Month: May 2006

summer begins

I’ve tried but failed to describe our kick-ass road trip more succintly than Leslie. It was awesome, I love driving around with that girl, what can I say.

I’m sitting now in the my completely deserted office at Berkeley. All seven other students are gone at internships for the summer, five went just to pixar (seems like it’s even more hip than Google around here these days). So although it’s a bit lonely, I’ll probably have plenty of time to get distraction-free work done. My main project at the moment is to decide what I’d like to do for the next three years or so, which will hopefully be enough to keep me busy.

Other exciting stuff: Ali is visiting starting tomorrow with his new girlfriend, and this weekend I have my first weekend of paragliding lessons. I’ve been talking about it for a couple of years now so I figured it was time to actually get out there and do it. Jeff’s doing it with me, so that should also be awesome.

paraglider

Other projects for the summer: German, guitar, catching up more on restaurant reviews? Who knows. I’ll keep you posted.

berkeley food #16: triple rock

1920 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, 94704
(510) 843-7625

Leslie and I have been to Triple Rock many times now. I’d say it’s our favorite brew-pub in Berkeley. Since I’ve had so many experiences there, I’ll just give an overview of the experience. The main event is the beer, which is all brewed on-site and features seasonal specialties. Probably the most infamous is Monkey Head, an exceptionally alcoholic arborreal ale (8% i think…) that is served in a large bottle with, well, a monkey head on it. You drink it socially, everyone with a little glass. It promotes toasts. There’s even a card that you get stamped each time you buy a bottle, and at 10 you get to keep the bottle and you get a t-shirt. How can you beat that? The catch is, monkeyhead is only served on Thursdays. Other good beers include Titanium, “light but strong,” and the Triple Rock classic, Red Rock. If you go, I’d suggest trying at least two or three different kinds.

The food consists mainly of burgers, with a few standard bar appetizers like wings and nachos. It’s not the greatest, but the burgers in particular are quite good, and by all means when you order one spend the buck fifty to upgrade your cole slaw to fries–they are light, crispy, with just the right amount of salt.

The biggest problem with Triple Rock is its popularity. They’ve recently installed two huge flat screens that are constantly playing the sports game du jour. Most nights of the week the place is packed, and there is no hostess seating, so you’re out of luck unless you want to stand around for 15-30 minutes stalking a table (although you might get lucky). We prefer to go around 6-6:30, when there’s almost always tables available and the atmosphere is a bit quieter.

berkeley food #15: sushi california

2033 Martin Luther King Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
510-548-0737

Leslie and I went to sushi california last week as celebration for studying German. It got a couple of good reviews on yelp, so we decided to check it out. We wanted to go for a mix of cooked Japanese and sushi (a change for us), so we ordered grilled saba (mackerel) and fried clams along with a assortment of sashimi.

We weren’t impressed. The mackerel, while tasty, was overcooked. The clams were nice but too oily for my tastes. The sashimi was pretty flavorless and unremarkable. I don’t think we’ll be going back any time soon.