Anchalee in Berkeley

With enough Thai restaurants in Berkeley as there are Priuses, it can be difficult to spot the good ones like Anchalee. Located in the same building as Caffé Trieste on the corner of Dwight Way and San Pablo Avenue, Anchalee offers Thai cuisine in a contemporary setting. This isn’t a hole-in-the-wall for college students to get early morning grub, but a proper restaurant where you can afford to treat your parents.

The menu is small, fitting on one side of an 8”X11”, but you get a good variety of soups, salads, appetizers, curries, rice and noodle dishes and daily specials. Entrees range from $8 to $10, and you can substitute brown rice for $0.75. Even more affordable is happy hour with $5 appetizers and $3 bottled beers, 4-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

On a recent weekend, we stopped for a couple appetizers and entrees. The goong grabog of shrimp fried with fresh herbs in a wonton skin fried made shrimp tempura look like an ugly step child. Paired with a housemade sweet plum sauce, the dish was inspirational as it’s on my test kitchen list. The vegetables were also lightly fried and paired perfectly with the cold beers.

I never liked the gelatinous, spongy texture of radish cakes but decided to try the kanom pak kard, or steamed radish cakes. As expected, they were dense cubes with the consistency of a baked potato, but the crunch from the fresh bean sprouts and the tang from the sweet and sour sauce almost made me a fan.

After the fried treats, the sweet aroma of Thai basil wafting from my pad ke-mao was a welcome change. The stir-fried rice noodle, green bean, tomato, prawn and bell pepper dish was excellent but could have used a tad more prawns as I found only four. The dish was correctly marked mild, so the spiciness ratings are not too conservative.

Against my better judgment, we also ordered the beef skewers. I have always been disappointed by restaurant skewers because the meat is usually overcooked, dry and tough. My dining partner insisted on the skewers, and it was just as described. I don’t fault Anchalee because I have never been anywhere where this wasn’t the case. Avoid the skewers and you'll be content.

What makes Anchalee stand out from other Thai eateries is the presentation and freshness. This isn’t oily, greasy food thrown haphazardly onto a plate with sauce everywhere. Dishes come out clean and organized, and make you want to eat. Anchalee was an excellent neighborhood surprise and I have a feeling I’ll be a regular at weekend happy hour.

Anchalee
1094 Dwight Way, Berkeley

Photo: Anchalee.com

Maoz in Berkeley

Every friend who has traveled through Europe fondly recalls late night, cheap eats at Maoz, an all-vegetarian falafel chain new to Berkeley. Located on Telegraph and Channing, Maoz is a few blocks from the UC Berkeley campus. With a simple menu of pita sandwiches, salads and fries, the European chain is perfect for the student on the go.

Until the end of May, visit Yelp for a coupon for a pita sandwich and drink for $5 after 8 p.m. Otherwise, your best bargains are the combo meals that start at $7.20 and include a sandwich, fries, drink and unlimited salad bar. However, the idea of an unlimited salad bar isn't what we're familiar with at Souplantation or Sizzler. Rather, the salad bar is meant as toppings for your falafel, so that when you run out of pita, you can't get more because you don't have anywhere to put it. If combo meals and unlimited toppings don't appeal to you, you can order everything a la carte.

The food is standard, and nothing you couldn't make on your own. Sandwiches come with a choice of wheat or white pita that's filled halfway with mixed greens and a few falafels. You then accessorize at the salad bar, loading up on Mediterranean staples like olives, lentils and roasted vegetables. Falafels can be dry, so I recommend lots of yogurt and tahini sauce. Maoz also offers freshly squeezed orange, apple or carrot juice for an extra $1 when you order a meal deal.

The only drawback about Maoz is also one of its best features: the unlimited salad bar. Germaphobes rightly can complain as everyone uses the same spoons to refill their pita, meaning someone can go back with a half-eaten pita and ruin it for the rest of us if they don't have steady hands.

