Dazed by the Dozen

Cherries are a lovely treat, but if you ask me, life is a big tray of freshly shucked oysters. Especially on a blue-sky day, sitting outside at Sea Salt, sipping Chardonnay and slurping them at just a buck a pop.

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Sea Salt has realized the concept of “urban oasis” in every aspect. Situated on a colorful little stretch of San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, a wide expanse of windows draws you into a cool, watery world of blue-green glass, polished concrete, exposed brick, and unfinished wood. Add a warm welcome from the staff and a table on the tree-shaded brick patio or in the airy sunroom out back, and happy hour is off to a grand start.

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Every day from 3-6pm “The Other Menu” features not just raw oysters, but fried ones, and shooters with house-made Bloody Mary mix, too, in addition to more than ten other small plates for $5-$9. Add fresh toasted chickpeas, fried friarello peppers, and endless amazing crusty bread to your dozen on the half, and you have yourself a fabulous finger-food meal. Wash it all down with a $3 draft beer, a $5 glass of wine, or one of Sea Salt’s signature cocktails made with freshly squeezed citrus.

An hour or two spent like this makes for the kind of relaxed and blissful experience that you treasure in your memory for years—summer vacation in an afternoon.

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Of course, it could’ve been the oysters—they are an aphrodisiac after all, or so they say. Perhaps it would be prudent to try out a few other half-shell happy hour havens around the Bay, and investigate this oyster bliss further:

Luka’s Taproom & Lounge in Uptown Oakland shells out $1 oysters all day long every Monday.

Hog Island Oyster Bar tops off a visit to the Ferry Building with $1 oysters and $3.50 pints of beer, Mondays & Thursdays, 5-7pm

Grand Café near Union Square gives you 6 for $6 plus $3 Sierra Nevada, and daily special plates, Monday-Friday, 3-7pm.

Zuppa one-ups the rest SOMA-style with 50¢ oysters, $4 beers, and $5 wines, Monday-Friday 5-7pm.

And if you find your raw mollusk adoration cannot be bound by the hands of time or your end-of-recession budget, you better get yourself a spot in line at Swan Oyster Depot. Every oyster lover worth her salt must make a point of bellying up to that old-school bar in Nob Hill at least once before leaving the Bay. They close at 5:30pm and aren’t open Sundays, so get there early and bring the newspaper—it’s worth the wait.

Sea Salt is located at 2512 San Pablo Avenue (at Dwight Way) in Berkeley. Open daily until 10pm. 510.883.1720.

–Sara

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“Art and Coffee” With John Wood

The first time I meet painter John Wood, I am completely taken with his tranquility. We sit for caffeinated beverages and a lovely chat at the site of his latest exhibition, “Art and Coffee,” which presides at Sweet Adeline Bakeshop until August 21, situated neatly on the divide between Berkeley and Oakland in the same genteel and gentrifying neighborhood where Wood’s studio also happens to be located.

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Upon seeing Wood alongside this particular body of work, completed between 2007 and the present, and set upon light blue paper that happens to marry perfectly with the yellow walls and sun-drenched windows of this former warehouse space, I immediately grasp the optimism, emotion, and intensity of his work, even though the work and Wood both appear to be as calm, cool, and collected as any art exhibit I’ve seen in a long while. Whether or not Wood intends for me to feel this optimism and lightness of being, I am unsure, but more than anything I am aware that my role is to enjoy my time with the painter and his work in equal measure.

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Soon after meeting, Wood and I discover a shared passion for reading, which sheds some additional light on his creative process. “I collect titles,” Wood says, explaining that — while his work may appear to be a series of simple square feet containing abstract colors, lines, and shapes — the titles, taken from Wood’s own stash of favorite snippets of sentences and poems, simultaneously add both dimension and mystery to his paintings, granting viewers the freedom and the distance from having to know exactly what each one means, and, ultimately, the ability to focus, instead, on what the work means to every single viewer as an individual.

Featuring titles such as, “Entwined in a Sweaty Heap,” “With All Its Imperfections,” “Sensation Down the Spine,” and “Stopping Mid-Sentence,” it is immediately clear to me that Wood relishes life’s tactile, sensual, and cerebral connections — afforded by his ability and foresight not just to create, but to know when his creations are truly complete. For me, this is a rare quality for any artist, the sense of accomplishment and completion, as well as the ability to simultaneously embrace and let go, which makes Wood’s paintings, even in their relatively small size, advance with a sense of personality and profound emotion.

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For some, Wood’s work may appear influenced by cartography, while for others the work may seem more personal and personified, the ultimate walkaway is that each piece speaks to humanity’s growing desire for simplicity, symbols, semiotics, and extended meanings in today’s over-saturated, over-communicated landscape. Fortunately, for a due change of perspective and pace, Wood reinforces the beauty of actually stopping to see the paintings.

