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It’s a Bay Area food story for the ages. Tartine, famed house of exceptionally moist rustic breads and the flakiest croissants this side of Paris, finally opens its first East Bay bakery and cafe — it’s inside The Graduate Berkeley hotel — and in the first three days, everything sells out by 10 a.m.
Open since Monday, the little shop from James Beard award-winning pastry chef Elisabeth Prueitt and baker Chad Robertson is a big deal because it means no more long trips to San Francisco, only to stand in line at the Mission District mothership. Standing in line in Berkeley is way better.
We visited Tartine on Wednesday and watched as hoards of super-fans, from Cal professors to scooter-riding middle schoolers, snapped photos and waited in line for the possibility of a fudgy dark chocolate brownie or the last half-loaf of multi-grain porridge bread, its blistered, mahogany exterior beckoning us all. Here’s our experience:
THE VIBE: The French window-lined cafe is long and narrow, about 1,000 square feet, with a small seating area in the back and a street entrance on Durant Avenue. Patrons are welcome to take their goodies and spread out in the hotel’s lobby, too.
This is Cal territory, so clientele is a mix of students, families, professors and tourists. Staff are cheerful; even with a massive line that formed less than an hour before closing with virtually nothing left for them to sell, the staff managed to smile and take their time with each patron.
THE FOOD: Breads are made with locally milled flour and baked in a wood-fired brick oven in San Francisco, arriving warm at the Berkeley shop. Look for four types: porridge, whole wheat sesame, country and Danish rye ($11.25-$14.75; half loaves available, too). Baked goods and pastries, including teacakes, scones, cookies, tarts and those legendary brownies, are featured daily. Many were sold out once we arrived, but we managed to snag a few things.
Carrot Cake Cupcake ($4.75), made with teff flour, was sublimely moist and flavorful, and the whipped, cream cheese-like frosting was super light. A dense Chocolate Tea Cake ($4.75) took my 8-year-old’s breath away — “It’s almost too good. Can I have another one?” — and a Ham Smørrebrød ($8.50) flecked with tuna salad was the perfect late lunch prelude to all the sweets.
Also look for salads and a few traditional sandwiches, including a messy yet fantastic Eggplant Caponata ($10) with fennel, golden raisins, arugula and goat cheese on sliced country whole-grain. I saved it for the drive home. Despite the olive oil from the eggplant, the bread held up — perfectly sturdy and moist without a single bite of sogginess.
THE DRINKS: Exceptional coffee ($3.50-$4), cold brew ($4.50) and espresso drinks ($3.50-$5.50) made from Tartine’s own roastery, Coffee Manufactory, in Oakland’s Jack London Square. Also, hot chocolate, tea and juice.
PERFECT FOR: When you need the best rustic loaf of whole-grain bread in the Bay Area; a really good cup of coffee; legendary banana tarts; wicked chocolate brownie cravings; buying the butteriest, flakiest croissants (if they’re not sold out).
DETAILS: Open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily at 2600 Durant Ave., Berkeley; www.tartinebakery.com
