Pizza and Macarons in Berkeley
Saturday morning, I went up to Berkeley to interview two Korean families for my thesis. Korean children are the cutest little people ever, so my morning was already perked up just from working with them, and when the families invited me to stay for lunch, my day was pretty much made - a home-cooked Korean meal with two lovely families?! I like research.
The meal was simple and delicious - a cabbage soup, rice, beef bulgogi, spicy pork bulgogi, and banchan - and it was almost like being back home…a little over a month before I go home for the first time since last winter!
After leaving their house, I decided to explore the area a bit before heading back home, just to make the most out of the long drive. I was walking along a quaint little road when I smelled something realllyyyy good - real New York-style pizza. Um, I mean, I didn’t recognize the pizza as real New York-style from the smell (although that would have been seriously impressive), but I smelled something delicious and pizza-like, walked into the small, busy Gioia Pizzeria, and saw legit New York-style pizzas.
Yeah. Anyway.
I was still a bit hungry (I’m always awkward about eating a lot when I’m a guest), so I decided to get a sausage slice ($3.50), although all of the pizzas looked pretty great.
LOOKS GOOD, HUH.
The pizza situation around Stanford is pretty…sad, so I was coming into this with low expectations; I mean, if Stanford can’t manage to produce good pizza, how could Berkeley, right? (ZING)
Then I took a bite.
Oh. Ohhhh. This pizza…thin, flavorful, simultaneously chewy and crispy crust…bright, not too sweet sauce…good quality, perfectly melted cheese…meaty, herbacious (should be a word) sausage…YES. THIS IS PIZZA.
We need something like this back at Stanford. Cal, respect.
A few storefronts down the sidewalk, I stopped in front of a specialty tea shop, attracted by a box full of pink and blue macarons from The Last Touch Bakery. The lady selling the macarons was giving out samples, and, after sampling the blue macaron (Earl Grey milk chocolate), I snapped up a package of four. They were some seriously good-looking macarons.
The strawberry macaron had a nice, bright strawberry flavor, and even better was the texture of the macaron, which had a smooth, very slightly crunchy exterior and a delicately chewy interior.
Given that Earl Grey is pretty much the best thing ever, I was especially excited to try the Earl Grey milk chocolate macaron. While I didn’t taste very much Earl Grey, it was still pretty tasty, definitely the best macaron I’ve had in the US.
The Last Touch Bakery sells their macarons online, but with the shipping, it gets to be a little pricey, especially because they only sell in sets of 24. While I’m sure I’d have no problem going through 24 macarons, my body would hate me. I’ve heard Trader Joe’s macarons aren’t too shabby, and I’ve been meaning to make a return trip to Pamplemousse in Redwood City, so hopefully I’ll be able to find somewhere closer and more convenient to get my macaron fixes at.
If only Pierre Hermé decided to move to Palo Alto and start pumping out macarons here…sigh.
ADDRESSES
Gioia Pizzeria
1586 Hopkins Street, Berkeley, CA 94301
(510) 528-4692
