Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:
I am the Queen of Procrastination - and one of the fall out effects of this is that sometimes I find a great restaurant and by the time I get around to writing about it - the restaurant has closed. Because I practice egomania on a somewhat regular basis, I then feel great dismay that my procrastination has somehow contributed to the downfall of the restaurant.
In late February/early March 2015, I had the great pleasure of spending a couple weeks in Berkeley, California. Once upon a time in my misspent youth, I had lived very briefly in San Francisco, California. I worked at a software company in Alameda where I did the most boring administrative work and the only true bright spot of my day was discovering California gourmet burritos. Growing up in Minnesota, I had never had a truly amazing burritos. California burritos were life-changing to me.
Although I lived in San Francisco and worked in Alameda, I didn't spend much time exploring beyond the two cities. Several weeks in collegiate, chill Berkeley sounded amazing - and like I was finally catching up on my Northern California sightseeing.
I stayed at the Doubletree Hotel by Hilton Berkeley Marina location. If you're looking for a fabulous, scenic place to stay in Berkeley; I highly recommend it. Nestled by a state park, overlooking a marina stocked with yachts, sailboats and sophisticated houseboats and on a bus line - it was convenient, beautiful and in a nice location. Plus the hotel staff was SUPER courteous. I stay in a lot of Doubletree hotels and the Berkeley Marina's staff was in the top five percent of quality customer service, in my experience.
Since I had spent the winter stuffing myself with goulash, Viennese pastries and Polish pierogis as I worked in Eastern Europe; I was in need of a diet and copious amounts of exercise. My hotel was a 3 mile walk into the center of town and I took advantage of the gorgeous Bay Trail to walk as much as I could.
One area that I very much enjoyed walking to was the Berkeley Fourth Street Shopping Area. About 2/3 of the way to the shops, I would pass by a man who was standing on the street twisting spare wires into some sort of statue. He looked homeless and wore heavy clothing although it was unseasonably warm in Northern California. I didn't know if he was a homeless artist or a bored street person. But he didn't bother me, so I wasn't going to bother him. I'd walk by him twice a day, several times a week.
On a glorious Sunday, I enjoyed walking along the Fourth Street shops. The air was filled with my favorite fragrance ... Sunday Brunch! I was torn ... I was trying to eat healthy BUT I have never met a Sunday brunch food that I didn't like. I was trying to stay strong, but then the menu at Zut! Tavern on 4th Street caught my eye. I love all things New Orleans and Zut! was advertising fresh BEIGNETS on their menu. (Beignets are little French donuts, typically served in New Orleans. Read about my adventures with beignets at Cafe Du Monde here.)
When I was in high school French class, we learned the French exclamation "Zut alors!" It can mean something akin to Damn! Shoot! Or even "shucks" depending on how foul the dictionary you are consulting is. I loved the exclamation "Zut alors!" so much that I said it constantly as I had a French version of Tourette's.
Beignets at a place called Zut!? I had to stop and have brunch there!
Now it is currently July 2015 and I dined at Zut! in February 2015. When I decided to finally get around to writing about my great Sunday Brunch, I looked online and saw that Zut! is listed as being temporarily closed. Perhaps new management or summer vacation? Either way I am hoping Zut! reopens soon because the restaurant is awesome and the food is tasty. Darn me and my procrastination in writing! Keep your eye on their website for more details.
In my drive to be more health conscious, I decided in February to give up caffeine and alcohol. I am not a big time drinker, but I also hate feeling deprived ... so I am pissy not to be able to enjoy a cocktail from time to time. However I have been drinking decaf coffee (which yes I know has a little caffeine, shoot me - I'm not a saint) and "mock tails" instead of cocktails. So at Zut! I ordered a cup of decaf and a virgin Bloody Mary.
I have to say that this virgin Bloody Mary was one of the tastiest Bloody Mary cocktails I have ever had ... and I have had a lot of them!
I ordered the beignet starter. It said the hot fresh French donuts would be accompanied with a side of jelly. I had never had beignets with anything other than excessive mounds of powdered sugar, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Nor did I know how many beignets were in an order. So I was a little surprised when the waitress set down this platter.
The crust on this pizza was to die for. They say that Florida (where I live) does not have good pizza crust because the water quality mixed with the flour just doesn't work. I don't know if that is true, but I do know that Zut's pizza crust was perfection.