— Kay

John Wood’s “Art and Coffee” collection is showing at Sweet Adeline Bakeshop, 3350 Adeline St., in Berkeley, 510.985.7381. The exhibition will remain open through Friday, August 21. All paintings are available for sale.

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Period Piece

Despite being a relatively young American city that has sustained its fair share of debilitating fires and earthquakes, San Francisco and its surrounds boast a rich architectural pedigree. Of course, the city’s reputation as the heart of Victorian charm is well-documented. Think the always camera-ready Painted Ladies in Alamo Square or the stately mansions of Pacific Heights.

berkeleycityclub_lionbearThe Bay has also played host to a bevy of design heavyweights whose talents are perhaps even more pronounced today. There’s the craftsman-style Berkeley residences of Bernard Maybeck and the mid-century masterpieces of Joseph Eichler in Diamond Heights. World-class museum projects have ensured that the buildings themselves will be as celebrated as their prized art collections— notably, Mario Botta for the clearly Memphis-inspired SFMOMA and Herzog & de Meuron for the copper-encased deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park.

Standing as a testament not only to the beauty but endurance of California design is the Berkeley City Club by Julia Morgan. Nestled at the base of the University of California’s Berkeley campus, the club originally served as the epicenter for women’s social gatherings. Today, in its current function as a fitness center, reception venue and hotel, club membership is open to both women and men.

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The building itself, completed in 1929, maintains much of its original Gothic Revival design attributes. Present are the trefoil portholes, structural vaulting and heavy stone (concrete was used here as an economical substitute) that recall the grand cathedrals of medieval Europe. Though perhaps best known for a little castle called Hearst, Julia Morgan’s torch may burn no brighter than it does in Berkeley.

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The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Avenue. Membership and hotel room stay information are available at their official website.

—Michael

Special thanks to Carol Oliveto, for use of her photo (last shot shown here).

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Gimme Shelter or Gimme CB2

With the continued pandemic of corporate layoffs and the shuttering of stores nationwide to weather our economic cold front, it’s a significant news event to be able to report on the opening of a new retail outpost. San Franciscans have familiarized themselves with CB2 since it opened its doors in Union Square last fall. But the new East Bay location in Berkeley’s 4th Street retail corridor marks a welcome and promising expansion.

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The hip, pop-cultured offspring of parent company Crate and Barrel, CB2 is poised to redefine the mid-tier home furnishings market. Finally, being spend-thrift doesn’t mean you have to settle for Björn’s bargain basement or convoluted DIY-assembly. CB2 features slick, modern pieces in an array of citrus seasonal colors that always pay homage the space-conscious city dweller.

And now, while the efficacy of Team Obama’s 800 billion dollar “recovery” package languishes in heated debate, CB2 responds with its own recession-right incentive. Both Union Square and Berkeley locations will be rewarding one lucky customer a month with a $500 gift card.*  Though many of us may still be in the red, CB2’s got me dreaming in orange.

CB2 opens today at 1730 4th St in Berkeley. (510) 558-0106. Also at 34 Ellis St. in Union Square, San Francisco. (415) 834-9370. *Now through 7.31.09. Enter and view rules at in-store kiosk.

—Michael

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It’s Like, Like New

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Today’s post features neither a new company nor a new phenomenon, but there’s no denying that this new economy is putting secondhand and consignment stores in sharper demand than ever. Fortunately my neighborhood, North Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, is one groovy little strip down which you can trip and pick up gently used goods at great prices. Modernaire, Pegasus Books, and Mixed Pickles are just a few of my favorites in the area.

Needless to say, I was far less surprised than I was pleased by my recent trek to Berkeley’s freshly expanded Crossroads Trading Company, which now boasts an additional 1,500 sq ft or so (i.e., a new boutique), filled with new and like-new clothing, shoes, and accessories. Just two days after Christmas, the house was absolutely packed; even with four registers running, the line of customers waiting to pay kept snaking deeper amidst the racks.

I myself scored a killer pair of new Damien Hirst x Levi’s limited-edition waxed bondage jeans for a shocking $26. There are many treasures like these lying in store for you at Crossroads, but the biggest bargain is the ability to choose your own consumer adventure: i.e., to buy, sell, and/or trade.

While some people joke that we should go back to a barter economy, until that day arrives you can bet that more and more people will be hitting up your local secondhand and consignment shops for goodies that are in season, in style, and most importantly in budget. To get the best things first, I suggest you visit early and often.

Crossroads Trading Company’s Berkeley location is at 2338 Shattuck Avenue. For a location nearest you, visit the company’s Web site. For more information about the Bay Area’s best secondhand shops, try tribe.net or, of course, Yelp.

— Kay