Merritt Bakery

Years ago, when we used to visit Thane during his grad school years (mid 90's), we went to Roscoe Chicken and Waffles in Oakland. We thought it was meh. Since we like trying new places, I sought out rec's from various sources. One of my former students who now lives in SF recommended a new and hip soul food place, Brown Sugar Kitchen as well as a Filipino Vegan place (WTF, right?) called No Worries. Then, I remembered an older post by the knowledgeable Wandering Chopsticks (link at end of post) about this old school bakery near Lake Merritt in Oakland.

Merritt Bakery and Restaurant has it's own parking lot (Yay! Fk street parking!) and is next to a Lucky grocery store. You can't miss this Oakland instution near the shores of Lake Merritt. As you step in, you see the bakery first with the restaurant section on the right complete with a long counter/bar. This place looks like it's been in a time warp. As WC noted, the clientele was quite mixed, mainly African American and Asian Americans.

We already knew what we wanted...

Bert and I got the same thing - A waffle with two pieces of chicken. His was Legs; mine was Thighs.

I found this page interesting...For those who feel the need to order up to 500 pieces of chicken...

TC ordered the Ribs special. (nail design courtesy of yours truly - Two coats of purple glitter with a diagonal Diver Down'ish strip of pink)

And here it is, BBQ ribs with coleslaw and baked beans which TC thoroughly enjoyed. Bert and I snuck in a few bites of the rib ("Just one rib!") as well.

After all that driving (95% by Bert), and sleeping (TC and me, ha ha), we deserved to have a good lunch!

Bert and I traded one piece of our chicken so we'd each have one leg and one thigh. We also had a side order of the collard greens. Man, these were the best collard greens I've ever had. They were so light and fluffy on our forks and the flavor was just right. Not too salty or bitter.

The waffle was thick and crisp (but not hard yucky crispy) and retained it's crunch even after I poured syrup on it. The waffle at Annie Belle's was thinner, flatter and tasted like cinnamon which I do not like. The waffle was so big; I only had two quadrants. About that chicken...it was fantastic as well. The coating was flavorful and the meat so juicy. I am still thinking about those chicken pieces. Ohhhhh, that skin!!!!

We thought this was so cute, the Hamburger cake (featured as a merit badge on Russel's Boy Scout sash in Pixar's "Up"). The Giant fries cake was cute too!

Who else ate at Merritt's Bakery?
Here's the original post which inspired us to go here,
"Merrit Bakery and Restaurant" by the one and only Wandering Chopsticks (Jan 27, 2007)

Articles and reviews on Merritt's:
"Pixar pays tribute to Merritt Bakery burger cake" SF Gate.com by Peter Hartlaub (May 27, 2009)
"Merritt Restaurant and Bakery: Another Oakland Tradition" from Oakland blogger Lisa Lau (May 8, 2011)
"Oakland Bakery loan approved with conditions" SF Gate.com from Oakland local news (May 20, 2010)
and Yelp

and of course, their official site.

Loved the atmosphere and the friendly service! We didn't get any dessert here because we had another place in mind...

Up next, dessert at another Oakland favorite!