The sausage had a nice zip and fat content, which went well with the peppery arugula and the medium-cooked eggs. Again, I could have eaten this entire pizza - but I had to stop myself. I asked the waitress to box up the rest of my pizza as well. I had had a very good Sunday brunch, but I didn't want to overdo it. I've been trying to become "all things in moderation" gal. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail.
When I had first seen that my beignet order had five fat beignets, I had decided that I would box up some of my meal and give it to the gentleman in the heavy wool coat who was six blocks away using pliers to fasten scrap pieces of metal to a bigger piece of metal. I patted myself on the back thinking I was doing a good deed PLUS not stuffing myself with too much food.
I walked the six blocks to where the gentleman was, thinking of myself as quite the good-doer. But as I stepped closer to the gentleman, I thought "Um, what if this guy is not homeless? What if he's some random Berkeley hippie just making art on the street corner? What if I offered him food and offended the heck out of him?" I was feeling less of a good-doer and more of a dumbass. I basically just stopped about four feet from the gentleman with my fancy handled bag of leftovers from Zut!, looking befuddled.
I took a deep breath and thought "just go for it, dumbass!" I thought that saying "I have leftover beignets and arugula breakfast pizza" would sound ridiculously pretentious, so I just managed to squeak out: "Um, I have some leftover donuts and pizza - do you want it?" The gentleman looked up from his wire twisting and shook his head.
"Oh ... ok." I said. Now truly feeling like a dumbass. I started walking away and the man called out after me.
"What kind of pizza is it?"
I turned around and started walking back toward him. "Sausage and arugula" I said. He shrugged and held out his hand. I handed him the bag of leftovers, then quickly walked away as if I felt like he might change his mind. The food was incredibly good, so I do hope he was able to enjoy it. Maybe one day I'll find out that he was an eccentric millionaire who spent his day twisting scrap wire and looking for good people. But I highly doubt it.
Regardless, I had an amazing Sunday brunch at Zut! Tavern on Fourth and I hope it reopens soon.
I am the Queen of Procrastination - and one of the fall out effects of this is that sometimes I find a great restaurant and by the time I get around to writing about it - the restaurant has closed. Because I practice egomania on a somewhat regular basis, I then feel great dismay that my procrastination has somehow contributed to the downfall of the restaurant.
In late February/early March 2015, I had the great pleasure of spending a couple weeks in Berkeley, California. Once upon a time in my misspent youth, I had lived very briefly in San Francisco, California. I worked at a software company in Alameda where I did the most boring administrative work and the only true bright spot of my day was discovering California gourmet burritos. Growing up in Minnesota, I had never had a truly amazing burritos. California burritos were life-changing to me.
Although I lived in San Francisco and worked in Alameda, I didn't spend much time exploring beyond the two cities. Several weeks in collegiate, chill Berkeley sounded amazing - and like I was finally catching up on my Northern California sightseeing.
I stayed at the Doubletree Hotel by Hilton Berkeley Marina location. If you're looking for a fabulous, scenic place to stay in Berkeley; I highly recommend it. Nestled by a state park, overlooking a marina stocked with yachts, sailboats and sophisticated houseboats and on a bus line - it was convenient, beautiful and in a nice location. Plus the hotel staff was SUPER courteous. I stay in a lot of Doubletree hotels and the Berkeley Marina's staff was in the top five percent of quality customer service, in my experience.
Since I had spent the winter stuffing myself with goulash, Viennese pastries and Polish pierogis as I worked in Eastern Europe; I was in need of a diet and copious amounts of exercise. My hotel was a 3 mile walk into the center of town and I took advantage of the gorgeous Bay Trail to walk as much as I could.
One area that I very much enjoyed walking to was the Berkeley Fourth Street Shopping Area. About 2/3 of the way to the shops, I would pass by a man who was standing on the street twisting spare wires into some sort of statue. He looked homeless and wore heavy clothing although it was unseasonably warm in Northern California. I didn't know if he was a homeless artist or a bored street person. But he didn't bother me, so I wasn't going to bother him. I'd walk by him twice a day, several times a week.
On a glorious Sunday, I enjoyed walking along the Fourth Street shops. The air was filled with my favorite fragrance ... Sunday Brunch! I was torn ... I was trying to eat healthy BUT I have never met a Sunday brunch food that I didn't like. I was trying to stay strong, but then the menu at Zut! Tavern on 4th Street caught my eye. I love all things New Orleans and Zut! was advertising fresh BEIGNETS on their menu. (Beignets are little French donuts, typically served in New Orleans. Read about my adventures with beignets at Cafe Du Monde here.)
