I cheated on Hippo the other week.
That’s why this post is delayed…I just didn’t know if she could handle the truth.
She was gone. I was hungry…
A few more notes from 
, who will be back in just a few days!
Here are some extremely brief, even uncapitalized (gasp!), field notes from , who as you know is fighting guerrilla food warfare in China…
“Wanna go on a date?”
“Sure, depends on what we’re eating.”
“Let’s go to Dopo.”
“Yay, it’s a date then.”
- Dialogue that may or may not have taken place on a particularly humdrum night
This week’s mashup is engorged (though not nearly as much as we were) because Hippo is preparing to leave the country, we didn’t have time to blog about one of our go-to places, Chef Yu Yu, so we’re including it in our mashup. I’ll take this time now to note that Hippo will be carousing around China for a bagajillion weeks, leaving me high and dry here in Oaktown. Hopefully we’ll get at least photo updates from her as she eats all of China, but if not, I will be filling in solo with bachelor’s food - you know…beer, dumplings, and mac and cheese. It’s gonna be an exciting few weeks, folks.
After the non-success of Digs, I suggested to Hippo that we go down-home, and she suggested that we go to Ao Sen, a Vietnamese pho joint back in my old ‘hood, when I was still living and eating alone.
Reflecting on our visit brings a flood of memories - of days alone gorging on Church’s chicken, fishing for edible boxed goods at Albertson’s, dishing out ATM fees at the local non-Citibank ATM and watching movies alone, beer in hand, at the Parkway, after a day’s work at the almost always, almost all black (and no doubt almost always struggling) local coffee shop. None of this was on my mind, though, as we parked along the curb across the street from the neighborhood’s very own rent-a-Segway-in-Oakland business mistake, housed next to our final destination: the noodle resto we were most fond of in hidden Little Vietnam near Lake Merritt.
Blue Elephant and I decided to take the plunge - finally - for a Monday prix fixe dinner at Digs Bistro, a small restaurant on Dwight and Sacramento in Berkeley.
We’ve heard much about this place as it was formerly known to be one of the hippest underground dining experiences in Oakland, run by chefs who would serve delicious meals to selected friends and diners.
I wish that I was privy to Digs’ former glory days.
Here are some of the yummies we’ve had this week. On a lazy Sunday we tried the new Amanda’s - a healthy alternative to McDonald’s - complete with yummy burgers (patties made of mushroom and walnuts, quite unique and not nutty) and sweet potato fries. Then we went to Tara’s, a strategically-located ice cream joint on ICI-crazed College Ave. Elephant quite liked the selection of non-sweet flavors — Basil, lemongrass, garam masala! Later in the week, while I tried LIMETREE on Irving — roti and Singaporean noodles (maybe try the chili crab next time?) — Elephant gorged himself with a mini quesadilla in San Leandro, for an entirely different reason.
So your girlfriend tells you you have to go to some tiny Thai restaurant in East Oakland - you know…over there…in real Oakland (well, minus the whole Mills college thing) - and you’ll have to - get this - call them to be let in…”for security reasons.” A real hole in the wall, right?