B-Town Chowhounds

Who: VN Editorial Assistant Charlotte Gordon + VN Office Manager Lyndsay Orwig
What: A day in Berkeley
When: Sunday, August 9, 2009
Where: Berkeley, Calif.
Why: To chow across the Bay

This weekend, we braved the belly of the BART beast for a shot at the best brunch in the Bay Area. But when we arrived at Fellini in Berkeley, not one glass was full of freshly squeezed OJ, nor was any vegan paralyzed in a wide-eyed stare at a menu, attempting to process the incredible amount of animal-free brunch options. The restaurant was, unfortunately, as empty as our stomachs and as closed as our minds were to rational thinking at that point—we were hungry, outraged, and ready to claw open the front door. But mark my word, we’ll be back when Fellini reopens on August 21. After gathering what wits we had left, we headed to Herbivore in downtown Berkeley to sample their brunch offerings: some southwestern scrambled tofu, a side of espresso shake, and a mighty green pesto tofu scramble.

The Southwestern Scramble. Um, yeah, that's a lot of food.

Lyndsay enjoys the awesome espresso shake.

It was just the right amount of tastiness to satisfy our cravings for a good brunch and fuel our Berkeley wanderlust. We made our way down Shattuck and lost an hour to thrift-shopping mecca, aka Crossroads Trading Co., before geeking it up at Comic Relief and Other Change of Hobbit, a science fiction and fantasy bookstore where cats roam free. Feisty felines greeted us as we browsed the aisles, then they retreated to paw at strings and used copies of Philip K. Dick novels.

After securing some ample sun damage from walking store to store in the heat, it was time to find comfort in gelato, and tons of it. Cookies ‘n’ cream and pistachio soy-based gelato, that is, at Gelateria Naia. Yum. We just had to forgo the bounty of fruit-based frozen treats—plum, pineapple, and banana, just to name a few—for this variation of the classic peanut butter and chocolate combo.

'Tis soy gelato!

With stuffed tummies as well as backpacks and bags, we headed back to San Fran looking like two bag ladies with all of the day’s purchases. And even though the credit card bills are getting ridiculous, watch out Fellini, because it is so on at the end of the month.