bay area/ LA area recomendacciones
tripledouble
7,636 Posts
city guide is a little dusty, so why not reboot an old classic soulstrut pastime....geographic recommendation thread!!!
anyway...what are the cant miss hole in the wall spots in the bay and LA?
burmese in the east bay?
soul food on the west coast??!!?
and i hesitate, but might as well rekindle the ancient debate "best mexican spot in LA or in the Mission"
dope venues to see good music in the next two weeks? cant miss bands?
record spots you dont mind putting me up on? my girlfriend and i like fleas/swaps as well as record stores, so we may check a couple out
as it stands, i'll pop into groove merchant but dont have much else on my agenda
my girl knows LA, but its her first time to the bay area. i would try to bring her to my favorite spots, but free lunch at the hare krisna temple might not be as appealing to her.
bye bye east coast snow!
anyway...what are the cant miss hole in the wall spots in the bay and LA?
burmese in the east bay?
soul food on the west coast??!!?
and i hesitate, but might as well rekindle the ancient debate "best mexican spot in LA or in the Mission"
dope venues to see good music in the next two weeks? cant miss bands?
record spots you dont mind putting me up on? my girlfriend and i like fleas/swaps as well as record stores, so we may check a couple out
as it stands, i'll pop into groove merchant but dont have much else on my agenda
my girl knows LA, but its her first time to the bay area. i would try to bring her to my favorite spots, but free lunch at the hare krisna temple might not be as appealing to her.
bye bye east coast snow!
Comments
Tartine - I am a fan. I love the bread pudding, except when it's cheap ass banana.
Bi-rite creamery
Burma Superstar on Clement. If that's too crowded, they have a sister restaurant down the street that is cheaper with a different menu.
All of these will probably be contested by people on here, but I moved out of SF about 7 years ago. I am disconnected. Those places are all consistent though.
Park Life is a cool art book/print store on Clement right near Burma Superstar. OG Barry Mcgees, Claire Rojas, and that type of stuff.
I like Little Dehli for Indian. It's right near the Powell street car turnaround, which is also the home of the escalator for the Organized Konfusion stress video. I always big out how they go from shirtless in the snow to riding the escalator in one of the biggest tourist spots on the opposite side of the country.
Little Star pizza is good.
I love burritos from Taqueria Celaya in South San Francisco (which is not in SF, but a whole different city), but there's no point in going there unless you want to come hang out at my house.
There is a Burma Superstar in Oakland on Telegraph and also a newish one in Alameda. Essential spot. Other East Bay recommendations...
The Ethiopian / Eritrean spots on Telegraph Ave are also not to be missed. Everyone here has their favorite they swear by, but the following are all good IMO: Addis Ababa, Cafe Eritrea D'Afrique, Asmara, Cafe Colucci, etc etc etc...
Indian / Pakistani food for me is all about Indus Village on San Pablo in Berkeley. Vik's Chaat Corner is a classic Berkeley institution. If you want to ball out a bit, Ajanta is undeniable and they have a killer prix fixe 5 course meal. It's on Solano Ave x The Alameda. Definitely the spot to dress up a bit and take the lady for a nice meal.
Speaking of SP, there's a newish BBQ place on San Pablo a block up from Dwight called Smoke. Nice food and nice owners.
There are plenty of record shops in Oakland now, I'm pleased to report:
Stranded is pricey but they have a great selection of titles in quality condition. Ian is the co-owner and a great dude. Telegraph Ave x Alcatraz.
Vamp is cool but a bit disorganized. Pricing fluctuates dramatically between genres. Scores to be had on a good day for sure. There is a nice lunch spot next door called Marrow with a chef from Napa who has worked with some of the greats up there.
Econo-Jam Records is the newest. They get cool stuff in there and are constantly underpricing things. Fantastic dollar bin.
PM me if you'd like the contact info of other private dealers in the area. There are a lot and all pretty nice with fair prices, for the most part.
Just to finish off, it's worth mentioning that Thomas Keller's "cheap" Yountville spots are great: Bouchon & Ad Hoc. Heading up to Napa & Sonoma can be fun when in the right mood. It's totally easy to rock the area well and check out some non-touristy spots. Hit up Wax_Junky on here for the recommendations if interested.
