Archive for the 'Berkeley & Albany' Category

Search Results:


Da Lian (Berkeley)

Author: Ken | No Comments
Categories: Berkeley & Albany | Tags: Tags: , ,

1674 Shattuck Avenue
(between Lincoln St & Virginia St)
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 883-1883

DaLian2.png

Da Lian feels like a second home to me and is among my favorite food spots in Berkeley. It fills the missing go-to Chinese restaurant niche in the Gourmet Ghetto.

Ken and I eat here about once a week and it always feels like a treat. There’s nothing too fancy about Da Lian: the surroundings are clean and modern-cozy, maybe even plain. The entrees we get are basic (Americanized) Chinese. It hits the spot every time.

Like a lot of Chinese restaurants, they menu is huge. Our favorite dishes are the Vegetarian Pot-Stickers and the Spicy Garlic Eggplant with soft tofu added. We sometimes get the Dry-Sauteed Green Beans instead. For us, the one, large appetizer plus entree is enough food for dinner.

The food is reliably delicious, the staff is very sweet, the service is excellent, and you never have to wait for a table. They do excellent takeout, and their space is large enough to handle pretty big groups.

Da Lian for lunch or dinner is a perfect venue for a mixed veg/non-veg group. Ken and I go there with all of our out-of-town guests and it’s always a hit. It’s also quite reasonably priced.

I can’t say enough about how nice the people are here. When I call to order take out, they know me by name and usually finish my order for me. One time I called, and after I got through specifying soft tofu for our eggplant dish, the waitress on the phone said, “Oh, we have Ken’s credit card here. I’ll give it to you when you come in.” (He had been looking all around!)

Shik Do Rock (Albany)

Author: Ken | No Comments
Categories: Berkeley & Albany | Tags: Tags: , ,

1137 Solano Ave
(between Kains Ave & Stannage Ave)
Albany, CA 94706
GoogleMap
(510) 526-6003

ShikDoRock.png

As recently as 2007 I had never tried Korean Food. But then a fortuitous find in an underground mall in Sapporo, Japan began my love affair with vegetarian dolsot bibimbap—rice, tofu, mushrooms, and veggies served sizzling in a hot stone pot.

Shik Do Rock is a great little neighborhood Korean place we go to all the time. The steam rises from the bowl as the veggies cook. Stir in some not-so-hot sauce, toss it around with a long metal spoon, and let the anticipation build as it’s still way too hot to eat. Before the main meal arrives, the waitress brings six or seven little side dishes to the table. In addition to kimchee, there are two kinds of sprouts, and yam noodles, which are my favorite. I also like the barley tea they serve.

I take work colleagues and Korean visitors there when they’re visiting from out of town, and they all really like it too. It’s also a great place to go before a movie at the Albany Twin.

About the Authors

Ken and Kathryn are the authors of VegJapan, a vegetarian TravelBlog in Japan.

 

Rss Feed Tweeter button Facebook button Technorati button Reddit button Myspace button Linkedin button Webonews button Delicious button Digg button Flickr button Stumbleupon button Newsvine button Youtube button