Thursday Eats & Drinks

The weekend starts early tonight with a pair of wine tastings and a beer pairing.

Oakland's Urban Legend Cellars hosts its new release party from 5 to 9 p.m. Sample the eight latest releases along with old favorites and barrel tastings paired with finger foods and chocolates from Cocoa Diva. Tickets are $10, and some of tastings include a 2008 Sangiovese, 2009 Mourvedre, 2009 Petit Verdot from Mendocino and other reds.


Solano Cellars will also be hosting an aged Italian wine tasting tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. Sample rare, decade-plus-old Barolo, Barbaresco and Tuscan wines paired with appetizers. Tickets are $69.

Wines being poured:
‘97 D. Rivetti Barbaresco Ris. “Bricco de Neveis” $75
‘98 Dante Marramiero Montepulciano d’Abruzzo $60
‘00 Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino $72
‘01 Monte Faustino Amarone della Valpolicella $90

Food menu:
Polenta squares with mushrooms and truffle oil
Arancini risotto balls
Rosemary focaccia with pork shoulder
Selection of Piedmont and Tuscan cheese

For a beer-paired dinner, Berkeley's Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto teams up with 21st Amendment for a 5-course $40 prix fixe menu. Seatings start at 7 p.m., and a representative of the brewery will be on hand to answer any questions.


Urban Legend Cellars release party
621 4th st., Oakland
http://www.ulcellars.com/

Solano Cellars
1580 Solano Ave., Albany
http://www.solanocellars.com

Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto & 21st Amendement
1919 4th St., Berkeley
http://www.spengers.com

Weekend Eats & Drinks 11/5

Start the weekend with a free R&B Cellars flight tasting at Miss Pearl's Jam House at Jack London Square in Oakland today from 5 to 6 p.m.

For the high rollers, try Solano Cellar's Benjamin Flight today from 4 to 9 p.m. For $30, try three $100 bottles. First off is a full glass of NV Henriot Souverain Blanc de Blancs Champagne from Magnum. Then, tastings of 2004 Argiolas "Turriga", Sardinia, Italy, and 2005 Domaine du Jaugaret St. Julien (Medoc), Bordeaux, France.

If wine's not your thing, head to Drake's Brewing in San Leandro from 4 to 8 p.m. today for first Friday tastings. This month's event benefits the San Leandro Scholarship Foundation. $15 will get you a Drake's tasting glass and 3 tokens for 3 full pours. Additional tokens are $3.50. A $5/person voluntary donation can be offered at the door. Food will also be on sale.

On Saturday, Nov. 6, Stage Left Cellars near Jack London Square in Oakland will host an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. A $25 ticket includes wine tastings of Stage Left favorites, food like wood-fired pizzas and live music.

On Sunday, Nov. 7, the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce hosts its annual Gourmet Food and Wine Festival at Hotel Shattuck Plaza from 2 to 6 p.m. Get a taste of local cuisine and wine from 25 area restaurants and caterers, and 25 local wineries. Enjoy live music, a raffle and silent auction, benefiting the chamber's scholarship program. The event will also help Through the Looking Glass, a nonprofit assisting families with disabilities since 1982. Tickets are $50.

Friday
R&B Cellars free tastings
at Miss Pearl's Jam House
1 Broadway, Oakland
510-444-7171

Solano Cellars
1580 Solano Ave. B, Albany
510-525-9463

Drake's Brewing
1933 Davis St., Ste 177
San Leandro, CA
Parking at Westgate Center Parking lot

Saturday
Stage Left Cellars
2102 Dennison St., Oakland
510-434-9930

Sunday
Berkeley Chamber of Commerce Stomp!
2086 Allston Way, Berkeley
510-549-7000

Weekend Eats & Drinks

If you can brave the rain this weekend, Oktoberfest continues with three beer events Saturday.

From noon to 5 p.m., head to Linden Street Brewery for a family-friendly beer and brats festival benefiting Bay Area Community Services. Drake’s Brewery will also be pouring at the event that features live blues music by Al D Bop & the Boptroplis Band and barbecue. Admission is free, and $10 for a souvenir mug and two beer tickets.

Also in Oakland, Pacific Coast Brewing Co. is celebrating 22 years with 1988 rollback prices Saturday from 8 p.m. to midnight. Catch live music from the Damn Liars, 8 to 10 p.m. with no cover.

If you want more variety, try the Bay Area Craft Beer Festival in Martinez from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is $45 (or $35 if purchased in advance online tonight) for unlimited pours from over 30 microbreweries, including Bear Republic, Eel River, Dogfish Head, Lagunitas, and New Belgium Brewing. Click here for a full list. Get in an hour early at noon with a $50 VIP ticket. Three bands will provide entertainment, and food will be sold.


Linden Street Brewery Beer and Brats
Noon to 5 p.m.
95 Linden St., Oakland
http://www.clubrunner.ca/Portal/SitePages/SitePage.aspx?accountid=3190&pid=55019

Pacific Coast Brewing
8:30 p.m. to midnight
906 Washington St., Oakland
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120008781391284#!/event.php?eid=120008781391284

Bay Area Craft Beer Festival
1 to 5 p.m.
333 Ferry St., Martinez
http://www.bayareacraftbeerfestival.com/

Weekend Eats and Drinks

Whatever your epicurean vice, there’s probably an East Bay event for you this weekend.