If you don't mind germs, Maoz is worth a try if you are vegetarian or health-conscious or you want to relive Euro trip memories. Don't expect anything grand as this is a college fast-food joint where you'll find inebriated students chowing down at 2 a.m. on the weekends. But, when you are in a hurry or don't want to cook, Maoz meets the requirement.

Maoz Vegetarian
2395 Telegraph, Berkeley

Photo: JAM

Liege in Old Oakland

Nestled between empty business fronts in Old Oakland is the recently opened Liege Spirits Lounge. Spacious with high ceilings, Liege is the laid-back lounge downtown needs to fill its nighttime repertoire of clubs, hole-in-the-wall bars and upscale dining.

Most importantly, happy hour is Tuesday through Friday from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Deals are on par to other bars with $3 Linden Street Black Oak Lager, $5 well cocktails and $2 off glasses of wine.

As the name implies, spirits are the focus with 10 specialty cocktails ranging from $9 to $14. The bartenders also come up with daily drink specials, such as Friday’s farmer’s market special made with fresh fruit from the Old Oakland market outside Liege's doors. About every two months, the wine menu changes to showcase a new region. Most recently Latin American whites, reds and bubbly were featured. The beer selection is limited with four drafts, currently Linden St. Burning Oak Black Lager, Duvel Green, Guiness and Houblon Chouffe, and bottles, ranging from $5 to $6.

In addition to drinks, you can find appetizers and snacks on the menu. The kitchen pairs with the wine, whipping up guacamole, ceviche and taquitos to go with the Latin American wines. Another feature on the menu is fondue, a perfect date food. For $14, you can get beer sirloin or Mexican white prawns, each with a side of mixed vegetables. Then pick from 12 sauces ranging in spiciness and uniqueness (pablano and kiwi, jalapeno and black cherry?).

With two flatscreens and tons of space to sit in large, vinyl chairs, Liege is an easy place to settle with drinks after work. Do note that you will be charged tax on drink only orders if you pay by credit card.

Liege Spirits Lounge
481 9th St., Oakland

Vik's Chaat Corner, Berkeley

I never knew how good VIK's Chaat Corner could be until I visited after the recent move to a brighter and bigger spot on 4th and Channing, two blocks south of the original location. The Indian specialties remain the same, but you get to enjoy your meal in a freshly painted, eco-friendly location that's better organized and less hectic.

VIK's is known for chaat, or Indian street food, but serves weekday and weekend specials like vegetable and meat curries. The menu is a mix of the familiar (samosas) and the unfamiliar (dahi papdi), so it can be difficult to order wisely. My advice is to visit the updated Web site, which includes photos and descriptions of each dish, and write down what you want.

Upon entering the new warehouse space, the smell of oil, coriander, tumeric and other spices arouses my senses. One of my first impressions is based on smell. Too much bleach in the air tells me the restaurant is hiding something; the smell of fresh herbs and spices means the meals are freshly homemade.

On a recent visit, the lamb curry was deliciously light, juicy and fragrant. Served in a compostable bento tray, lunch specials range from $6 to $8 and come with various carbs in basmati rice, roti, dal, raita and papad, and achaar, a pickled salad. Chaats start at $4.75. I am still amazed at the quality and authenticity of the food with reasonable prices.

While the food has not changed with the move in March, the atmosphere has. Instead of fighting for grungy seats and tables in a pale, depressing warehouse, diners now enjoy bright yellow, purple and orange painted walls and shiny new tables and chairs. Getting your food has also gotten more organized, with the cash registers far from the food pickup. Orders are still announced on the speaker, but there's enough space that people are not waiting shoulder to shoulder.

It also wouldn't be Berkeley if the business wasn't green. Along with using compostable dinnerware, VIK's also divides trash into three barrels for compost, recycle and trash.

Overall, the move is a major improvement and only makes me want to visit VIK's more often. Let's just hnpe the newfound makeover doesn't mean an increase in prices.

VIK's Chaat Corner
2390 4th St., Berkeley

Photo: Nicole L.