I’ve been to Fontina twice now. Once I went just with Leslie, on a whim. The second time was with my parents and some friends on our moving day. Both were great experiences. I would describe the place as your basic slightly-nice Italian restaurant, with all the attendant dishes. Bare cloth on the tables, $15 entrees with some real effort and creativity put into them. I’ve had their bruschetta, caprese salad, chicken parmagiana, and grilled salmon. They were all interesting. The appetizers were fresh and hot (or cold, in the case of the caprese) with good quality ingredients. There was creativity in the entrees even though they are fairly conventional italian fare. I like the place but probably won’t frequent it just because I can’t spend that much on dinner often.

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Comments

Marc — 2005-09-06 17:07:30

My kind of place! It will be on my list when we visit next spring. But why is Berkley #13 not on your restaurant topic page? I guess turkey is the next meal we will share. Twill be here before we know it.

bryan — 2005-09-07 22:32:42

you’re so right. it should be fixed now.

You thought I’d given up, didn’t you? How wrong you were.

Oscars is a place I went once last year and have gone several times since we moved to Berkeley; it’s so close. It is a straight-up burger joint. It’s kind of like a Dairy Queen but not a chain, and without the frozen treats. It’s dirty, simple, and cheap. But when what you want is a burger and fries, it really hits the spot. Not a fancy, 1/2-inch-thick, ranchero-style restaurant burger. No. What you get is a thin, flat slice of beef (or turkey or veggie) cooked in front of you with some good fries (if you like high fry to potato ratio), optionally with quite decent non-chemical lemonade. I will go back.

2505 Hearst Ave Berkeley, CA 94709 510.540.9791

This is a little in-and-out quick Thai place near, but not quite in the “food court,” a group of about 7 restaurants on Hearst east of Euclid. I ate here a lot while I was working on SIGGRAPH, so I think it deserves mention. The best thing about the place is their yellow curry, which is delicious and creamy while not being too heavy. I like it especially with chicken, though they don’t always restrain themselves to using the best parts. Once you leave the realm of coconut milk, though, the place has less to offer. It’s cheap, it’s close to Soda, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit. Plus, in Berkeley, you can usually throw a rock from one Thai restaurant to the next, so your choices aren’t limited.

1515 Shattuck Avenue Berkeley, CA 94709 510.883.0222

Monday was a triple feature, and the finale was César, a tapas bar on Shattuck next to Chez Panisse. Very nice atmosphere for a bar; the music was not too loud and as always in cali, no smokers! We went with the intent of getting some strawberries and cream, but I guess they are already out of season, so we had to settle for some chocolate pudding which was so think and rich it was almost like fudge. But somehow, it managed not to be heavy. It was covered on top with fresh whipped cream. I had a sour cherry soda to drink which was absolutely delicious. Definitely a nice place to chill out after some other activity. I’m not a big fan of tapas for meals because it would cost me about $100 to get full. But in this case, it was the perfect fit.

1984 Shattuck St. Berkeley, CA 94704 (510) 540-9997

Another winner here. I had dinner there on Monday with Stefani–it wasn’t the first time, but it was the first time that I rememered in time to write a fair impression. The interior of the place is pretty plain, with maybe 20 tables and a few booths. It does have an open kitchen, which I always find encouraging. It was pretty empty when we went in around 9, so the service was fast. The staff is very helpful and attentive (I’m no expert at this kind of food). We started with some “arabic tea with mint” that was delicious. I’m not sure what kind of tea it was but it came with several fresh mint leaves floating in it that I let infuse until I was done drinking it–very soothing. I had sabanekh (lamb and spinach stew) with saffroned rice on the side, and Stef had roasted chicken. Previously I’ve had roasted lamb, falafels, dolmas, hummus, baba, tabouleh, cucumber salad, and kanafeh for dessert, which is sort of a spin on baklavah.

It’s all been very tasty. Fresh, hot, and convincing enough to fool a neophyte like me into believing it’s “truly” mediterranean. I’ve already been back to this place twice, and I can see the pattern continuing. Cheap, fast, filling, friendly.