Years ago i used to frequent this thai restaurant in the city that used to make great basil chicken. The restaurant closed years ago as well. I haven’t searched much does anyone know of any thai restaurants in the town or surrounding cities that makes thai basil chicken like so?

This is the first time we’ve done this kind of party for a large group, and the portion planning was one of the challenges. Of course we erred on having too much rather than running out. Sharing. Some notes here in case anyone is planning something similar.

32 adults 22 teenage girls No huge eaters in this group (other than me)

Pre-Marinated Meats: Mi Tierra (San Pablo Ave, Berkeley).

I used to use Cardenas (High St, Oakland) all the time, but we did a dry run and the meats and salsas were disappointing. Someone suggested Mi Tierra, and meats and salsas there were both much better, both in appearance and taste.

Pre-marinated meats: 10lbs carne asada 10lbs al pastor 10lbs pollo fajitas (I chopped the pieces into smaller chunks for tacos)

This was too much meat for this crowd. 8lbs of each meat would be perfect with few leftovers. Carne was the most popular, followed by pollo, then al pastor.

Salsas: Red- bought 5 pints ($6/each), which was too much. 3 would have been plenty. Avocado-salsa- bought 5 pints ($6/each), which was too much. 3 would have been plenty.

Tortillas- bought 4 large bags of the 6” corn tortillas ($6/each), which was too much. I made 2 bags and we had leftovers.

Total for meat, salsas, and tortillas (over bought by ~20%): $289

***I cooked all the meats and tortillas on a large flattop griddle (Camp Chef). I did the meats in 6 batches (half of each meat per batch), then did the tortillas.

In all, it took more than 90 mins to cook, and all was transferred to chafing dishes in half-size foil pans. Used three chafing dishes to get 6 spots. One each for: carne, al pastor, pollo, tortillas, rice, beans.

Ordered from Los Comales on MacArthur:

This is one of my regular spots where the food is very good and the service is excellent. Catering tray prices are on their website.

Full tray of Rice was double what we needed. Could have easily done a half tray with leftovers.

Full tray of Beans was double what we needed. Could have easily done a half tray with leftovers.

Chips- 4x 1lb bags- this was about the right amount

We also got the chopped garnishes from there. They sell them in 1/4 trays at $10 each. We got: Chopped onions Chopped cilantro Chopped Radishes Pickled carrots Pickled jalapeños

That was way too much for this crowd. If possible, I’d ask for half that amount and still probably have leftovers. Or chop them myself since it’s a smaller quantity than I thought.

Also got 1/2 tray of pico de gallo from there. It was way too much ($40). Would have been better off getting 2-3 pints from Mi Tierra for $5.50/pint.

5gal strawberry agua Fresca ($65). They give it to you in a plastic barrel dispenser with a spigot that you return later. We went through 4 gallons of it. It was very good.

Los Comales total, with tax and tip: $360. Could have done with about half of that.

Drinks: margaritas and Palomas. Palomas were the pre-made Cazadores Brand from Costco. First time trying them, and they were very well received. We went through 3x 1.5L bottles of it, served with grapefruit wedge garnish over ice.

Margaritas were made fresh with this recipe: Juice from 1x 3lb bag of limes from Costco (yield ~2cups) 1 bottle Cazadores reposado 2 cups contreau 1/4 cup agave syrup 1/4 cup orange juice Served over ice. Garnish with lime wheel and salted rim glass

We went through 3 batches of this. Could have probably used one more batch.

Lots of Pacificos, IPA, and wine.

15 pieces of tres leches cake from Market Hall. Pieces were large enough to cut in half, to yield 30 servings. Additional 30 pieces of Mexican wedding cookies. That was just about right.

Maybe this will help anyone else party planning for a large group. Happy to hear any ideas or thoughts for the next time we try this!

Do we have any spots that serve gringo/Americanized “taco night” style tacos? Sauced ground beef, fried shell, LTO, cheese, taco sauce?

I have been meaning to try this place for a few years, but I recently read reviews that ownership changed and the food has seriously gone downhill. I feel that I now waited too long to go there. Any recent experiences dining there? Thanks.

Edit: thanks for the feedback. i think i’ll pass.

I mean, where are the good coffee shops next to bookstores, gifts shops, stationary stores?

I have some favorites but these coffee shops are by themselves with not much around them. I’d love some recommendations where the coffee shop is in walking distance to cute plant shops, art and crafts stores, etc.

Hi all! I live in Marin but I love Oakland and try to sample all of your amazing food as often as I can. I’m coming this weekend with my wife and mom, where should we eat? No dietary restrictions we just love great food!

UPDATE: We went to Nido’s Backyard it was delicious, the space is just awesome, and vibes were great. Thanks everyone!

The title says it all!!! Special points for a good spicy crab boil & real authentic dim sum 💕 but extremely open to other options heheh plz help TIA

Does anyone happen to have a recipe for it or something close to its taste?

Has anyone ordered food from here? Tbh I forget it exists sometimes, but I’d be open to giving it a shot if there are dishes people recommend. Thanks!

