Farley’s East – Oakland, CA

by Jason on February 18, 2013

I first heard of Farley’s East through work, as they have opened up a public parklet – a mini-park that takes the place of a parking spot. This isn’t the first one in the city. Somehow, the first one was stolen. Yes, a mini-park the size of a parking spot was stolen. Regardless, when I first started my internship in Oakland, my co-workers wanted to take me here. Instead, we ended up at a French VIetnamese restaurant. Thus, when I wandered by this place, I was intrigued.

The place is a combination of coffee shop and restaurant. The large windows let in a glow of natural sunlight and a yellow hue from the reflection of a gold-windowed office tower across the street. The venue has various levels of seating, with stairs in the back that lead to other areas and, of course, the parklet as a place to sit. The walls are lined with magazine shelves holding multiple copies of recent publication issues. Grabbing an Entrepreneur and Details magazine, I settled myself after ordering what I believe is the only food on the menu, a weekly special sandwich of artichokes, roasted pork, kumquat marmalade, cabbage, mozzarella cheese, and a side of spring mix salad lightly dressed with vinaigrette.

To ensure that you don’t look like a fool when eating here, you help yourself to the cutlery, which is hidden behind a magazine shelf. Additionally, when you are done, you bus your table in a dish bin located under the sugar and cream mixing station. I definitely appeared like an amateur on my first day there.

When I arrived, which was between 2-3pm, the crowd was more subdued. Definitely a place people try to get some work done, read, or relax. This place must be crazy during a lunch rush. The people behind the counter all look like cool Oaklandians: beanies, tattoos, piercings, dressed in hip cool hemp everything. I love it. I want to be you.

After ordering the sandwich special – totalling to just under $9, I glanced through some magazines. The food took a little longer than I expected, but when it arrived, it was quite the sight. I have seen others order this, and the lady sitting beside me gave a glowing recommendation on it. I is excited.

With the halves placed on a tilt, I sank my teeth into this panini-style sandwich. Rightfully, it is a panini, but with extra toasted bread which has been glazed with olive oil – making it extra crispy. There is quite the oozing explosion of cheese and roasted pork that rolls across your tongue conquering all available territory in your mouth. Duly noted, the bread is very crispy, but this is the only structure that is able to keep the cheese at bay.

I do believe the mozzarella overpowered the artichoke and cabbage, which I was looking to taste in the panini sandwich, especially the artichoke, which was a kicker to order the sandwich. The roasted pork came in tender soft pink lightly-seasoned chunks, which I ensured I picked off the plate. It was so good it deserves to be a standalone, but gallantly made its presence known in the onslaught of mozzarella (cheese onslaught is the best type anyways). They did not skimp on the pork, and for that – I am thankful. The spring mix was a nice compliment, though it didn’t act as a palate cleanser as I wish it did. For $9, I was satiated and walked away a happy camper.

If they craft all their sandwiches this artfully, I may become a dangerously regular patron. I greatly appreciate their free wi-fi and racks on racks of magazines to peruse through.

What’s your wild rabbit?

33 Grand Ave. Oakland, CA 94612
http://www.farleyscoffee.com/oakland.html

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Hawker Fare – Oakland, CA

by Jason on February 16, 2013

A very thrilling experience is to have a misperception completely shattered. One such is the initial impression of the City of Oakland. Prior to attending graduate school, my visits to the Bay Area mostly centered around San Francisco. However, after living here and working in Oakland, I have to say that there is an incubating hip scene here – a mix of strangely bearded and tattooed patrons amongst the sea of grey suits or homeless carts.

Hawker Fare is one such place that has been gaining a reputation for their food, an asian fusion mix that, surprisingly, uses some ingredients that aren’t universally palatable, i.e. pickled mustard greens (which, by the way, is delicious). If it’s strange enough to intrigue you, please go for it!

This restaurant is a mix of convenient and elevated weekday lunch joint, and a trendy and cheap place for a dinner date around Uptown Oakland, located at the corner of 23rd and Webster St. Most dishes are $10 or under. There is nothing too elaborate on the decor, black ceils and yellow walls with large posters, Empire of the Sun and other indie pop/rock music playing, and lively discussions all around. This place fosters conversation, and with about 10 people in the venue, it was loud.

