Walking And Eating - Oakland Food Tour: August 29, 2015

I generally update this food blog when I have something I would deem significant or, at least, noteworthy to say about food. Whether it's a restaurant review, about cooking, a food industry issue, eating, etc. I really don't like to post for just any ol' food-related thing.

So when I write about a walking food tour of Oakland I took with a friend of mine last month, it's because I consider it a significant event. Stay with me. You'll see why.

On Saturday, August 29, 2015, I got together with Kimmie, a longtime, good friend of mine, and walked from Lake Merritt to Uptown Oakland. We picked out a small number of restaurants considered noteworthy by Oakland chefs, mapped out a route, planned for detours/unplanned stops/deviations in the plan, set a budget for ourselves, and we were off.

Asada and carnitas tacos
from Mi Rancho

We took the BART into Lake Merritt and walked to Tacos Mi Rancho, a popular taco truck located on 1st Avenue very close to the lake. I ordered cow's head, pig stomach, and beef tongue tacos, usual cuts for me whenever I go out for street tacos, while Kimmie ordered carne asada and carnitas. For some reason, neither of us tried the al pastor, which was the taco recommended by chef Preety Mistry of the Juhu Beach Club. My personal reasoning: order the usual and see how it stacks up against my other, favorite places.

My friend was, unfortunately, pretty disappointed. I wasn't as disappointed; the tacos were good, but I found them to be average, lacking in any sort of pizzazz or noteworthy flavor. Most of the flavor came from the salsa. Take away the salsa and you have well-cooked meat absent of mouth-watering flavor. Rule of thumb when cooking: season all major components. I've had better tacos, but I would return for two reasons: 1) to try the recommended al pastor, and 2) to have their 15-inch burrito (yes, 15-inch) just for the sake of having it.

Shan Dong in Chinatown was next on the list. We walked the mile from Lake Merritt to the restaurant and seated immediately. We were there for the handmade noodles. While the noodles with fried tofu, vegetables, and spicy sauce was the recommendation by chef Blake Joffe of Beauty's Bagel Shop, we couldn't find it on the menu (were we looking in the wrong section?) and opted to go with something else. The sesame paste noodles caught my eye first, but the spicy meat sauce quickly commandeered my food-brain. Spicy meat? Yes! Though I noticed the little pepper icon so often seen on Chinese menus wasn't next to this particular dish, I thought: It says "spicy" in the name of the dish. They wouldn't lie, would they?

We're pretty sure they meant "spiced". We then proceeded to make fun of something also often seen on Chinese menus: typos.

"Spicy" meat sauce with handmade noodles
from Shan Dong

Long, super-thick, narrow noodles came in a large bowl, covered in a dark brown meat gravy. The sauce was actually sweeter than we expected, not spicy at all (hence our conclusion that they meant "spiced"). I could taste what I thought was a beef bouillon cube in the sauce - this dirty, beefy flavor. It wasn't bad at all, and I would have gladly kept eating were we not trying to pace ourselves. But, it wasn't spectacular. One problem was that any of the minced meat in the sauce didn't always make it to my mouth because, unlike with thinner noodles, the minced meat couldn't easily be carried with the mass of noodles picked up with chopsticks. No, with these thick noodles, you eat one at a time, Thus, the minced meat would fall back to the place.

My friend is a "texture person", meaning that textures that bother her in the mouth will automatically cause an aversion to the food. The noodles were much thicker than we'd thought. These weren't vermicelli- or angel hair-style hand pulled noodles. No, these were long, thick noodles. Thick like chow fun noodles, but narrower and much chewier, much more dense. I personally thought they were interesting and would love to try them with a different sauce, something more substantial to compliment such starchy density. Kimmie thought they'd be great in a soup. Next time, Shan Dong. Next time.

The most disappointing part of the day was that the owners of Tian Jin Dumplings on Franklin were on vacation. The shop was closed and our craving for dumplings would go unfulfilled. We did search for an alternate place to get dumplings, the closest one serving Shanghai dumplings (xiao long bao), but we decided to move on.

(If anyone has a good dumpling place they'd like to recommend, please do so)

Of course, thirst is inevitable on a walking food tour, and though we brought water, we wanted something... well... with flavor. iTea is located on 9th Street near Peony Seafood and the Asian Cultural Center. It's a tiny little walk-up vestibule of sorts. Now, I've had milk tea before, with and without the boba (chewy tapioca balls, for the uninitiated), so I knew what I was getting into, but ordering here was like buying some tech and adding options. Want an iPhone? 8Gb or 16Gb? Black or white? Regular or Plus size? That's what it's like ordering at iTea. You choose the percentage of both sweetness and ice - yes, percentage - and if you want any toppings. I ordered the Japanese Green Matcha Kreama, which is essentially a matcha green milk tea with a cream on top. Their drinks come with a thin, plastic film over the top through which you punch your straw. In my case, I'd never had a milk tea come with a tiny plastic knife before. I had no idea with to do with it, but according to "the Internet", it's for cutting a slit in the film so you can sip it like you would a cappuccino. How chic.

This tea made me rather full. Probably because I chose matcha tea, in which the powder is blended into the liquid and not filtered out, which made my drink more substantial. It was quite satisfying, being creamy and mostly refreshing, though it made wanting to eat at the next place a little difficult. Kimmie very much enjoyed her mango slush fruit tea.

As we made our way uptown, we stopped to find Caffe 817 for their pastrami sandwich. Unfortunately, I was not ready for a pastrami sandwich (my stomach needed a rest). The alternative? Sausage. Duh. We ended up sharing an andouille sausage sandwich at Rosamunde Sausage Grill (yes, in retrospect, we could have shared a pastrami sandwich at Cafe 817, but when it comes to pastrami sandwiches, I'm a pig that doesn't share, so...).