Hi, my other half runs in the morning and has seen a black prius car pull up on 49th st by the alley and is either selling or giving away food from the trunk of their car.. I'm curious and was wondering if people know anything about this.

Update: It's a guy selling Colombian food out of the trunk of his car. He doesn't speak much English and my Spanish is terrible. He has pupusas wrapped in banana leafs along with some kind of rice and meat. It looks delicious.

Anyone know where I can find the best Nuer Kem? My wife and I love the Thai Beef Jerky from Amphawa in SF and can’t find anything similar in Oakland.

Hi! ABC here and once in awhile I get a hankering for American-style Chinese food, especially East Coast-style FAT egg rolls, which I can't seem to find anywhere (love other dishes like General Tso's, too, though I saw there was a whole other thread for that specific dish). Any recs, especially any that are close to Uptown/Lake Merritt/Piedmont Ave?

Hi, I’m looking for some guidance here. I have a gift card for Lion Dance Cafe, and as we all know it’s closing this week. Since their announcement, the lines have been a block long (I drove by this week to confirm) and I’m gathering that one must line up at about 4:30 in order to have a chance at ordering. The only day I can get there that early is Friday. I could get there at 6:15 on Wednesday or 5:15 on Thursday. I’m also reading that the line is about 1-2 hours long and it’s questionable if I as a single diner will get seating or be able to order food at all if coming any other time than 4:30. Any advice, perhaps from someone who has gone in the last couple weeks? I’m also fine to sell my gift card to someone who is planning to go. I wanted to try this place again but not sure if it’s going to be feasible. Any thoughts are welcome!

Edit: thank you all so much for sharing your recent experiences and advice! Sadly, I’m going to try and sell the gift card, perhaps to someone in line. Haven‘t done that this decade since people stopped carrying cash, so wondering how to transact this if I approach someone in line - would people be able to zelle me? I don’t have venmo or social media so how would I and the other person know we weren’t scammers? Meanwhile if anyone is planning to go and would be willing to buy my $100 gift card please let me know. Thanks again, all your responses were super helpful!

Edit 2: I was able to sell the gift card to a kind soul who reached out to me from seeing this post! I hope everyone who was able to go enjoyed the food!

My go-to has been Berkeley Bowl, but wondering if there are specialized places like The Spanish Table, but for Greek food.

I'm not super familiar with Mezcal, had some tastings in Mexico City but beyond that I'm a noob.

I went on Ubereats (rip drizly) to see what brands of Mezcal is available for pickup, and in reading reviews of the ones available they're all average or bad.

Any recs for a bottle that's available to pickup?

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On sale at Berkeley Bowl West in the cold box near the checkout registers

My boyfriend is turning 35 and we want to have a "nice" dinner to celebrate. Doesn't need to be extremely formal but looking for something that isn't just a taco truck (lol our usual haunts). Will be just the two of us, want something that's cozy and good ambiance. Need all the recs! TIA

I needed banana leaves for a recipe and all they had were 5lb bags at Berkeley Bowl. If anyone would like some free banana leaves and are willing to pick them up, I live on the hill just behind the Grand Lake Theater.

DM me if you are interest and we can schedule a pickup time.

We looked at the Bowl but didn't see any

I like the La Boulangerie in SF with the shaved almonds on top. Anything similar you guys recommend?

Would prefer to have them in glass as opposed to a can. I know De La Calle is in most stores, but I prefer glass for some reason.

I know where I can buy them in East Oakland, but is there anywhere else? Hoping to find a place closer to home.

I have family coming from the south in the next 2 weeks and want to take them somewhere nice to have fried chicken. Fried chicken is a big celebration food for our family and since moving here, I haven't found one that I was very excited to write home about. Everyone's suggestions are appreciated!

Parameters: -no fast food chains like KFC, Popeyes, Chick-fil-A, Krispy Krunchy, etc. -has to be a sit down restaurant -can be takeout only as long as it's not from a fast food chain

Thank you, citizens of Reddit!

Cheap eats are hard to find in the area. What are your favorites?

Edit: y'all what a great community. Excited to try some of these places. Surprised I haven't tried a lot of these.

was wondering wheres the best place for casual inexpensive-ish sushi ?

I’ve noticed around town that there are certain spots where the servers just seem to have really crap attitudes. It seems like the owners don’t care - I’m not talking about one person on staff, it seems to be the vibe of the entire place.

Paradise Park Café comes to mind… I had been there a few times pre-pandemic, stayed away, then went back recently and it’s still just as bad. Servers are indifferent at best. They mess up orders, never smile, ignore customers while they chat amongst themselves, and act like they’re doing you a favor to bring you your food. If you look at the Google reviews, whoever responds to the complaints is perpetually apologizing for them but nothing ever seems to change.

I’ve noticed it more in coffee shops.

Do you have any spots that come to mind? Is this some sort of Oakland hipster/punk/genZ aesthetic style?

Or is it just an outlier here or there?

Looking for some good eats tonight and can’t find anything.