Shop Talk: The ins and outs of Berkeley businesses

November 29, 2011 3:30 pm by Lance Knobel

Innerstellar Yoga, on Adeline and Stuart

DOWNWARD DOG Innerstellar Pilates & Yoga opened in mid-November across the street from Berkeley Bowl. It includes two movement studios, a wellness center and a retail boutique for yoga and pilates props and lifestyle clothing. Its website stresses that Innerstellar offers “only the most potent styles” of pilates and yoga.

THANK YOU AND GOODBYE Café Gratitude on Shattuck is likely to close in the next few months after its owners, Matthew and Terces Engelhart, announced they are dissolving the company and shutting down or selling all six of their Northern California locations. As well as Berkeley, this includes the Mission in San Francisco, Oakland, San Rafael, Healdsburg, Cupertino, and Santa Cruz. The reason, given by the owners in a letter posted on the company’s website, is a “series of aggressive lawsuits” surrounding wage and hour disputes which, they say, cost them too much money.

Dim sum at Shen Hua

DIM SUM DELIGHT Shen Hua, an Elmwood fixture for 13 years, has a new repertoire on its menu: dim sum. Owner Edward Chu has been wanting to add the small plates for years, but finally introduced the service this summer. Lunch customers have a choice of 15 to 20 dim sum items but the dinner selection is more limited. Shen Hua serves standards such as ha gow and sui mai, but creates unique dishes every few weeks. The current specialty is vegetable dumplings.

Tivoli Caffe, soon to be offering full breakfast and late-night pizza

MMM, SAUSAGES Tivoli Caffè opened recently at 2554 Bancroft Way, just across from Barrow Lane. It does the usual range of coffees, teas, pastries, sandwiches and paninis. The city has just approved its permit for an oven hood, so Tivoli will shortly be offering full, cooked breakfast (Aidells sausages promised) and pizza. The plan is to open from 6am to 2am, although the friendly woman serving coffee at noon assured Berkeleyside that she wouldn’t be there at 2am.

Green Choice Moto on Bancroft Way

SCOOT ALONG One of the world’s two Green Choice Moto stores — Berkeley and Toronto — has been open since earlier this year on Bancroft Way. The bright, white space is filled with scooters and electric bicycles. Products are sourced from manufacturers China Xingyue and Tianneng. Green Choice promotes that scooters and electric bikes require no license, no insurance, no gas and no registration.

Shop Talk is our regular column in which we post updates on Berkeley businesses — openings, closings, new directions, relaunches, relocations. If you’re a Berkeley business with news, or a Berkeleysider who has spotted a change in your neighborhood or on your travels, shoot us an email with the details. Read previous Shop Talk columns here.

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  • Anonymous

    Aarghh! Cafe Gratitude is my favorite Berkeley restaurant! And as far as I can tell, their deserts and smoothies are the best that I have ever had.

    It isn’t empty whenever I go in, and the prices have always struck me as quite fair considering the extremely high quality ingredients in their food. I’ve been a bit disappointed lately at their shrinking menu, but I figured that was due to the economic downturn and the large amount of preparation that their raw food seems to involve.

    The food at Gratitude is so unique, I can’t see how we’ll be able to replace it. I know that some people don’t like it, but my out-of-town guests have always loved the idea of the place as being “totally Berkeley.”

  • Anonymous

    I’m grateful that Gratitude decided to go out of business rather than stay open and comply with those pesky state labor laws that prohibit managers from taking tips away from employees that earned them.  If they paid all their employees a reasonable wage up front, they wouldn’t feel compelled to take away server tips to give them to other employees.

  • http://www.facebook.com/cheyennebarr Cheyenne Barr

    I stand for the revolutionization of money sharing. 
    I would love for you to take a look at the current system that keeps (typically people of color) staff in the back of the house without a working wage.  All staff at Cafe Gratitude and Gracias Madre start at the same rates and then share the wealth of tips to acknowledge everyone’s contribution to the meal brought to the table.  Every single employee of Cafe Gratitude is aware of this practice when they sign up… in fact most servers who come to work there WANT that kind of generosity and radical practice and come to us FOR that reason.

  • Bob

    hahaha, suck it hippies.
    I am relieved.

  • Bryan Garcia

    The whole Cafe Gratitude thing seems a little fishy. I read another article that stated that the lawsuit settlement would only be about $200,000. That’s not a small amount, but to put it in perspective, one Cafe Gratitude location in southern California brings in millions, annually. Multiply that by eight other locations, and I don’t think they’re closing because of a settlement. The rumor right now is that they’re trying to guilt the people bringing the lawsuits into lowering the settlement amount, by putting so many peoples’ jobs on the line.

    Me, I couldn’t really care less about Cafe Gratitude closing, other than the sad fact that many jobs will be lost. Gracias Madre (the Cafe Gratitude-owned Mexican restaurant in the SF Mission) on the other hand, well that’s a real bummer.

  • Frankdatank

    haha, suck it hippies
    i am supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

  • Sakhmet

    Tivoli Cafe sandwiches are so good! Something in the hot peppers they use is addictive.