When I first moved to Berkeley, after a year of wonderful, noncommittal wandering, Crixa Cakes was my way of coping with staying still. A place where I could show up in the mornings and drop half my weekly budget on cake for breakfast. It was always served to me in a way that convinced me, and convinces me still, that this is a normal thing to do. Back then, my money and cake had a loose, inverted relationship: the less I had to spend, the more opulent the cake. I suppose it was a poorly thought out strategy for combating reality. Most the time, it worked.
See also: East Bay Bite of the Week: Chicken Neck Skewers at Ippuku
East Bay Bite of the Week: Guerilla Café's Daily Waffle
East Bay Bite of the Week: Fried Chicken Rice Bowl at Hawker Fare
Doubtless some people, when informed that there is now such a thing as a "cragel," will think, "OMG, no. Just no," while others will jump with joy at the prospect of maybe, possibly getting to wait in the rain for three hours for something. And they're both wrong. The cragel is imminent, it is delicious and it's not a day-old gimmick flown across the country. It's in the Richmond, at House of Bagels.
See Also: CDXX, a Burger Joint in the Bayview, With a Croughnut!
Tipping used to be a matter between yourself, your server, and God (unless you're Larry David), but with the advent of mobile payment systems like Square, now a third party is privy to how generous or miserly you are. Square's done some number-crunching to reveal the most important data of our time: Which S.F. neighborhoods contain the best and worst tippers.
He may get most of the press these days for his $4 toast, but we're longtime fans of Josey Baker's crusty loaves, and in interviews have found him to be a smart, articulate guy willing to nerd out about all things bread for hours. That's why we're excited about his new cookbook, Josey Baker Bread: Get Baking - Make Awesome Bread - Share the Loaves, out from Chronicle April 15. In this teaser, Baker describes it as the book he wishes he'd had when he was just starting out a few years ago, back when he was a science teacher who found himself drawn to the doughy, yeasty stuff.
See also: There Will Be Bread: The Newest Development in Food Culture Is Also the Oldest
