Oakland-- Where are the young people? And the food?

[rhbj03]

Working for Kaiser Oakland doesn't mean you have to live in Oakland, you know.... In fact, I question some of the suggestions above, such as Fruitvale. You're gonna get caught by one of those bullets some day.

Rockridge is fine, Piedmont is fine. I think that's about it for Oakland as far as safe places with more restaurants.

How about Alameda? Very close to Oakland but very safe (police are most busy with people going over the 25 mph speed limit), and has some great restaurants. With a car you can venture over to Oakland for whatever food you want.

Berkeley has a good variety of restaurants, but the neighborhoods on the south and west sides are below average. North and east sides are good.

Further north, Albany and El Cerritos all have decent neighborhood restaurants and are safe and within east commute of Oakland Kaiser.

[ssmaster]

rhbjo3-i agree that fruitvale is not a good recommendation for foodies but if you disagree with my suggestions please elaborate.i think the areas i selected are safe(i concede the flora area is sketchy)and have some of the best restaurants in the bay area according to the SF chronicles list of 100 best bay area restaurants (flora is on the list so i included it)
i forget to mention the highly praised woods tavern,great burger.

[ssmaster]

this was in the chronicles sfgate website today

It's happening in Oakland

Katy Raddatz/The Chronicle
Miss Pearl's Jam House is just one of the many new restaurants that have been heating up Oakland's dining scene.

Going to New York for a quick trip to the Beard Awards, I was stymied when planning my limited dining schedule. Usually, there are so many places to eat I have trouble deciding. I realized that very few places had opened since my last visit in January. I decided to return to restaurants where I'd dined before, including the Modern, Scarpetta and Convivio.
At the awards ceremony, it struck me how emotional some of the chef winners were; in this economy, I think the chefs and restaurateurs were grateful for the recognition, so the awards had more impact.
I then compared what I experienced in New York to what's happening in our own backyards. It's obvious there's been a downturn, but excellent places are still opening around the bay -- and Oakland is on fire.
In the last year or so, the city has come into its own as a dining destination. While you don't see the fancy restaurants you find in San Francisco, the city is home to some excellent neighborhood restaurants that are good enough to become destinations in their own right. The trend started with such places as Wood Tavern and Pizzaiolo and then exploded.
The list of places to check out is impressive. Here are some of the best ones that have opened in the last year or so:
Flora: This Uptown restaurant exudes a New York vibe; opened by Thomas Schnetz and Dona Savitsky of the popular Dona Tomas further up on Telegraph.
Miss Pearl's Jam House: Chip Conley and gang reinvented a popular San Francisco restaurant that closed several years ago; they even lured Joey Altman back as consulting chef.
Marzano: John Hurley of Garibaldi's opened this neighborhood pizza place that also features exceptional well-priced Italian food.
Camino: Russell Moore uses his Chez Panisse pedigree to one-up Alice Waters; most main courses are cooked over an open fire.
Barlata: Daniel Daniel Olivella's re-creates the Spanish tapas bar in the Temescal district, featuring small plates and an all-Spanish wine list.
Adesso: Jon Smulewitz produces some of the best salumi and pates at this new restaurant that also features exceptional cocktails.
Ozumo: A sister to the San Francisco restaurant, this place has one of the most extensive sake lists in the Bay Area.
Pican: Located in the ground floor of the Broadway Grand residential tower, Dean Dupuis, formerly of Atlanta's South City Kitchen, cooks such things as fried chicken and barbecued pork ribs.
Sidebar: Barbara Mulas and Mark Drazek, formerly of Zax in San Francisco and Zax Tavern in Berkeley, opened this well-priced lounge and restaurant across the street from Lake Merritt.
Since I live close to the Bay Bridge, I can be at many of these places in less time than it takes me to travel to North Beach and park, making them practically a neighborhood destination to me.
Posted By: Michael Bauer (Email) | May 08 2009 at 05:06 AM

[City Boy]

Originally Posted by rhbj03

Working for Kaiser Oakland doesn't mean you have to live in Oakland, you know.... In fact, I question some of the suggestions above, such as Fruitvale. You're gonna get caught by one of those bullets some day.

Rockridge is fine, Piedmont is fine. I think that's about it for Oakland as far as safe places with more restaurants.

How about Alameda? Very close to Oakland but very safe (police are most busy with people going over the 25 mph speed limit), and has some great restaurants. With a car you can venture over to Oakland for whatever food you want.

Berkeley has a good variety of restaurants, but the neighborhoods on the south and west sides are below average. North and east sides are good.

Further north, Albany and El Cerritos all have decent neighborhood restaurants and are safe and within east commute of Oakland Kaiser.

Oakland is safe for most people who do not get involved with drugs or start trouble. Period. East Oakland has the best Mexican spots in the Bay Area.

Downtown has some nice food spots, Pican, Ozumo (Sushi), Flora, Levende, Battambang, etc.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by E14

fruitvale has by far the best food in oakland
il admit that im biased though, because if i could i would eat a burrito only diet
try el zamoranos on high st and e14th, or stop by a taco truck
but as far as being a yuppie goes, get your ass on the other side of the bay where you belong

Agree the taquerias of Fruitvale are good.

[18Montclair]

ssmaster, CD isnt letting me rep you but thanks for posting that.

And I have to agree with the mexican food comment. Fruitvale has ridiculously good mexican. Yummy.

[BearBranch]

As mentioned in earlier posts, Rockridge, Piedmont, Grand Lake, Elmwood in Berkeley, Piedmont Ave in Oakland. All will fit the bill

[Octoterapus]

Fruitvale is not a yuppie friendly area. drive in to hit up sinaloa's taco truck at 23rd and international then drive home.

if you're working at kaiser i'd highly reccommend either the rockridge or piedmont neighborhood (not the city of piedmont).

Piedmont is a little less upscale than rockridge, but is slightly cheaper. there's plenty of fabulous food right on piedmont ave, and it's centrally located so it's easy to get to any freeway or downtown oakland/jack london. there's a rose garden around the corner, gaylords for coffee drinking, kerry house for a beer, and you'd be able to walk or bike to work easily.

Rockridge is close to piedmont, but has more of a family feel. There's fewer apartments and more single family craftsman homes. College ave, the main drag in rockridge, has lots more to do than piedmont. bookstores, shopping, bars, lots of great restaurants, and a BART station for quick access to san francisco (on a side note, taking bart from rockridge gets you to downtown sf WAY faster than driving from within the city).

either neighborhood would be a great fit, i've lived in both and loved both places, but they have distinctly different feels. if you drive (and you need to drive if you live here), it's easy enough to drive the mile to rockridge to check out the oyster bar, and then come home to your larger-and-cheaper apartment in piedmont.

[tstieber]

The areas mentioned are all cool, but you'll need to join some activities groups or something to meet people, or hang out with people from work to get started. As was said, it's not a college town, and it may be hard to just walk in somewhere and start talking to locals.

You can also check out downtown Berkeley, North Berkeley, Solano Avenue, and of course, SF is only minutes away!