Before artisanal ice cream became the Bay Area's benign drug of choice (see Humphry Slocombe, Smitten, Three Twins, etc.), Sketch was doing it all, and doing it quietly. The spot opened nearly a decade ago, and with the exception of a three-year hiatus, has been a much-loved East Bay ice cream sanctum. The pair behind the shop are Eric Shelton and Ruthie Planas-Shelton, a couple with a high-end pastry pedigree that includes a mutual stint at Aqua.
See also: East Bay Bite of the Week: BBQ at Smokey J's
If memory serves, the original Sea Star was sort of a hyper-dive, with linoleum flooring and giant signs for crappy beer, and it had probably been there since Seals Stadium opened. A couple of years ago, it became the Goat. Now it's the Sea Star again, and it's basically everything you could want in a fancy dive (unless you're the type to find that phrase to be such a contradiction in terms that you'll live out your days in self-imposed exile from a good time).
See Also: Stripped-Down Excellence at Long Bridge Pizza in the Dogpatch
Fanciful Cocktails and Pedagogy at SRO, inside Oddjob in SoMa
Greek food is all too often relegated to the margins, possibly owing to the mediocrity of most gyros and the vegetarian adoration of hummus and baba ghanouj. (A certain cheesiness factor doesn't help. The "Greek" typeface, with its pointy E's, is worse than comic sans). If there's a place in the Bay Area to get really excellent Greek food, it needs a better publicist.
See Also: Pretty Much Everything About Lebanese Joint Mazza Luna is Amazing
Gyro Xpress: Good Middle Eastern Food on a Corner That Needs Love
Chances are, most of us have enjoyed our fair share of fast food burgers, whether they be the objects of a late-night McDonald's craving (don't deny it) or the lauded prize at the end of a pilgrimage to In-N-Out. The growth of smaller-scale burger franchises and food trucks has made it easier than ever to land a tasty burger. These restaurants often source higher-quality products, making them even more desirable than, say, In-N-Out, but their slim, juicy patties, generous dollops of mayonnaise-based special sauces, and fluffy white buns make them just as satisfying as their less-noble predecessors.
Outposts of small burger chains dot the Bay Area. Two of the best are San Francisco's Super Duper Burger, located in the Castro, Downtown, the Marina, and the Financial District; and Uptown Oakland's True Burger. But who slings the better burger? We stopped in to both to find out.
See also: Who Makes a Better Burrito: S.F.'s Taqueria Cancun or the East Bay's La Mission?