As Kimmie and I disagree on what we like on our sausages, the person taking our order suggested we get our toppings on the side. Armed with a bit of brown mustard and warm sauerkraut (I don't remember seeing on the menu board that the sauerkraut would be warm; I like mine cold to contrast the warm sausage), I bit in. It wasn't like any andouille sausage I've had, packaged or fresh. It was rather mealy and missing that smokiness I'm familiar with in andouille sausage. And I don't recall liking the bread very much. The texture was stale, which can happen when bread is only slightly toasted. While my half sandwich did make do, I didn't do that thing I do when I bite into a really good sausage sandwich: salivate for more, regardless if I'm full or not. But, since we only had half the experience, I would go back and try a full sandwich.

Albacore amuse-bouche
with paired sake
from Ozumo

We made our way uptown because our last stop was dinner at Hawker Fare, where the plan was to get the pork belly rice bowl. But, since they opened at 5:00 PM, we needed to do something else for at least 45 minutes. So, we found Ozumo on Broadway.

I love that place.

I joked with Kimmie and one of the bartenders that I should move to Oakland just to work there (a prerequisite is that I have to love to drink. Again, duh...). It was happy hour, and the bartender's choice of cold sake was $6.00. Yes, please. I received three shots of different sake from three different bartenders. And, to compare pork belly preparations, we ordered the pork belly kushi-yaki (skewered and grilled pork belly).

Pork belly kushi-yaki
from Ozumo

Before our pork belly arrived, they brought out, on the house, an albacore amuse-bouche - albacore with a light cream sauce and microgreen (the specific name escapes me), atop a cracker - and a fourth sake shot that one of the bartenders, based on my comments so far, thought I would like. And I did. Plus, I really appreciate this gesture; I think it was their way of appreciating my enthusiasm for their establishment, especially being from out of town. Who knows? Regardless, I thank them.

There was one sake given to me that wasn't really to my normal tastes because of how sweet it was, but it paired really, really well with the pork belly, which was lightly sauced in miso and was pretty salty and fatty. The pairing made sense, of course, as the salt and fat cut through the sweet, evening out the sake, and the sweet cut through the salt and fat, evening out the pork belly. A mutually beneficial relationship if there ever were one.

Thai-inspired beef tartare
from Hawker Fare

Pork belly dinner bowl from Hawker Fare

We left for Hawker Fare on Webster Street - reluctantly, because, though I wanted that pork belly rice bowl, I wanted to stay and indulge myself at Ozumo. But the move was fine, because the Thai-inspired tartare, sticky rice, and our respective pork belly bowls were delicious. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the pork belly rice bowl. Apparently, that's a lunchtime thing. Rice was ordered separately.


The tartare was zesty, spicy, light, and delicious. Eaten with the sticky rice and basil leaves, it was a very refreshing dish.

The pork belly was fatty and savory. Very satisfying - at first. My only gripe being that it was served in some sort of fake clay bowl that was not heated. As such, the dish began to cool as we ate, thus drying out the meat. While still tasty, that loss of heat didn't do the texture or flavor any favors.


Kimmie wanted something light for dessert. We looked around the area and nothing tempted us... except returning to Ozumo for their peach cheesecake with buttered walnut crust, drizzled caramel underneath and a bright, peach sherbet on the side. This, along with more sake (of course), was a great way to end a day of food. The cheesecake was creamy and not in any way heavy. The sherbet, being cold and tart, was a good palate cleanser.

Peach cheesecake with buttered walnut crust
from Ozumo

I think it's obvious of me to say that, food-wise, Ozumo was the highlight of the tour.


But there are other highlights that are just as, if not more, important.

I highly recommend doing a walking food tour with a friend. First, you get to know the area a bit better, provided you're stopping at places you've never been, especially if it's a city you don't spend a lot of time in. The whole point is to explore, to take your time and see things and stop into places you wouldn't normally visit because you're too busy heading towards your intended destination. Maybe you'll see a shop you've never been in. Maybe you'll make an impromptu stop inside an eatery you didn't plan on patronizing. You'll spend some time amongst the crowd and get a sense of the people of the city.

Second, walking to every restaurant will make you earn your food. I mean, if you're going to spend the entire day eating, at least burn some calories.

Third, it takes you out of your food comfort zone. Most of us have our favorite places to eat. When we go out and spend money on food, we generally go someplace we know we like. Once in a while we try a new place, but all the times in between it's a safe bet most of us choose a familiar restaurant, knowing our money won't be wasted. A walking food tour is a great way to hit a bunch of new places you've never tried, and hopefully you'll be game for new foods, as well.

Finally, a walking food tour is a great way to spend time with a friend. I don't get to see Kimmie very often. We live in different cities. Facebook, email, text, phone - these are all means of remote communication, but there is nothing like having face time (no pun intended, for you Apple folks) with someone you actually like. Setting aside an entire day to leisurely walk around the city, taking the time to linger here and there, going from one place to eat to another, talking the entire time... this is a great way to catch up. They say food brings people together, and this is one way of having that happen. Share some food with a friend. Go on a walking food tour.

(Plus, sharing will keep you from overeating)

Afraid you'll run out of things to say? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's not going to happen. First, if you're eating tons of food, you can talk about the food. If you're exploring the city, the places you visit are instant conversation fodder. Plus, as you continue your walk through the city, anything and everything that happens to you that day will spark an idea for a conversation topic.

Of course, you'll have to pick someone you can spend a long period of time with. Surely, we all know such a person, yes?

(Photos courtesy of Kimmie Yee. Check out her Yelp reviews)