Tables are set around, some in the sun, others along a large shared cushioned bench. There is a flair for the trendy, down to the piercings and full-sleeve tattoos of the servers. Wow, I really want a tattoo now.

I ordered the 24 hour pork belly, and threw a fried egg ($1.50) on top of it. This seems to be how you eat here, with an egg on it.

Service was fundamental. The cutlery was brought with and table wiped when I approached the table. They brought water without my asking. Food came out fairly quickly, a definite benefit for those on a lunch break. The food came in a large white bowl. The four pieces of pork belly cascading on top of each other, dark with seasoning. The mustard greens rest aside the rice and pork, with pieces of celery intermixed. Cilantro garnish was tucked to the side, and a fried egg balanced on top of it all. The presentation just screams – look at all the protein I will provide you!

The mustard greens had a familiar vinegary fermented taste for those accustomed to these types of Asian vegetable sides. The celery offered a fresh and clean balance to the mustard greens. The pork was interesting. When the meat portion was eaten, it was actually a little tough. However, it is divine rule that fat makes all things good, and this is what transpires here. The pork fat held its deliciously gelatinous consistency while flaking off the other parts of the meat, and the taste was of buttery sapid flavor. The pepper seasoning on the pork belly is all the more apparent as it dances along your taste buds. The fried egg was gooey! Clean and unseasoned, the entire role of the fried egg was to dispense its yolky ambrosia all over the rice and friends in the bowl.

Runny egg yolk, like pork fat, has divine rule of making everything better.

With the total bill to just under $12, Hawker Fare is an affordable, trendy, and tasty place to grab a “treat yo-self” Friday lunch or a cheap but cool “I know Oakland” date. This is probably the fourth time I’ve eaten here and I always enjoy my time.

2300 Webster St Oakland, CA 94612
http://www.hawkerfare.com/

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Don’t Waste Food!

by Jason on December 20, 2011

My mom always told me not to waste food. It’s amazing how much food goes to waste in America. 34 million tons of food waste is produced in America, and only 3% of that is recovered. The rest goes to landfills, contributing to trash and the production of methane gas.

I’m sure their moms told them not to waste food either.

It’s not just to food thrown out, but the fact that all the resources that went into the production of it is wasted as well.

If you think how much energy, soil, and water goes into all the vegetables, fruits, and grains, it accounts for a lot. Tons of water goes into just plants, so went you think about watering and harvest all those plants for the consumption of animals, who later would be slaughtered for meat, it’s absolutely insane to even consider wasting food.

I may be sounding too drastic here, as I firmly believe in eating until you’re full, not when your plate is clean, but that comes into putting less on your plate (however, I am guilty for overeating many times). I just want people to be more aware that wasting food goes so much more than what is being thrown away.

Now, consider all the people that go hungry in America, let alone the world. If the food, instead of being wasted, goes to hungry mouths, then we can save a lot of money and lives. Less programs needed for the hungry because there’s less hungry people. More people focusing on other aspects of their lives such as work, getting an education, or anything else because they are no longer worried about food.

So, where did this come from?

Well, there are two things that have stuck with me.

I have a grape fruit tree where I live in San Jose. I remember one day as I returned home, I noticed how many grapefruits have fallen. Since I don’t really eat it, they just sit there on the floor, rotting. All this food can go to people who really need them, and even if I did eat them, there is no way I can eat a whole tree of grapefruit.

Another trigger happened yesterday actually. I was at the mall going some lat minute Christmas shopping (I know, crazy) and as I was trying to get my foursquare to load up an Express coupon, I decided to buy a pizza pretzel. While in line, they made new pizza pretzels, which got me excited as I will have fresh ones. However, they took the pizza pretzels just sitting there, and proceeded to toss it, or placed it somewhere under the counter away from customers. I presumed that they tossed it, and all I could think about was how many people would’ve loved to have those perfectly fine pretzels.

The pictures were from a BBQ my roommate had in San Jose. I am so serious about saving food that after everyone left or fell asleep, I took the time to wrap and preserve all the food… :)

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