To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember much from my visit to Ici. Right after the dinner at Chez Panisse, two of our friends came to pick us up and five minutes later, we were at Ici.
I was still ChezPanisse-struck.
But I never forget that I have a food blog, so I reached for my camera without thinking and somewhere along the line, I heard my friend repeating “Cinnamon Crème Brûlée” after the lady behind the counter.
Instantly sold. And it was fantastic, but the rest is a blur.
I do remember the Blue Bottle sign behind the main counter, but that’s because I had programmed myself to notice that logo wherever I go.
And of course, the hand-rolled cones with chocolate-filled tips are quite hard to forget.
But above all else, you simply have to respect a place for using a Mauviel sugar pan as a tip box.
I may not remember much after Chez Panisse, but our visit to the new Berkeley Bowl before dinner, I certainly do.
Another friend picked us up at the BART station and drove us there. Luckily, she had a dinner party planned that night and was going to go shopping at the new Berkeley Bowl.
I’ve never seen this many fruits and vegetables under the same roof. According to this article, they carry 40 – 40! – different kinds of tomatoes in season.
The raspberry yogurt pretzels were to die for! I have to learn how to make these at home. Any recipe suggestions?
… and what almost brought tears to my eyes was the ice cream aisle.
According to my calculations, it would take me two and a half years to sample everything if I were to try a different flavor of ice cream every single day. And how blissful those two and a half years would be.
Berkeley Bowl
920 Heinz Avenue Berkeley, CA 94710
Phone: 510.898.9555
Oregon Street Berkeley, CA 94703
Phone: 510.843.6929
Mon – Sat:- 9:00 AM – 8:00 PM; Sun: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Ici
2948 College Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705
Phone: 510.665.6054
Mon: 2:00 PM – 9:30 PM; Tue – Thu: 12:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Fri – Sun: 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
never been to CA, but you make me wanna move there! now i’ll have to cook some asparagus for tonight!
great pics
Beautiful photos as always, Cenk!
you would really love rainbow in s.f.
http://www.rainbow.coop/
You missed the best part of Berkeley Bowl: the “rotting rack” where you can buy fabulous produce that needs to be used the same day. You can find baskets of raspberries, boxes of mushrooms, exotic peppers.
Hello! You may have seen my beautiful niece at ICI! She is working there for the year.
Your photos of all the produce available at the Berkeley Bowl are just amazing …
I want to be there right now!
I love Berkeley Bowl. A friend took me there the last time I was in the east bay and I could have spent all day. Fresh garbanzo beans (I hadn’t ever imagined them for some reason) and so much amazing produce. I was a little dumbstruck!
What a wonderful trip! Thanks for sharing. I have to take a look at your photo gear now 🙂
Your posts are always so tempting Cenk. I’m bookmarking this one for a future visit to San Francisco.
I came looking for a recipe and now I’m all hungry! What is the easiest meal you’d whip up in 15mins? One that preferably doesn’t have eggs – I love them, but I need to give them a break.
My list to California is getting longer and longer, thanks for the wonderful pictures and for the inspiration. You’re a star!
Love the post Cenk. Was in CA for 10 months and your post reminded the amazing experiences I had over there.. 🙂
Siri
I love Berkeley Bowl’s own brand peanut and almond butters which you can find right under the bulk foods section.. And I must admit; Berkeley Bowl is quite addictive!!!
I love this post; I live right around the corner from Ici and it’s one of my favorite ice cream spots in the Bay Area…I’m not too far from Berkeley Bowl, either. These places really are fantastic. I’m glad you got to experience them both while you were here.
cenk, among those various types of tomatoes, I can see the marvelous pink ones we also have in Dikili. It’s because the very similiar climatic conditions I think. By the way those pink tomatoes can only be found in Dikili, in Turkey.
Beautiful post! I love those hand rolled ice cream cones, and I could volunteer to sample 3 ice cream flavors per day, so I could be done in less than a year 🙂 – would make a great new year resolution. Happy 2012, Cenk!
OK, I must go to the Berkeley Bowl. Two visits to that city and I still haven’t been there. (But I did eat at Chez Panisse each visit.) Your photos of the “multiples” at the BB are terrific, hypnotizing. Happy new year, my friend.
That looks like some grocery trip you took!
And no matter how cold the winter is, I am always up for a good tasty icecream. Wanna get some mastic-flavored one when I am in Turkey.
After seeing these veggies, I can not wait to make a trip to our pazar in Istanbul, when I am there in February… and eat some killer amount of fish!
Fantastic shop! I really like the new Gourmet shops. In Brighton(England) we are having a really new wave of Gourmet Shops (http://bit.ly/spZTdi )
Wow! I wonder when I’ll get to go to these awesome places!
i am so glad that i found your blog! i spent the last hour browsing, tagging and making notes… i am ready to turn my kitchen swag on right now!! thank you so much for sharing!!!!
Greetings from France
Martina
Ici and Berkeley Bowl are wonderful, aren’t they? You’re making me homesick!