Money, power, race, a mansion stuffed with treasure, a city plagued by scandal — about all that’s missing from “The Art of the Steal”, a hard-hitting documentary about a high-cultural brawl, is a hot woman with a warm gun…

So begins Manohla Dargis’s New York Times review of The Art of the Steal which is showing at the Landmark Theatres on Shattuck.

The movie tells the story of The Barnes Foundation in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. In 1922 Dr. Albert C. Barnes created the foundation for his astounding collection of post-impressionist and early modern art, which included 181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos, 16 Modiglianis and seven Van Goghs.

Dr. Barnes deliberately built his foundation away from the city and cultural elite who scorned his collection as “horrible, debased art”. But tastes changed, and soon the very people who belittled Barnes wanted access to his collection. When Barnes died in 1951, he left control of his collection to Lincoln University, a small African-American college, with strict instructions that the paintings may never be removed.

More than fifty years later, a powerful group of moneyed interests have gone to court in a rancorous, Machiavellian attempt to take the art — recently valued at more than $25 billion — and move it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Find movie screening times here.

[Hat tip: Nancy Friedman].

Meet Anand Chokkalingam, UC Berkeley professor by day and chocolatier by night.

This cancer epidemiologist pursues his passion for high-end confections in his off hours and puts his scientific sensibilities to sweet use by hand-crafting artisanal chocolates with top-notch ingredients.

Turns out that Anand is a Sanskrit word that refers to a state of pure joy and divine bliss, which is an apt description of Anand Confections.

Parlaying a fondness for making sweet treats into a chocolate following that started by word-of-mouth, Anand’s small-batch business got a boost last December when Town & Country paired one of his exotic candies with a tawny port. This writer discovered his inspired offerings at a recent bakesale benefit for Haiti. Anand enjoys playing with flavors from his Indian heritage, which give his concoctions their signature tastes, such as cardamom and saffron, and Darjeeling tea.

Anand, 37, lives in the Thousand Oaks neighborhood, with his wife Radha Seshagiri, and their two young children. His chocolates can be ordered online.

1. Can you name a family-friendly restaurant that you like in the area?

When we eat out with the kids, we often go to Cactus Taqueria. They serve good quality food, bean burritos are a big hit with my vegetarian girls, and it’s hyper-local for us, we can literally walk around the corner.

2. Do you have a favorite local spot to dine out on a date with your wife?

We enjoy Vanessa’s Bistro. The restaurant serves Vietnamese tapas with a French twist and a nod to California cuisine. It sounds like a lot but they make a few key ingredients sing on their small plates. As the only omnivore in the house I particularly enjoy their shaking beef salad. The ambience is casual and on a warm night you can sit out front and watch people walk by on Solano Avenue.

3. What foods do you miss when you’re away from Berkeley?

Cheeseboard Pizza. Their sourdough crust is exemplary. They use really interesting and exquisite cheeses. And they top it with fresh local produce and herbs. It leave a wonderful taste in your mouth.

4. Do you have a local food hero?

Alice Waters. She constantly reminds me that some of the best food involves really high-quality, local ingredients simply prepared. Her leadership in bringing better food to Berkeley public schools, which my older daughter attends, is also inspiring.

5. Is there a cookbook author in town who’s work you admire?

Alice Medrich, who has written several award-winning cookbooks, including Cocolat: Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts,  Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate, and Pure Dessert. Her recipes can have many steps but they’re easy to follow. Bittersweet is one of my go-to books for desserts. The recipes are very replicable. My all-time favorite is her Tribute Cake. It has three different layers and it’s finished with ganache. It’s a special occasion chocolate cake and it’s always a success.

Sarah Henry is a freelance writer whose stories have appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Washington Post and San Francisco Magazine. A contributor to the food policy blog Civil Eats, she muses about food, family and growing greens on her blog lettuce eat kale.

[Photo of Anand Chokkalingam: Radha Seshagiri. Photo of Anand Confections: Guy Poole.]

Photo courtesy of Tom Swift via Flickr

The city’s animal shelter and the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society are teaming up to hold their second vaccine and microchip clinic this weekend. Vaccines for rabies, dog distemper and parvo (DHPP), dog kennel cough, and common cat infections (FVRCP), will be offered for $5 each. Microchips, which provide permanent pet ID and help reunite lost pets and owners, will be available for $15. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The clinic will be held outside Berkeley Animal Care Services (on Second Street at Addison) on Sunday, March 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with last clients accepted at 2 p.m. All dogs must be on leash and all cats in carriers. For information, call (510) 981-6600.

The first clinic, held last October, was over capacity, with clients lined up an hour before the opening. The coalition producing this event—Berkeley Animal Care Services, the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society, and the Berkeley Animal Welfare Fund—hopes to keep expanding the services it can provide to low-income pet owners.

In the semifinals BHS will play fourth-ranked Kennedy-Sacramento who beat Lowell last night, 54-39.

Update The Oakland Tribune has a good story on the game.

