Food

New Peet’s caters to commuters, Saturn opens today

July 17, 2010 6:00 am by Rachel Gross

Allie Zimnoch, left, buys an espresso at the new Peet's at Berkeley's Downtown BART station.

Still dragging yourself to BART in the morning with bleary, unfocused eyes and barely stifled yawns? For shame. You no longer need to sacrifice your morning cup of Joe to make your train — the Downtown Berkeley BART station now boasts a full-service Peet’s Coffee & Tea stand, complete with seven tables’ worth of seating.

The location, which has been in the works for three years, has already served almost 1,000 customers since it opened with a flourish on Tuesday 13, according to its manager, Deborah Wilson. Wilson, who has been in charge of opening all the other three Peet’s located in BART stations — at the Embarcadero, Pittsburg and Montgomery stops — said she’s received “a very warm reception” from commuters so far.

“I will definitely be getting coffee here from now on,” said Allie Zimnoch, a first-time customer who purchased and downed a shot of espresso in less than a minute before hopping on a train to the airport.

Out of all Peet’s BART locations, the Downtown Berkeley stand has the longest hours and is the only one open Sundays. Though it faces competition from the nearby Tully’s Coffee on Shattuck Avenue, Wilson said the chain’s loyal fan-base — known as “Peet’s-niks” — will ensure a steady stream of customers.

Saturn Cafe: preparing for Berkeley opening today.

In other news, Saturn Café, a popular vegetarian diner born in Santa Cruz, opens on Allston Way in Berkeley Saturday. Saturn specializes in American diner delights gone veggie, like Jalapeno burgers and chicken avocado club sandwiches with bacon — fakin bacon, that is. (Read their full menu.)

Saturn joins Berkeley’s planetary trifecta of Venus, Jupiter — both on Shattuck — and Mars thrift store on Telegraph Avenue. Based on its popularity in Santa Cruz, expect lines orbiting the block…  just like planetary rings.

10 Comments

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  • Bryan Garcia

    Cinnaholic, the (all-vegan) gourmet cinnamon roll shop is also opening today on the same block as Saturn Cafe. Perhaps you could have a post mentioning that? More details here:

    http://www.cinnaholic-berkeley.com/2010/07/grand-opening-scheduled-for-july-17th/

  • tizzielish

    Ironwood BBQ opened on the same Oxford block as Saturn and Cinnaholic yesterday. Saturn must have better PR and their PR network must have connects to berkeleyside.

    I am intrigued by the BART Peet’s. Can morning commuters, heading to the city, buy a Peet’s coffee and then take it on a BART train to drink on their way over to SF? I have had BART employees tell me I can’t drink Peet’s coffee I have purchased at the Peet’s on the corner of Kittredge and Shattuck. Often, I buy a Peet’s on my way to BART, headed to SF. I drink it on the train, in open violation of the rule that no food or drink is allowed on BART. And I have paid attention: almost no one carries coffee drinks on BART.

    Instead of just shilling for this new business, I wish Berkeleyside had addressed the inconsistency of BART banning drinks on trains but selling drinks in the train stations.

    Can I drink a Peet’s coffee on the train?

    Or does that Peet’s hope to sell drinks to folks arriving in downtown Berkeley from elsewhere, heading out the BART station with their coffee?

    It’s not a big deal to me but I hate the way modern life gets full of so many in consistent rules and priorities. I know BART needs revenue but selling drinks in their train stations that, technically, violate their rules for customer behavior is a weird disconnect.

  • http://www.rookiemoms.com RookieMom Whitney

    I wish I could say I was going to like Saturn, but I just can’t eat fake chicken and fake turkey and fake burgers presented as the real thing. Such a great (and kid-friendly) vibe, but doubt I’ll become a customer.

    Plus, parking around there sucks.

  • Diane

    tizzleish: No, you can’t drink Peet’s on BART. Maybe they are hoping to catch people disembarking there and heading into town.

  • tizzielish

    RookieMomWhitney . . . I can, and will, eat fake chicken/turkey/beer-burgers but it seems goofy to pay top dollar to eat restaurant food that pretends to be the kind of food I am used to eating. I much prefer the approach of Gather, right across the street from Saturn. Gather serves real food, with vegan and vegetarian options but they don’t make fake meat like fake bacon.

    And how about this: there are lots more carbs in the fake meat. I am diabetic and carefully count carbs for my health. A fake beef burger is loaded with carbs whereas a cow beef burger has none.

    If people crave the taste of meat . . . . something about the fake pseudo food tring to lure in meateaters seems like another weird disconnect in contemporary life. Let’s live real lives, eat real food. Tofu manufactured to simular chicken is manufactured food.

    Parking around there doesn’t seem so bad to me, but UC is not going full blast in summer time. You can park in Oxford Plaza for less than the meters on the street but after 4 pm.. you pay four buck even if you are in and out in an hour but if you stay til midnight, it’s a good parking deal, I think. Where do you live in Berkeley? Hop the bus downtown.

  • http://www.tktaylor.com Tracey Taylor

    Bryan Garcia: We did a story on Cinnaholic back in May when we interviewed the owners. You might like to read it here:

    http://www.berkeleyside.com/2010/05/21/punk-rocking-vegan-cinnaholic-to-launch-in-berkeley/

  • deirdre

    Tables at the bottom of that BART escalator seem so out-of-place. Perhaps the existence of the tables will clean things up a bit? I know I’ve heard some of the absolute worst street music in Berkeley being performed at that bottom of that escalator. And, a bit of the best. Wonder how the presence of a cafe audience will affect the quality of the performances.

  • Hyperlexic

    I hope Saturn Cafe does better than the last 3-4 restaurants that have been in that space over the last few years… that space seems to be semi-cursed.

  • http://www.preservenet.com Charles Siegel

    No food or beverages allowed in the paid areas of BART. I had BART police stop me to tell me that.
    Having Peets there does make the Berkeley station more cheerful, but after paying $1.95 for a cup of coffee at Peets, I don’t know if I will be able to afford $9.50 for a hamburger at Saturn – particularly since I can get an equally good vegetarian burger for half as much at Smart Alec’s.

  • tizzielish

    I think Saturn will do well in that location. In the past, when other restaurants have failed in that space, Gather was not there. Gather is doing well and pulls energy and attention to the corner.

    Additionally, the whole block Saturn is on is full of new energy. Ironwood BBW, the vegan Cinnalicious bakery, Sunnyside is fairly new on Oxford.

    A new yoga place is opening on Oxford, on the same block as Gather.

    I hope the empty retail space in Oxford Plaza, at the corner of Kittredge & Oxford, finds good tenants who will contribute to the atmosphere of this patch of Berkeley directly across the street from UC.