- If you’ve been to an Oakland A’s game, you know Hal “the Hot Dog Guy” Gordon — the UC Berkeley agricultural and resource economics PhD candidate who for years has been selling hot dogs and leading chants at home games. Writing for SF Gate, the longtime ballpark vendor weighed the pros and cons of Oakland’s controversial Howard Terminal ballpark development, which he characterized as “economic development with a stadium attached.” While Gordon noted several flaws, he ultimately said that the Oakland City Council and Alameda County should approve the development, and not just because we might lose the A’s if the new stadium is stymied.
- Jane Alexiadis, the Berkeley woman who made about 7,000 cookies for her neighbors during the pandemic, has ended her 61 week run. She told Patch that her weekly “Cookie Wednesday” events, during which she’d pass cookies out from a sidewalk outside her home, placed her “in the middle of what has become a community event,” but with the pandemic appearing to wane, it’s time to move on.
- There’s a new Greek restaurant in downtown Pleasanton. Fatih Ulas and Mehmet Duygu opened Elia last week with a menu of 15 mezzes, 10 entrees, and a multitude of sides and wines.
- Diablo Magazine has made its latest best of the East Bay proclamations. On its best food list, its editors singled Berkeley’s Boichik Bagels out for praise, while readers said that Lafayette’s Postino Restaurant is the region’s best fine-dining option. In its nightlife rankings, Diablo readers named bars in far-flung areas like Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill as the ideal drinking destinations in the entire East Bay, which doesn’t map to my experiences but I’m just one person. You can see a full list of the winners here.
- Reddit users are on the hunt for some “best ofs” of their own, asking what spots boast Oakland’s best hummus and (separately) best Asian food. I’m sure you have thoughts (about this and Diablo’s rankings), so please do share in our comments.
- Eater SF reports that Dela Curo and Sundo — two pop-up restaurants from Oakland restaurateur Chikara Ono — have opened in Swan’s Market. As Nosh reported last March, Ono closed his AS B-Dama counter service spot inside Swan’s as the pandemic began, and said then that he planned to move the pop-ups (Dela Curo serves Japanese black curry, Sundo is milk bread sandwiches) into the space.
- SF Gate has a look back at Oakland’s White Horse Bar, which (as Nosh has previously reported), claims to be the “oldest continuously operating gay and lesbian bar in the United States.”