The 711 corporation has installed these stand-alone kiosks in its stores on College and Russell, on Telegraph near Blake, on University Avenue, and in other stores in the East Bay. Patrons can rent a movie for just $1 a night.

There are 20,000 Redbox kiosks around the country and they focus on popular new releases. You can rent a movie in one location and return it to another. You can also reserve a movie in advance. The most popular movies this week include Precious, The Time Traveler’s Wife, 2012, The Box, and Up in the Air.

Berkeley’s National Landmark Church (above) celebrates 100 years [BAHA]
Taking steps to get the Bay Bridge finished on time [San Francisco Chronicle]
Berkeley’s unemployment rate highest in 10 years [Daily Californian]
How green is my mansion? Mr Kapor’s home begs the question [New York Times]
Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre returns to Berkeley [Contra Costa Times]

Photo: Tracey Taylor.

The Claremont hosts the first annual Berkeley Wine Festival starting tomorrow. The two-month long festival celebrates wines from the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. The festival opens with a grand reception and tasting of more than 50 wines from top wineries including Far Niente, Duckhorn Wine Company and Cliff Lede Vineyards.

Following the opening, there will be a series of receptions, dinners and seminars hosted by local winemakers.

The Berkeley Wine Festival is modeled after the Boston Wine Festival created by Daniel Bruce, the award-winning chef of Meritage at the Boston Harbor Hotel. Since launching the Boston Wine Festival over 20 years ago, Bruce expanded the event to New Orleans with the French Quarter Festival in 2007 and is launching the Capital Wine Festival in Washington, D.C. and Berkeley Wine Festival this year.

The Berkeley Festival also marks the launch of a “Vineyard to Table” menu in the newly opened Meritage at the Claremont, under the guidance of executive chef Josh Thomsen (above right). The prix fixe menu will feature ingredients grown specifically for Meritage by local winemakers.

With spring in the air, there’s a rush of new home listings in Berkeley. A quick search found 25 homes had come on the market in the past three days alone.

My pick for the week has to be 1120 Miller Avenue in the north Berkeley hills. I have a weakness for this style of 1930s home with its clean lines and large, black-metal framed windows. There’s also a nice Californian vibe about the wood paneling and who wouldn’t covet those gorgeous Bay views?

Add to that the large landscaped lot (0.28 acres), the generous size of the home (2,846 sq ft) and the flexible floorplan, and I must admit to being a little weak-kneed over this one.

Price: $1,300,000 ($457/sq ft).

Detail of a Julia Morgan home in the Claremont.

The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s annual spring tour will this year focus on homes designed by architect Julia Morgan in the Elmwood and Claremont neighborhoods.

The tour, which takes place on Sunday, May 2, 1-5 pm, is titled “Looking at Julia Morgan: Early Residences in Berkeley”.

BAHA has this to say about Morgan and her work:

Berkeley is a treasure trove of early Morgan-designed residences. These welcoming and refined houses are paragons of comfort and beauty — quintessential Berkeley homes.

Julia Morgan began her career at an opportune time: the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire triggered a building boom, and the architect found her hands full. By the end of the first decade of the 20th century, Miss Morgan had designed and built numerous structures, both public and private.

Clad in brown shingles or in stucco, Julia Morgan’s early Berkeley houses are expressions of the Arts & Crafts movement. This year’s house tour will showcase the variety of the architect’s designs within this idiom, as well as a later design in the Mediterranean style.

The tour includes a tour map and an illustrated guidebook  and refreshments will be provided. General admission is $40; BAHA members and guests $30. For information and reservations, visit the BAHA website , email baha@berkeleyheritage.com, or call (510) 841-2242.

On our family’s to-do list for the weekend is the show, Singin’ in the Rain, produced by Berkeley Playhouse.

It promises to be a delight, with excellent singing, great dancing, and a wonderful sense of fun.

How do I know, when I haven’t seen the production? Because I have loved every other performance this Berkeley group has done.

From Seussical to Once on This Island to Peter Pan and others, Berkeley Playhouse, led by artistic director Elizabeth McKoy, has really brought a new level of performance to the East Bay. The adult productions for kids are delightful.

My family first got introduced to McKoy about five years ago, when my youngest daughter was a fourth grader at Park Day School. McKoy had just enrolled her son at the school and offered to lead drama classes. She was a theater veteran, having performed with the Seattle Children’s Theater and various companies around the Bay Area. Soon, my daughter was hooked. She fell in love with McKoy’s exuberance and the magic of theater. She would perform in a play every few months and developed a tight band of theater-loving friends.

McKoy had been directing children’s productions for years when she started Berkeley Playhouse in 2007. Her idea was to use some of the phenomenal talent in the Bay Area and put on high-quality musicals for children. The group started out on the Ashby Stage but moved last year to the much-larger Julia Morgan Theater on College.

In addition to adult shows, Berkeley Playhouse has a series of classes for kids and adults. It also takes theatre into the Berkeley public schools.

Singin’ in the Rain will run through March 21. Find out about tickets here.