Tag Archives: Ici ice cream
With Duende, chef Paul Canales breaks free
Paul Canales, who opened his new restaurant and bodega Duende in Uptown Oakland last week, admits to having been more than ready to embark on his new venture. Canales was at the venerable Oliveto in Rockridge for 15 years — he joined as an intern and left as Executive Chef — and he loved it there. But, even before he handed in his notice in 2010, he had been fantasizing for months about a different cuisine, a different aesthetic — in fact an altogether different approach.
He was drawn to small plates and Spanish food, mainly because of his heritage — his father was raised in the Basque region — and partly because his passion for Italian food had run its course.
“Entrées never seem that exciting to me. They are a lot of commitment for a dinner,” he said this week sitting on a stool clutching a carton of coconut water in his vibrant new space on 19th St., a stone’s throw from Oakland’s beautiful Fox Theater. Adding to the disconnect was the fact that Canales and his wife — Ici Ice Cream owner Mary Canales — and their daughters didn’t eat that way. “We don’t eat a lot of one thing — we like ethnic food,” he said. … Continue reading »
Kermit Lynch: ‘I abandoned my heart to Europe decades ago’
It was the 40th anniversary of the founding of his famous wine store, the sun was shining, the band was playing, the wine was flowing and Kermit Lynch was all smiles.
“Long live wine!” Lynch shouted into a microphone to the hundreds of people who had gathered in the parking lot of his store at San Pablo and Cedar to celebrate the anniversary. “Let’s get on with this great party! Let’s have some fun!”
The crowd didn’t need much encouragement. With sausages and frittata prepared by chef Christopher Lee, ice cream by Ici, and a parade of dishes by the newly opened Bartavelle café (occupying spot where the revered Café Fanny once stood) there was plenty to sample.
But, as in all things in Lynch’s life, the centerpiece of the day was wine. Known for elevating the status of wine made from small French and Italian wineries (sourced from his many trips hitting the back roads to find unheralded producers) Lynch chose seven wines for the day’s celebrations that both reflected his store’s past and its future. … Continue reading »
The food lines of Berkeley: Nosh worth waiting for
Berkeley is famous for its gourmet food, and sometimes the easiest way to track it down is to follow the crowds.
You only have to see the lines that form almost as soon as food truck fest Off the Grid opens at 5:00 pm on Wednesdays in north Berkeley to understand that some of us are prepared to be patient to secure a favorite snack. (And Telegraph Avenue’s new Off the Grid market will likely prove as popular.)
But there are three brick-and-mortar eateries in Berkeley – Ici Ice Cream, Wat Mongkolratanaram (also known as the Thai Temple), and The Cheese Board Collective – that have attracted long lines of customers, sometimes snaking down half a block or more, for as long as we can remember. Berkeleyside decided to ask some of the people who take their places in those lines just why they are prepared to wait so long. … Continue reading »
Where’s the best ice cream in Berkeley? You tell us
When we asked our readers to weigh in on the best pizza in Berkeley last month, we were floored by the reaction. Over 200 comments, 81 Facebook Likes and dozens of tweets showed you were passionate about pizza in Berkeley. Now that the weather is heating up (at last), we wonder what you think about ice cream.
There’s certainly plenty of choice in our city. You might like braving the lines at Ici or Cream, be attracted … Continue reading »
Berkeley street style: Scoops of fashion sense
By Dana Smith
Oh sun gods, how you tease. But lucky for us, we’ve learned your fickle ways and we’re quick on our sandaled feet. Give us noontime highs in the 70’s or 80’s (see, we don’t ask for much) and we’ll shed our fleece, show some leg and grab our favorite summer accessory — ice cream! All before the fog starts its inevitable march back in through the Gate.
While some cities’ favorite summer fashion accessories might have more … Continue reading »
Berkeley Bites: Alice Waters
Do Berkeleyside readers even need an introduction to the mother of the American fresh, local, sustainable, organic food movement?
Alice Waters is a living legend. For four decades, the California cuisine innovator, Chez Panisse chef, Edible Schoolyard founder, school food reformer, and Slow Food advocate, has influenced how people in this country buy, cook, eat, talk, and think about food.
As with any icon, Waters has her fans and foes. Some see her as … Continue reading »
Berkeley Bites: Kara Hammond, Elmwood Café
A decade ago, and fresh out of North Carolina, Kara Hammond landed a gig at Café Fanny, a tiny slip of a place in North Berkeley opened 25 years ago by, oh, a certain famous local chef.
Hammond, who had run a homespun bakery in Greensboro, wanted to get some kitchen experience in the Bay Area. Someone she knew knew someone who had a contact at Café Fanny; she called up and scored a job, just like that. Hammond … Continue reading »
The Boston Globe loves Berkeley, or at least its food
I don’t think most Berkeleyans take our wondrous food choices for granted, but if you’ve become blasé, take a gander at how a Boston writer reacts to the Gourmet Ghetto. That and some choice Oakland spots represent an “omnivore’s dreamworld” for writer Patricia Borns.
“Food for pleasure, food for thought” she muses while sampling delicious treats at Chez Panisse, the Cheeseboard Collective, Ici Ice Cream, Adesso and the Brown Sugar Kitchen among many others.
Summer’s here: Tasting Berkeley’s best ice cream
Elle Holland, who is interning at Berkeleyside this summer, chose an appropriately seasonal mission for her second article for us (her first assignment took her to Willard Pool where she spoke to regular swimmers before the pool closed for good last month). Elle, a sophomore at Berkeley High where she writes for the Jacket student newspaper, ventured out to some of Berkeley’s most popular ice cream parlors to partake in some comparison taste testing.
Gelateria Naia, 2106 Shattuck … Continue reading »
Berkeley Bites: Samin Nosrat, ex-Eccolo and co-creator of the Pop-Up General Store
Samin Nosrat is a veritable poster girl for the current trend (some would say necessity) of workplace reinvention.
Since the shuttering last summer of Eccolo, an acclaimed Italian eatery on 4th Street, that restaurant’s one-time sous chef now juggles an impressive number of part-time jobs in the culinary world.
Nosrat is the co-creator (along with former boss, Chris Lee, currently cooking in London) of the much buzzed about Pop-Up General Store, a fleeting food market … Continue reading »
Berkeley Bites: Keba Konte
Each Friday in this space food writer Sarah Henry asks a well-known, up-and-coming, or under-the-radar food aficionado about their favorite tastes in town, preferred food purveyors and other local culinary gems worth sharing.
In 2006, Keba Konte and company took over the space on Shattuck Avenue in North Berkeley which had housed the vegetarian Smokey Joe’s Cafe for three decades, and transformed the slip of a store into the Guerilla Cafe, a nosh spot with a cool artist-activist … Continue reading »
