bakery – Blooming by the Bay

Cupkates Truck

January 23, 2010 By Misono in Foodie Love, Local Gems Tags: bakery, Berkeley, cupcake, cupcake truck, cupcakery, Cupkates Truck, Facebook, lemon raspberry, Oakland, red velvet, s'mores, Twitter

If you know me, you know that one of my latest obsessions is cupcakes — more in terms of eating them, rather than making them (although I do enjoy trying my hand at a few cupcake recipes here and there).

So when I heard about Cupkates Truck from a friend recently, I was immediately intrigued. Cupkates Truck is a mobile cupcakery, and the very first “cupcake truck” in the whole Bay Area. They wander around Berkeley and Oakland selling delicious cupcakes straight from the truck (like a taco truck, except with cupcakes!) Their cupcakes are apparently baked fresh daily with local high-quality ingredients. Sounds like a winner to me! 🙂

We actually didn’t get a chance to try them until today, since aside from us being busy, the truck moves to a different location everyday and sells out promptly within a couple hours of arriving. You have to be on the ball to catch them before they’re out of cupcakes, especially on a weekend (which is really the only time we can get them, since we’re both at work when they’re out and about during the weekdays).

Let me tell you right now that Cupkates Truck is a slice of heaven that you will not want to miss out on. If you don’t believe me, here are some mouthwatering photos.

Cupkates Truck parked in Elmwood — Today, the Cupkates Truck vending cupcakes in Elmwood.

Got my cupcakes! (Note: This photo of me is not one of the mouthwatering photos I was referring to... haha* Just keep scrolling down to see the good stuff.)

Almost too cute to eat. But we ate them (of course).

s'mores cupcake — S'mores cupcake. It really did taste as amazing as it looked.

lemon raspberry cupcake — Lemon Raspberry. Unfortunately, the frosting took a hit during the drive home so the tip is gone. The raspberry buttercream was too buttery and not fruity enough for my taste, but the lemon cake portion was pretty awesome even by itself.

red velvet cupcake — Red Velvet. I'm a huge fan of red velvet, and this one did not disappoint. I took a bite and felt like I died and went to heaven. I didn't want to come back down.

I’m so glad that we were finally able to track down Cupkates Truck after stalking them on Twitter for quite some time now. Their cupcakes are definitely some of the best in the area, and have a great balance of seasonal/unique flavors and traditional (like double chocolate and double vanilla). You can follow them on Twitter or Facebook to see where they are daily, and look up their available flavors on their Menu. I know I will definitely be paying them another visit soon to get my cupcake fix.

foodgasmic.

September 24, 2009 By Misono in Foodie Love Tags: bakery, cream cheese frosting, cupcake, Market Hall, Oakland, red velvet, Rockridge

Berkeley Bowl West

July 17, 2009 By Misono in Foodie Love, Local Gems Tags: Asian food, bakery, Berkeley, Berkeley Bowl, Berkeley Bowl West, cafÃ©, cakes, checkout lines, cheese, Foodie Love, fruit sake, grocery shopping, grocery store, natto, Pirate's Booty, sake, sauces, supermarket

The famous Berkeley Bowl is nothing short of a foodie mecca, garnering national coverage and regularly gracing the pages of newspapers like The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. We live only about a half mile away from its location on Oregon Street, and it is definitely one of the biggest perks of living in Berkeley. Some people travel several miles to do their grocery shopping here, because it seems to carry just about everything, including obscure international ingredients. I was psyched when I found that I could buy mostly everything for my Japanese cooking needs instead of having to make the hour-long trek down to Mitsuwa in San Jose. While the produce is the freshest in the area and the selection is unmatched, the shopping experience there is a whole different story and was the only thing keeping us from coming back every weekend. As the SF Gate reported, “The parking lot is a gridlocked swamp of road rage, a demolition derby of Priuses and rusty old Volvos vying for parking spots… The produce section is often described as the ‘Cairo of shopping carts,’ as dozens of very focused and aggressive gourmands fight over the purple potatoes and fresh water chestnuts. The checkout lines can be staggering, like something out of East Berlin.” The zoo that is Berkeley Bowl provides you with the most exhausting — although rewarding — shopping experience ever.

Berkeley Bowl was in desperate need of expansion with the shortage of parking spots and cramped aisles, and our prayers were answered with the opening of Berkeley Bowl West in early June of this year. Located near the intersection of San Pablo and Ashby Avenues, right off the freeway, it features a parking garage and double the number of parking spaces of the Oregon Street store, more checkout lanes, and significantly larger aisles and produce sections to accommodate the swarming crowds of shoppers. It also boasts a cafe, expanded kitchen, and community room where people can take a seat and immediately enjoy any prepared food they purchase.

Dan and I took a trip out to the new Berkeley Bowl West early last month when it had just opened, and we were super impressed! We’ll let the photos do the talking:

Health foods at the entrance... very Berkeley

Loads of Pirates Booty... a must for me! — Loads of Pirate's Booty... a must for me!

fresh produce — Fresh produce, characteristic of Berkeley Bowl

A whopping eight varieties of natto! I'm already sold.

Ramune drinksÂ that instantly transport me back to childhood.

Cheese corner, where you can do sample tasting. (If you go on the right day, there is a cute cheese guy working there who has the most charming smile!)

My favorite fruit sake, made in Berkeley

The cafÃ© section of Berkeley Bowl West.

This has been a tour of Berkeley Bowl West, brought to you by Dan and Misono.

I commend you if you have gotten this far in this photo dump of a blog entry, and I hope you enjoyed our dorktastic photo tour. All hail Berkeley Bowl West, the new foodie paradise! We’re sure we will be seeing much more of you.