Espresso at Blue Bottle, Local 123 and Farley’s East

phil July 12, 2010

I recently checked out Local 123 (2049 San Pablo Avenue Berkeley, CA) and Farley’s East (33 Grand Avenue Oakland, CA).  I also finally got around to visiting the blue bottle cafe near jack london square (300 Webster St Oakland, CA)

blue bottle cafe

espresso with blue bottle

the ristretto was predictably enjoyable – bright and with a bit of sweetness that lingered.  I also had a sandwich with meat from boccalone and some cookie to go with.  the space is nice – well-lit with natural light but pretty small  – there’s a cupping area and then more space in the back for bags and bags of coffee bean storage and roasting.

local 123

Local 123 is just south of University Ave on San Pablo – near Lanesplitter and Acme.

pretty rosetta
espresso in the patio

(apologies for the iphone photos)

local 123 brews flying goat coffee and they made a tasty ristretto.   I don’t remember details of the taste other than the fact that I really enjoyed it.  the two people working there who we interacted with were super friendly and the barista offered another shot if this one wasn’t to my liking.  the space is nice, with big prints of tasteful and uncheesy square-formatted naturey photos and a nice outdoor seating area.

farley’s east

they pull bottomless shots here from a la marzocco.  The espresso was not bad, but not as good as I’d enjoyed from local 123 and blue bottle.  compared to the two shots above, this one tasted a little staler and darker.  still not bad though.  they use beans roasted by sunrise coffee in san leandro.

espresso from farley's east

I liked their interior and the magazine selection and the friendly person at the counter who took my order.  I got a cold turkey sandwich – it was good.  there’s fun art on the walls and deception by blackalicious was playing as I picked up my sandwich.

it was a monday and the bakesale betty nearby was closed for the day.  I wonder how much more business area cafes receive on mondays and if there’s a correlation.  the windows of the subway next door were still broken as a result of the opportunistic rioting that took place after the mehserle verdict was announced.

subway window, broken

I saw quite a few windows being repaired in Oakland today:

window repair

miam.miam in rockridge to serve blue bottle coffee; scream sorbet opening soon in temescal

phil June 21, 2010

update: you can expect to see some wild-looking mugs at miam.maim: http://www.unitedbrands.us/miam/miammiam-mugs/fallseries.html

yet-to-open cafe/lounge miam.miam (5856 college ave)  just posted a huge blue bottle banner in their window.  after having a banner in the window promising frozen yogurt in “summer 2009” and then “holiday 2009” from peeks into their front door, it looks like they’re finally getting closer to opening.   The huge banner is a little misleading – the size of it makes you think that blue bottle is actually opening at that location, but not so.

Bittersweet, just down the street also serves blue bottle (or at least they did last time I was there), so miam.miam isn’t alone.

this gets me to thinking – blue bottle’s got a pretty strong brand going if cafes are clamoring to serve their coffee and use it in their advertising, right?

on a slightly related note, scream sorbet is opening up a shop at 51st and telegraph in temescal (5030 telegraph ave), 2 doors down from bakesale betty.  they’re scheduled to open in June, according to a not-fake poster.

they’ve got a hilarious set of fake posters in the window:

scream sorbet posters

hilarious fake ads and websites:

“squidazzle!  Bringing squid and squid-based technologies to the greater bay area since early 2010.  We’ll make you aware what the squid has to share”

“the root seller: your year-roud source for roots and tubers”

“the mauve emporium: love mauve? so do we!  finally, the store that’s nothing but mauve.  If it’s arguably mauve… we’ve got it!”

“TROUGH: food by the minute – Grand opening special!!! Only $9.99 for 10 minutes!  That’s less than a dollar a minute!!” (looks like landing page is broken)

“MARZIPAN MADNESS – The DIY almond paste sensation that’s sweeping the nation!”

cafe zoe in rockridge opening soon with serious espresso?

phil June 12, 2010

update 3 (September 2012): Cafe Zoe is now Old Brooklyn Bagels.  The same la marzocco machine is in there though..

update 2: samples today but real opening is on sunday the 20th 7am-7pm

update: via teh twitters, @cafezoeoakland is prepping for a 6/18 opening, pending inspection.

—

peeked through the window of cafe zoe in rockridge and saw this:

the under-construction cafe zoe, through the window

there hasn’t been a lot to be found about cafe zoe (6000 college ave) on the interwebs, which had been vacant for quite some time (one year? two years?)  Apparently it used to be Baby World but they seem to have moved over to the Temescal neighborhood.

Anyways, back to the photo: Rockridge is a neighborhood with a pretty high cafe per resident ratio, but I’ve yet to find a place with espresso that I really like.  On College ave, there’s Cole Coffee (who have a consistent gathering of people sipping coffee outside), A Cuppa Tea, Spasso, and Peaberry’s in Market Hall.  I don’t remember what the espresso was like from Bittersweet or Hudson Bay Cafe, but the fact that it wasn’t memorable probably means something.  Though each of the places have their draw, I wouldn’t go to any of just for an espresso unless I really needed a caffeine fix.  The nearest place to me is the relatively new Remedy Coffee in Temescal, who do a really nice job with Ritual’s beans.

The machine in the photo is a La Marzocco FB80, a dual-boilered, PID’ed out crema-churning beauty (with some nice detailed reviews) that runs somewhere between $11,000 and $17,000 depending on how many groups you want.  A little searching online found this job posting which indicates that Cafe Zoe will be serving award-winning Ecco Caffe coffee (whose coffee I have not tried but hope to soon, as they are planning to relocate their roastery and open a cafe in portrero hill).

I’ve seen this machine before at the Blue Bottle in Williamsburg.  So, I’m excited.  serious coffee + serious machine + a job description that implies a serious commitment to coffee (“The espresso bar was designed with the barista in mind! Super equipment, great workflow, and the best view in the house.”) probably means serious coffee.

2010 I Care Classic South County Century & Bicycle Tour

phil June 9, 2010

The 19th annual I Care Classic ride (presented by the Almaden Super Lions Club) was on May 15th, 2010.

registration:

Paramit corporation hosted the staging area and registration.  They love microwaves.  or hot food.

wall of microwaves

The ride was really well supported with plentiful sugary home-baked rest stops.  I ate a lot of m&ms and cookies that day.  yum.

great homebaked food

The ride was a little foggy in the morning, especially once you got up in the hills a bit:

foggy gilroy hot springs

and sometimes sunny

sunny gilroy hot springs

the fog was wonderful though:

beautiful fog
more beautiful fog

there was an accident somewhere on the route where a car apparently hit a telephone pole, requiring that the road be closed while PG&E conduct repairs.  we lost about 30 miles of our ride but we were able to make up 20 miles of it elsewhere on uvas rd.

detour!

Brook hooked me up with some flashy handlebar tape:

rockin the gold handlebar tape

el toro brewing company was nearby, so beers were in order:

beer to cap it off