On Saturday, start the day at noon in Old Oakland for Pacific Coast Brewery’s festival. Admission is free, and $20 gets you a commemorative glass and 5 beer tasting tickets. Separately, the glass is $5 and extra beer tastings are 6 for $20. The usual suspects are on tap, all California craft brews pouring anniversary ales: Bear Republic, Drake’s, Speakeasy, Lost Coast, Stone, Rubicon, Port, Sudwerks, Sierra Nevada and Pacific Coast. The event runs until 7 p.m. and is billed as family-friendly with live music and food from local restaurants.

If beer’s not your thing, head to JC Cellars a mile away at Jack London Square to see the winery in full production. The harvest is here and the winery has two free tours at 1 and 2:30 P.M. Afterward, head to the tasting room to try some Syrah, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir, to name a few, for $5. The fee is refundable with any purchase.

The gluttony continues early Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in Berkeley for Pyramid Ale House’s $10 all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with NFL ticket. The buffet ends at 11:30, but you can catch all the games on one of the 6 HD TVs all day.

If you’re a late riser, Blue Bottle Coffee’s free Sunday cupping will wake you up. A must for coffee connoisseurs, the noon cupping is a way to evaluate Blue Bottle’s coffee aromas and flavor profiles side-by-side. See whether you notice the difference between a washed and natural Amaro Gayo. One caveat: Everyone dips their spoons in the same cups, so it’s not for germaphobes.

Afterward, head to North Berkeley’s Spice of Life festival, a celebration of food and art, running until 6 p.m. Catch cooking demos and samples by local eateries alongside open yoga studios and art exhibits. Stop by the wine garden on Vine Street, featuring local winemakers and importers, and listen to live music from the JazzSchol and Freight and Salvage, or get fresh, organic produce from the farmer’s market.

Running the same time is Spenger’s annual Crabby Chef Seafood Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Benefitting the Berkeley Cal Recreational Sports Development Fund’s camp scholarship program, the event includes a 2 p.m. Iron Chef cooking competition with a crowning of a Crabby Chef. Food booths offer the gamut of seafood from crab cakes to clam chowder.

Saturday
Old Oakland Beer Festival
Noon-7 p.m.
906 Washington Ave., Oakland

JC Cellars harvest tour
1 and 2:30 p.m.
55 4th St., Oakland

Sunday
Pyramid NFL breakfast buffet
901 Gilman St., Berkeley

Blue Bottle Coffee cupping
Noon
300 Webster St., Oakland

North Berkeley Spice of Life
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Shattuck Avenue from Rose to Virginia, Berkeley
http://www.gourmetghetto.org/2010%20spice%20of%20life%20info.htm

Spenger’s Crabby Chef seafood festival
11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
1919 4th St., Berkeley
http://www.yelp.com/events/berkeley-spenger-and-39-s-to-host-10th-annual-crabby-chefs-seafood-festival-on-october-17-2010

Happy hour at Bobby G's Pizzeria, Berkeley

One of the few places that has happy hour daily is Bobby G's Pizzeria in downtown Berkeley. From 4 to 7 p.m. daily, get $1 off all beers, $2 off pitchers, $2 off glasses of wine, 25% off bottles of wine, $2 cheese slices, $15 18" cheese pizzas, and $5 Caesar salads.

Being Berkeley, Bobby G's serves up gourmet, organic Neopolitan pizzas and craft brews, such as Pliny the Younger. Pizzas are varied enough to cater to omnivores, vegetarians and vegans, and include standards like Meat Lovers Pie with gourmet combos like clam and garlic. My favorite is the triple mushroom with sautéed shiitake, baby Portobello and button mushrooms on top of fresh tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, garlic, fresh herbs, and a drizzle of truffle oil. Pizzas can be pricey with a small, good for two people at $15, and a large that can feed four for $23.75. In addition to pizzas, Bobby G's offers pastas, salad, paninis and appetizers like bruschetta, crostinis and chicken wings.

Bobby G's also has a bar area and three flatscreen TVs, so you won't have to miss March Madness.

Bobby G's Pizzeria
2072 University Ave., Berkeley

Photo: Chico F.

$2 off pitchers & more at Triple Rock in Berkeley

Among the many brewpubs in Berkeley is Triple Rock Brewery and Ale House on Shattuck Avenue. Unlike the others, Triple Rock is one of the first five brewpubs in America and the only one of the five to still be owned by the people who started it. History aside, you should also go to Triple Rock for their deals and beer specials, especially if you are a beer drinker.

Today and every Tuesday, get $2 off any pitcher, which comes out to between $14 and $16 each. Every Thursday, try the in-house only, 8% A.B.V. Monkey Head Arboreal Ale at $9 per liter. For print-out coupons like 2-for-1 appetizers or a free pint with any burger, sandwich or entree, head to Berkeley Good Life.

I like my beers on the light side, so I stick with Red Rock Ale with my favorite burger, the A.B.S. (avocado, smoked bacon and swiss cheese). The food at Triple Rock is actually pretty good but limited to mostly burgers. With over 15 burgers and sandwiches, including vegetarian options, deciding can take a while. Vegans will have to stick with the smaller appetizer and salad menu. Seasonal brews are also a specialty, so ask your server if you are looking for something different.

While the deals are great, the slow service during dinner may dampen the experience. It takes a while to get noticed, takes a while to get your order, and takes a while to get your food. I have gone over a half-hour for my burger and have had to flag down the waiter for water, extra napkins and extra condiments. I don't think they are intentionally avoiding me as much as I think the waiters are that laid back. The staff here could easily blend in with the customers, mostly grad students and others a few years out of college who come to Triple Rock to unwind and toss back a few.

Triple Rock Brewery & Ale House
1920 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley