Tag Archives: Cupkates
More local food trucks join Berkeley’s first Off The Grid
A total of eight food trucks will be working Berkeley’s inaugural Off The Grid street-food event tomorrow night in the Gourmet Ghetto, and four of them are East Bay based vendors.
Joining the four who signed up early — Cupkates, Liba Falafel, Hapa SF and The Taco Guys – will be Skylite Snowballs, 510 Burger, Fins on the Hoof and Brass Knuckle.
Berkeley’s Skylite Snowballs launched in September last year, the brainchild of Katie Baum who pined for the Baltimore-style snowballs of her childhood. Her powder-blue truck can often be seen around the East Bay, including in front of Star Grocery on Claremont Avenue.
As its name implies, Oakland-based 510 Burger turns out artisan burgers and sandwiches, and, like most Off The Grid vendors, favors locally sourced ingredients. … Continue reading »
Off The Grid to launch street food event in Berkeley
Off The Grid is launching its first event outside San Francisco and, starting next month, a regular group of street food vendors will set up shop every Wednesday evening in Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto.
The move signals a switch of direction for Berkeley which, until now, has not made it easy for mobile food trucks to operate in the city. It is also a coup for the North Shattuck Association which paved the way for successful negotiations and prevented the event from going to another East Bay location, such as Oakland, although other East Bay venues are likely in future.
After launching its inaugural event a year ago in Fort Mason, Off The Grid now brings street food vendors together daily in six locations across San Francisco. Organizer Matt Cohen said they had been searching for an East Bay location for some time.
“We looked at the core values of serving great street food and we’re so happy we’ve settled on Gourmet Ghetto,” he said. “We emphasize local, sustainable, organic food, so what better place to launch than in the heart of Berkeley’s food revolution?”
Starting on June 1, permitting issues allowing, eight to 10 mobile food trucks will start operating at the intersection of Shattuck and Rose, using the same footprint as Thursday’s Berkeley Farmers’ Market. They will be there, serving an array of bite-sized dishes, from 5-9pm. Those that are already confirmed include Cupkates, Liba Falafel, Hapa SF and The Taco Guys. The Crème Brulée Guy is also a likely presence. The line-up will alternative every few weeks with four to five new vendors coming in at regular intervals. … Continue reading »
Why does the street food scene bypass Berkeley?
At Berkeley’s Spice of Life Festival yesterday, for the first time in the event’s eight-year history, street carts were part of the mix. Jon’s Street Eats, Primo Parrilla, Chairman Bao and Skylite Snowballs were among the dozen or so street-food purveyors who signed up to join Gourmet Ghetto chefs and local D.I.Y. food artisans doling out morsels for the masses.
Normally, though, there’s a dearth of brightly colored food trucks roaming the streets of Berkeley, while Oakland, San Francisco and Emeryville have thriving street-eat scenes. A taco truck or two can usually be found in West Berkeley, a couple of food trucks work the Bancroft-Telegraph corridor near campus, and Cupkates makes a weekly appearance on 4th Street. That’s about it.
Red tape seems the biggest barrier to food trucks cruising city streets. Sidewalk cuisine purveyors say the cost and bureaucratic hassle of doing business in Berkeley make it less desirable to serve meals on wheels here than in other Bay Area locations.
Some point to the fact that the city is already saturated with brick-and-mortar joints, lacks a light industry customer base, and includes a significant student population unwilling to pony up much cash for food. … Continue reading »
Berkeley Bites: Suzanne Schafer & Shari Washburn, Ebbett’s Good to Go
The Twitter handle pretty much sums things up. Two food-obsessed moms try to have their cake and eat it too: Start a food truck and still be home with the kids.
Meet the newest truck on the block to hit the streets of Emeryville. You can’t miss the baby-blue colored vehicle emblazoned with the Ebbett’s Good To Go insignia. And there’s no mistaking this mobile food biz for some roach coach come to dish up cheap, tasteless … Continue reading »
Fight to bring pedicabs to Berkeley
For the last year, Ken Lin-Ott has taken to the streets of Oakland late at night, offering rides to anyone who wants to hop into his pedicab.
Passengers usually take a short ride – to a restaurant or bar, or a trip back to their car. Lin-Ott doesn’t charge anything for the service. He just asks for a tip.
Now Lin-Ott wants to offer Berkeley revelers a chance to get around town in a person-pedaled pedicab. He thinks … Continue reading »
Beehive Market, new to Berkeley, off to a good start
Last Saturday’s inaugural Beehive Market was deemed a success by its founders and many vendors, despite a few teething glitches and some weather issues. The self-described “hipster” green market also drew compliments from residents in west Berkeley who saw it as a positive addition to their community.
Co-founder Julie Fry estimates about 1,000 people walked through the market which was held in the parking lot of the Berkeley Adult School. She said gusty winds — and a lack of stabilizing … Continue reading »
Cupkates unveils winning cake
It came down to three flavors: banana-Nutella, chocolate-espresso-mocha or Fleur de sel-caramel and the latter won the day.
After we reported that Cupkates’ Kate McEachern was holding a competition among her legion of fans to find her next cupcake flavor, she was deluged with suggestions on the Cupkates Facebook page, all more delicious sounding than the next.
Kate revealed last night that with well over 100 votes in, Fleur de sel-caramel won by a narrow margin. … Continue reading »
Fleur de sel caramel or death by chocolate?
Cupkates, Berkeleyside’s favorite cupcake truck, is inviting its customers to select its next new cupcake flavor.
As Cupkates owner Kate McEachern puts it:
“We aim to please. So, we’re letting you elect the next flavor. Submit your entries and I’ll put the top three to a vote. The winner gets a free dozen of his/her creation.”
So far, suggestions include gingerbread with lemon buttercream, fleur de sel caramel, rose cardamom, death by chocolate and rum-lime with mint frosting.
Submit … Continue reading »
Those craving Cupkates, take note
While Kate, the owner of Cupkates, Berkeley’s popular cupcakes truck, tries to resolve her permit issues with the city, those of you missing the taste of her red velvets and pumpkin flavored treats should know that she is still selling them from the truck (check her Twitter updates for details) and Cupkates are available at Modern Coffee at 13th and Broadway in Oakland.
Be aware, though, that they go fast. On November 10th, according to Modern … Continue reading »
Berkeley cupcake suspension
Berkeley’s Cupkate’s Bakery — whose wares Berkeleyside has had the pleasure of sampling — has just reported on Twitter that it will not be serving any cakes tomorrow from its popular truck:
We will not be operating tomorrow according to our normal schedule. The city of Berkeley is trying to suspend our permit. We will be in meetings all day, and back to our office route Wednesday.
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