Cro Cafe, Alley 49

Across the street and literally in an alley was our next stop...

I wasn't aware of how hipster this place really was until we set foot there...

My MO was just, "find another coffee spot" nearby in google maps and this place popped up...

Beignets from Cafe du Monde mix

It's the weekend...

which means I can drink coffee...So a coffee soda for breakfast it was. This time using a dark roast from Caffe Calabria. The cup in the front is the simple syrup (made last week when we first made coffee soda), which is dark since I used raw turbinado sugar.

I asked Bert the other day if he could finally make these...

A gift from the lovely and generous Kirbie from her trip to New Orleans earlier this year. It was time to finally open it...

Bartavelle Coffee & Wine Bar - Kouign Amann from Starter Bakery

Prior to our trip up to Thane's, I'd asked him to do a big favor for me.

Starter Bakery in Oakland is known for their kouign amann pastries but unfortunately, they do not have a storefront, just a warehouse which does not sell individual orders to people. Instead, the bakery only does local farmer's markets which we didn't have time for. When looking online, I saw that Starter Bakery offered their pastries at several local (to Thane) places, such as Bartavelle...

which used to be Cafe Fanny's (an offshoot cafe started by Bourdain nemesis, Alice Waters) and next to Acme Bread. We went there for their beignets during our 2011 trip. Bartavelle is a Coffee and Wine Bar located on San Pablo Ave (which has so many great eateries) and just "conveniently" a few miles down the road from Thane's, who was kind enough to grab a few kouign amanns that very morning while we were making our way up the 5...

Berkeley Fish House

A mere five minutes away from Cafe Fanny was another stop on our roster of things to see, do, and eat. On a normal nondescript street is a house that I'd been dying to see. This unusual house was also featured in the Roadside America site and the book Weird California which of course made me want to see it even more.

Behold, the Berkeley Fish House, as it is popularly known! The shape is really not a "fish" but a "Tardigrade", which is an eight-legged, microscopic segmented water dwelling creature. This house was built by architect Eugene Tsui for his parents. There are ramps within and all the materials are ecologically sound and built to withstand high winds, rain, and fire. Can you imagine living next door?

Info below from the Tsui Design Research Inc website:

"This structure is based upon the world's most indestructable living creature--the Tardigrade, with its oval plan and parabolic top it utilizes the same structural principles nature employs in creating an astoundingly durable design..."

I'm sure the neighbors are tired of looky loos (like us), standing in the middle of the street taking pictures of the house.

"There they go again, damn tourists!"

In our case, we each took a shot with the house as background, but we probably should have done a timer with all three of us. Then, it could have been one of our Xmas card pix! No neighbors were out in the street when we were there. I wonder if the owners were even home? I can't believe some people would even have the nerve to knock on their door. It's not like some sort of museum or anything.

It's so random. Every house on that street is pretty normal, then you get to THAT one!

(gotta suck it in!)

Who else saw the Fish House?

Here's a post from the blog Unusual Life as well as a photographer that popped up when I did the google search, Joe Riefer, and of course, the entry from Roadside America.

More info on the architect from an SFGate article, Eugene Tsui: Eco-Conscious and Outrageous
and the East Bay Express Eugene Tsui Says It's Time for Thinking Big

If you want to know all the specifications and even see photos of the making of this house, check out the architect's site himself:
Tsui Design - The Tsui House

The Berkeley Fish House (residence of Florence and William Tsui, parents of the architect)
2747 Mathews Street
Berkeley, CA

Worth the small detour if you're ever in the area!

Cafe Fanny

[Update - Cafe Fanny is now closed and is now Bartavelle Coffee & Wine Bar]

The first place we went to was Cafe Fanny. It's listed in the 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late book as having the best beignets west of the Mississippi. Well, since I've never had an actual beignet, I have nothing to compare it to. Bert, on the other hand, has been to New Orleans and knows what real beignets are like.

Cafe Fanny is owned by Alice Waters - the same lady that all the granola people revere because of California Cuisine, the slow food movement, farm to table, organic, sustainable blah blah and all that pretentiousness. Yadda yadda. Despite the connection to Alice Waters, I was curious to try their beignets...

It's next to some wine place...

and Acme Bread which is supposed to have very good bread but we didn't stop in and get any.

We got lucky with a spot in the tiny lot. We were the only "diversity" there. Ha ha.

That dude's pony tail was pretty long. If he bent his head back, he could probably graze his butt crack with his hair.

Service was nice and quick. No space to sit outside either. So we sat inside on one of the wooden benches and ate our stuff there.

We ordered 2 pairs of beignets along with coffee for Bert.The beignets were light fluffy squares of fried goodness. When you bite into one, it's like biting into a pillow. A fried tasty pillow with powdered sugar on top.

There was a tiny container of raspberry preserves which went quite well with the beignets. Bert said they were okay but he preferred the ones from New Orleans which are bigger and heavier. These were too light in his opinion.

Cafe Fanny also had other menu items like salads, sandwiches and other pastries. We just wanted to try the beignets at least once to see if they lived up to the hype. I really liked them but Bert didn't feel they were authentic. As for the ambience, the seating here was limited so it kind of sucked for us at least. The line wasn't too long when we were there but I might have enjoyed this snack more if we weren't next to the line where people ordered their food.

Other reviews of Cafe Fanny:
yelp (some of the reviews were pretty vicious)and yahoo.

I wonder what British folks think of this place's name? In England, "fanny" is British slang for "pussy" or for those who are offended by that term, "external female genitalia". It is not a woman's name as it is here in the U.S.  In the U.S., ironically "fanny" has the opposite meaning since it refers to the "buttocks"/"ass" region!

Ha ha. Fannie Mae.

Fannypack.

The female rock group Fanny.

The Broadway musical "Fanny".

Fanny from Sesame Street.

Fanny, Fanny bo-Fanny,
Banana-fana fo-Fanny
Fee-fi-mo-Fanny
Fanny!