Menu

We care about what we serve. We strive to provide the best possible value for the dollar, while using only quality ingredients. This is important – we know that not everyone in our neighborhood can afford to spend big on eating out. It’s a tricky balancing act: on the one hand, we pay good money for good ingredients, and put a lot of labor into our product (because we prep almost everything from scratch); on the other hand, although we love organic and locally produced products and do all we can to serve them, we can’t afford to use them exclusively – our customers regularly tell us that price matters. We’re always open about what we serve, what we make, what we buy prepared, how and where we source it.

We make almost everything we serve from scratch, using fresh and whole foods. We avoid packaged foods when we can, and when we can’t, we pay close attention to what goes into the product – we don’t buy things full of hard-to-pronounce chemicals. Some examples from our menu:

House syrups: organic agave nectar, fresh fruit and pure extracts (almond and vanilla in our cream syrup)
Scones: fresh fruit, flour, butter, cream, sugar, baking powder, salt
Cookies: butter, flour, sugar, baking powder/soda, chocolate, oats, nuts, spices (ginger, molasses), extracts (vanilla, lemon), guittard dark chocolate, salt
Fruit cobbler: fresh fruit, tapioca flour, ground almonds, sugar, cinnamon, salt
Frittata: cage-free eggs, fresh vegetables, cream, salt, pepper (meat frittatas include bacon or turkey)
Soups: always vegan and gluten free, from fresh vegetables, oil, herbs, spices (sometimes dried beans or coconut milk)
Mustard vinaigrette: dijon mustard (mustard seed, vinegar, salt), oil, shallots, salt and pepper
Chimichurri: oil, fresh herbs, chilies, onion, salt and pepper
Tuna salad: line-caught solid albacore tuna (packed in water), oil, salt and pepper
Whipped cream: heavy cream, pure vanilla and almond extracts, sugar (just a touch)

We buy all our produce from local distributors (Cook’s Company, Pacific Rim Produce, the Berkeley Bowl), and purchase locally produced and seasonal goods whenever we can. Virtually all our fruit (except bananas) is California grown, all year round – some vegetables (like avocados, cucumber and tomatoes) are imported during the winter months. The majority of our menu specials and rotating items (scones, frittata, soup, pickled veggies, juice, etc.) are made from seasonal, locally grown produce.

We prefer pesticide free or organic items when these are available at an acceptable price. Some items are always organic – these include salad greens, coffee beans, oats, polenta, raw sugar, agave, yogurt, and other ingredients, as well as empanadas and donuts from our ready-made offerings.

We have relationships with a small number of local producers. We’ve spent lots of time tasting, pricing and sourcing items that we serve, and we’re proud of what we selected for our menu:

Coffee: Organic arabica beans from co-ops in Sumatra and Nicaragua, roasted by our friends at McLaughlin Coffee (a family business just a few blocks away), and blended just for us
Milk and dairy: all our milk and most of our dairy products come from Petaluma-based Clover Stornetta Farms, who are well known for their high standards for animal welfare and sustainable local farming
Eggs: cage-free brown, from Judy’s Egg Farm in Petaluma
Empanadas: made by El Porteno in San Francisco, from all-organic ingredients, including meats from Praether Ranch and Fulton Valley Farms
Bread, Croissants and Morning Buns: Baked fresh daily at Hopkins St. Bakery in Berkeley
Donuts: from Pepple’s Donuts (just a short walk down San Pablo), all vegan and organic ingredients
Bacon: Dailey’s honey smoked, center cut and thick sliced, from conventionally raised hogs
Turkey: conventionally raised, pan roasted; additive-free
Yogurt: Strauss organic

Unlike some other shops who use disposable dining ware for all their orders, we serve our for-here orders in china and glass. Two thirds of our business is eat-in, so this is significant. To reduce chemical consumption and waste, we use a high-efficiency high-temperature dishwasher and low-flow water sprayer. For to-go orders, all of our dining ware is 100% compostable (paper, PLA, corn starch). We use unbleached paper when we can, thereby reducing the water required for production. Our napkins and paper towels are made from 100% post-consumer recycled material. Our paper vendor, Good Start Packaging, has been a great partner in identifying high-quality, affordable, and 100% compostable items. We don’t serve bottled drinks – our sodas and juices are made here, and our beer and wine are exclusively on tap – this goes tremendously far to reduce our waste. Well over 80% of our waste stream is either composted or recycled, and we’re always working to try to increase that percentage. It’s important to us to keep our waste stream small and landfill usage low. Please help us by composting your leftovers and empty packaging wherever you go with them.