oakland airport area

[bugsy]

we'll be staying near OAK after a long weekend in Napa...good food and good wine list is all we ask...thanks in advance.

[marie-louise]

Details, I need details.

Where exactly are you staying-if it is right by the airport I hope you will have a rental car. You are not far from much good food, but as far as I know, there aren't any decent restaurants out there.

Second, how long are you staying there? I'd be tempted to stock up on goodies from the Oakville Grocery (or any of the 500 great takeout places between Napa and the airport) and eat and drink in my room. If your room has a little fridge, so much the better.

Edited February 10, 2004 by marie-louise (log)

[bugsy]

we've got a car and we tend to spend our money on food and wine not accomadations...i don't want to go into the city...give me your best restaurants withen 15 mins. or so....THANKS !!!!!

[marie-louise]

Assuming there is not traffic, you can get to any restaurant in Oakland-College Avenue, Piedmont-in 15 minutes from the airport. You could get to Jojo's, Bay Wolf, Oliveto's, Garabaldi's, Citron, and others in 15 or 20 minutes. Most of them have websites, and most have been discussed in at least 1 thread on this board. For lunch, you could go to Pho 84 or any of the other great ethnic stops in downtown Oakland. You could get to Chez Panisse in 30 minutes or any of the rest of the places in Berkeley in about 30 minutes.

BTW, unless there is traffic, you can also get to just about anywhere in the Bay Area in 30 minutes from the Oakland airport, so pretty much any restuarant in the Bay Area is an option...

[chezcherie]

i second the oliveto suggestion, or a cote, just down the street (college ave.)

[melkor]

In Rockridge, there's no reason to eat at Oliveto! A Cote, Grasshopper, Garibaldi, Citron, hell - I'd rather get a soup-pizza from Zacharys, or a simple meal at Crepevine than suffer through yet another uninspired, poorly presented meal delivered by Olivetos disinterested wait staff.

After a long weekend in Napa I'd go either to Pho 84 or Battambang in Oakland. Pho 84 serves consistently excellent Vietnamese food; Battambang has great Cambodian - there is nothing like either of them in wine country.

[wnissen]

In Rockridge, there's no reason to eat at Oliveto! A Cote, Grasshopper, Garibaldi, Citron, hell - I'd rather get a soup-pizza from Zacharys, or a simple meal at Crepevine than suffer through yet another uninspired, poorly presented meal delivered by Olivetos disinterested wait staff.

I'm a little surprised that your opinion of Oliveto is so low. Sadly, I haven't been able to try the other places you mentioned, but my meal at Oliveto a few weeks ago had incredibly good service. Our waiter Oscar even replaced a corked bottle before I got to taste it! Pacing was excellent, my only complaint was that our water carafe did empty a couple of times, which shouldn't happen in a place like that. Food was very, very good as well, quite creative use of the ingredients. My only real complaint is that it's impossible to tell from the menu description what you're getting. My "Crostone of Monterey Bay Squid with aioli" turned out to be braised in red wine, which meant that the wine I selected was waay off base. Anyway, it was an excellent (if expensive) meal from beginning to end. Just MO.

Thanks for the Cambodian recommendation, that's a cuisine I've never had before.

Walt

[Beachfan]

Let's be realistic.

Assuming no traffic is a bad assumption.

There is no place within a real 15 minutes of the airport that's better than a Denny's (unless there's some unsung BBQ joint).

Don't even try to eat that close.

Unless you are going to be drinking, no reason not to go to the restaurants suggested above; not 15 minutes, but not far timewise. But 10 miles away or more.

[marie-louise]

Do you like jazz? Yoshi's for dinner and a show is another idea. The food is good and the club is a great place to see music. Even WITH traffic, it isn't much more than 15 minutes from the airport-it's just a few exits up towards the city.