Hey, my church is in North Berkeley right near the BART station! Can Matilda and I tag along, at least for coffee? (Money and grandparent-visiting duties may preclude anything longer, but it'd be great to meet you F2F even if only just to slurp caffeine and run)
Here is your cup of coffee. Brewed from the finest Colombian lighter fluid.
Xander ,'Chosen'
F2F5: I forget that everyone isn't us
Plan what to do, what to wear (you can never go wrong with a corset), and get ready for the next BuffistaCon.
JZ - Apr 22, 2009 2:14:31 pm PDT #1173 of 12685
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
javachik - Apr 22, 2009 2:18:16 pm PDT #1174 of 12685
Our wings are not tired.
If something is set up for Sunday morning in Berkeley, I'd love to come, too.
Calli - Apr 22, 2009 2:22:16 pm PDT #1175 of 12685
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs
Brunch sounds great! I have an affinity group meeting at the Hilton (conference venue) until 10 am (that's how I was able to swing the extra day in San Francisco), but I can probably be free after that until 3ish, especially if there's a good brunch place at the North Berkeley end of things. JZ, I'd love to meet you and Matilda, too. And P-C, Julianna, and Perkins.
I love conferences!
eta: and javachik!
Clearly San Francisco is the place to be. Smonster's been saying that for a while.
Lee - Apr 22, 2009 2:23:27 pm PDT #1176 of 12685
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.
I don't know anything about brunch places in Berkeley. Anyone have suggestions?
Polter-Cow - Apr 22, 2009 2:35:42 pm PDT #1177 of 12685
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Poking around Yelp, I find La Note and Venus, both on Shattuck near BART. Venus doesn't appear to have availability according to OpenTable, but I'm not sure exactly how that works. Other options close by include Cafe Durant and Ann's Kitchen.
JZ - Apr 22, 2009 2:56:16 pm PDT #1178 of 12685
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
La Note is usually mobbed; they take no reservations, and the wait for Sunday brunch is hellish. The upside is that Pegasus Books is half a block away, good for browsing in the event of a half-hour or more wait.
Saul's, on Shattuck two doors down from Black Oak Books, is usually pretty crowded but has enough seating that it moves pretty quick, and is a very good NY-style deli.
On Solano, there's the Sunny Side Cafe and Walker's Pie Shop.
Only 2-3 blocks from the North Berkeley station there's the Monte Cristo Taqueria (listing B on the Googlemap), which is pretty good (amazing nachos) and extremely unlikely to be crowded, and about another block down there's The Bread Workshop, which has unbelievably shitty, lackadaisical service but really good food and coffee when you finally get it (and thus is rarely crowded and almost always easy to walk into with a loosely planned crowd).
eta: Gotta reemphasize that the Monte Cristo is really quite good; it's just at the ass-end of a wee strip mall on a major artery next to a dollar store, so it gets almost no Sunday brunch foot traffic.
Calli - Apr 22, 2009 2:59:12 pm PDT #1179 of 12685
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs
I'll leave the venue choices up to the experts. I'll eat most things you're likely to find in a restaurant and have no food allergies to worry about.
I'm so glad I'll have the chance to meet several buffistae.
Lee - Apr 22, 2009 3:06:29 pm PDT #1180 of 12685
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.
If the Berkeley knowledgeable people pick a place, I'll show up, especially if it's not too early.
eta: Maybe about 12:30 or 1:00?
javachik - Apr 22, 2009 3:36:56 pm PDT #1181 of 12685
Our wings are not tired.
Earlier is better for me, but I can always pop in and out. Will be good to see everyone in between bouts of studying.
Lee - Apr 22, 2009 4:29:31 pm PDT #1182 of 12685
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.
Too much earlier would mean I couldn't go.