When I was in high school French class, we learned the French exclamation "Zut alors!" It can mean something akin to Damn! Shoot! Or even "shucks" depending on how foul the dictionary you are consulting is. I loved the exclamation "Zut alors!" so much that I said it constantly as I had a French version of Tourette's.
Beignets at a place called Zut!? I had to stop and have brunch there!
Now it is currently July 2015 and I dined at Zut! in February 2015. When I decided to finally get around to writing about my great Sunday Brunch, I looked online and saw that Zut! is listed as being temporarily closed. Perhaps new management or summer vacation? Either way I am hoping Zut! reopens soon because the restaurant is awesome and the food is tasty. Darn me and my procrastination in writing! Keep your eye on their website for more details.
In my drive to be more health conscious, I decided in February to give up caffeine and alcohol. I am not a big time drinker, but I also hate feeling deprived ... so I am pissy not to be able to enjoy a cocktail from time to time. However I have been drinking decaf coffee (which yes I know has a little caffeine, shoot me - I'm not a saint) and "mock tails" instead of cocktails. So at Zut! I ordered a cup of decaf and a virgin Bloody Mary.
I ordered the beignet starter. It said the hot fresh French donuts would be accompanied with a side of jelly. I had never had beignets with anything other than excessive mounds of powdered sugar, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Nor did I know how many beignets were in an order. So I was a little surprised when the waitress set down this platter.
Five, fresh fried, huge fluffy beignets with a side of raspberry jelly. Ohhhh how I wish you could smell the gloriousness of these beauties. The beignets were so huge! This picture doesn't adequately convey how humongous each beignet was. And oh how tasty. I tried a little of the jelly on a piece of beignet and I was hooked. As if the fried donuts needed more sugar ... but the combination of hot donut with sweet jelly was oh so good.
I was sitting outdoors on Zut's sidewalk patio and the Sunday shoppers who walked past me all stared at me with stomach envy as they watched me nibble on these glorious beignets. A couple people actually stopped, asked me what I was eating and then came into the restaurant to order them too. Zut! should have given me a finder's fee! The combination of hot strong coffee, spicy virgin Bloody Mary and these fatty, sweet beignets were like a breakfast explosion of flavor.
I could have shoved every one of these hot beignets in my stomach, but I had ordered an entree as well. I begged the waitress to box up the rest of the beignets for me, so I would not eat them.
Next came my entree ... I love a good breakfast pizza so I could not resist when I saw that Zut! had a sausage pizza topped with eggs and arugula.
The sausage had a nice zip and fat content, which went well with the peppery arugula and the medium-cooked eggs. Again, I could have eaten this entire pizza - but I had to stop myself. I asked the waitress to box up the rest of my pizza as well. I had had a very good Sunday brunch, but I didn't want to overdo it. I've been trying to become "all things in moderation" gal. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail.
When I had first seen that my beignet order had five fat beignets, I had decided that I would box up some of my meal and give it to the gentleman in the heavy wool coat who was six blocks away using pliers to fasten scrap pieces of metal to a bigger piece of metal. I patted myself on the back thinking I was doing a good deed PLUS not stuffing myself with too much food.
I walked the six blocks to where the gentleman was, thinking of myself as quite the good-doer. But as I stepped closer to the gentleman, I thought "Um, what if this guy is not homeless? What if he's some random Berkeley hippie just making art on the street corner? What if I offered him food and offended the heck out of him?" I was feeling less of a good-doer and more of a dumbass. I basically just stopped about four feet from the gentleman with my fancy handled bag of leftovers from Zut!, looking befuddled.
I took a deep breath and thought "just go for it, dumbass!" I thought that saying "I have leftover beignets and arugula breakfast pizza" would sound ridiculously pretentious, so I just managed to squeak out: "Um, I have some leftover donuts and pizza - do you want it?" The gentleman looked up from his wire twisting and shook his head.
"Oh ... ok." I said. Now truly feeling like a dumbass. I started walking away and the man called out after me.
"What kind of pizza is it?"
I turned around and started walking back toward him. "Sausage and arugula" I said. He shrugged and held out his hand. I handed him the bag of leftovers, then quickly walked away as if I felt like he might change his mind. The food was incredibly good, so I do hope he was able to enjoy it. Maybe one day I'll find out that he was an eccentric millionaire who spent his day twisting scrap wire and looking for good people. But I highly doubt it.
Regardless, I had an amazing Sunday brunch at Zut! Tavern on Fourth and I hope it reopens soon.
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