Theater. It later was called the York Theater. Today, in its renovated state, it is home to a variety of performances and exhibits.

In preparation for walking Balmy Alley, an entire Alley off 24th Street that is filled with murals, we stopped at Precita Eyes, a shop that sells all the materials to create the wall murals that are so abundant in the Latino Mission. Precita Eyes is more than just a shop and studio; it is a cultural center dedicated to the mural arts in the Mission, in other San Francisco neighborhoods, and in locations throughout the world.

Most of the murals in the Mission have been influenced by Precita Eyes.  For those wanting more detail about the murals in the Mission, Precita Eyes offers mural tours.

And, then, it was on to Balmy Alley, the block-long alley with the largest concentration of murals in the Mission District. The earlier murals, which date back to the 1980s, are mostly protests against human rights and political abuses in Central America. The newer murals reflect more current times and often less weighty subject matter.

The following photos are of some of the Balmy Alley murals

Our final "official" stop was at Tio Chilo's Grill for a leisurely lunch.



Tio Chilo's is a favorite with the locals and GraceAnn is one of them. We were welcomed like family and enjoyed a family-style lunch that was specially prepared for our group.




It included Ceviche Tosadas, Pork Chile Verde, a Chicken dish, and Beans and Rice.





I certainly am looking forward to my next tour with GraceAnn...

And, the photos that follow are more of what we saw as we walked around this colorful neighborhood.