If you're going to be in LA next Sarurday (the 22nd) I would definitely recommend you see Chicano Batman at La Cita (downtown). Their new album smokes and La Cita is the place to see these guys play live.
I think Rose Bowl Swap Meet is that Sunday (in Pasadena). Probably LA's largest Swap Meet. Not sure what the record scene is like there...
For digging definitely hit up Record Jungle and Records LA at The Last Bookstore
Poast photos!
MusicaDelAlma already covered the East Bay record spots pretty well (so nice to not have to go to SF for records anymore!). The only other ones to mention are Dave's Record Shop and Groove Yard, though they both lean to the pricey side of things for what they offer.
Oakland has stepped up like crazy in the restaurant department. Again, MusicaDelAlma covered the key spots. One of my new favorites for slightly-upscale-but-not-too-expensive is Bellanico on Park Blvd.
If you're going to do the Sonoma/wine country thing, I highly recommend Healdsburg. Or, if you're feelings even more adventurous, just explore the Dry Creek region--all sorts of dope little wineries up there.
Concur on the food recs. San Pablo Blvd is one of my favorite stretches in the Bay Area. I might also add Sa Wad Dee for Thai and Huong Tra for Vietnamese (they are across the street from one another). I've also pulled a few nice reasonably-priced pieces from Dave's Record Shop, also on San Pablo Blvd.
Lots of fun places to eat near the Berkeley campus, as well. My last good meal was at Musashi...
http://pigsaredelicious.com/
True.
If you're up on Telegraph by UC Berkeley they opened up a Gordos burrito place across the street from Rasputin's Music. Other good places in the area are Racha Cafe for Thai on Telegraph and Dwight. Across from there is Pho K&K. If you're down in Oakland Chinatown there's Pho Hoa Loa on 10th St, Shan Dong - northern Chinese across the street, Battambang - Cambodian food on Broadway, Phom Penh - another Cambodian place on 8th St. Ditto on all the Ehtiopian Places in Berkeley/Oakland.
seconded.
For food, I'm waving th sushi flag for sugar fish.
Not Mexican but con sabor in LA off Venice Ave has something like 50 different types of papusas that'll make you flip your fucking mind.
HEY BROS, THERES THIS TIGHT PLACE CALLED CHIPOTLE ACROSS FROM THE WELLS FARGO YOU SHOULD HIT UP
nah.
Beans and rice are supposed to go on the side of the main dish.
Let me know when you are ready to talk about non-gringofied Mexican food.
Because burritos and Tex-Mex are BOTH made for gueros.
burritos are good. the end.
This woulda been better:
If I'm slaving all day in the fields and El Jefe ain't trying to give me a break for lunch, please do go ahead and throw everything and the kitchen sink into a giant tortilla so I can eat it standing up in record time. Otherwise, I'll take a plate and a fork and my food properly segregated. Muchas gracias.
Okay, we can agree on that.
back on track, I haven't been to any of these new Bay Area record shops. Am I missing anything or nah? I found some surprisingly decent shit just at the old Telegraph spots last trip (not mindblowing mind you but hey... I was happy to kill an hour or two). Also I drove by Laney but it wasn't on? Am I missing something?
Purists will forever vouch for the location on Solano, but I gotta say the spot on telegraph is convenient for a post dig burrito.
If you're in the east bay on the weekend the ashby flea is worth hitting up. I haven't been in quite some time but I've heard people can still come up there.
Vamp is somewhat of a clusterfuck of disorganization, making it frustrating to dig, but on the flipside you will find excellent shit randomly hiding in weird places. They still haven't figured out how to get good new arrivals in the door other than letting people consign there. This is the place to get cool local 45s for chill prices.
Econo-Jam Records is a new shop run by rockist dudes who are still getting the hang of pricing such foreign genres as Jazz and Soul. :killin_it:
They by far have the best location of the three shops to get in nice records, so I hope they can figure out how to really work their game.
I probably do most of my shopping at flea markets, the Berkeley shops, and maybe once a week at the Oakland spots. Not complaining at all.
Brown Sugar Cafe has some good soul food.
We're not fighting. Homie's just struggling to come around to the reality that: BURRITOS SUCK!
are chimichangas ok?
A fried burrito? Hell to the naw.