The Chatterbox

Late August in Berkeley saw the opening of PIQ (pronounced like “peek,” stands for Pane Italiano Qualita)—an Italian bakery and café from a group of Italian food and wine professionals who believe in both high quality food and quick service. (Think: Italy’s slow answer to fast food.) PIQ…

This Sunday September 26th, the annual Picnic in the Street hosted by the Rockridge Market Hall merchants promises to be a culinary hootenanny for the entire family. Between 12pm and 6pm, Picnic goers can expect delish foods, comparative tastings, demos, wine tastings, and the ever-popular Cookbook Exchange (benefiting the Rockridge…

Yeah, it’s another week of big openings. New York import Anthony Mangieri is hopefully opening his much-discussed and anticipated ~UNA PIZZA NAPOLETANA~ on Wednesday September 15th, and here’s what you need to know: he just makes enough dough for 150 pies a day, there are only four to…

If inspections and permits cooperate, ~THE SUMMIT~ will be open next week, hopefully on Wednesday September 15th. The project from Poleng Lounge’s Desi Danganan is going to function on a variety of levels: there’s a counter-service café; a gallery with rotating art shows; and the space was designed…

A ruptured HVAC tube temporarily flooded and shut down ~PROSPECT~ on August 29th, but it looks like the restaurant will be reopening for dinner service on September 11th. It was a brand-new pipe in the air conditioning system that burst, dousing the space in three inches of water. The reclaimed…

A couple little birdies told me Luce’s chef, Dominique Crenn, was going to be opening her own project, Atelier, in the PlumpJack Cafe space, but I was told to keep my maw shut. No matter, since the word is now out: she is aiming to open ATELIER CRENN this…