I've always been shy about diving into Oakland's Chinatown, even though it's mere blocks from my apartment. But when my Edible East Bay editor wanted to set me up with longtime Chinatown explorers Victor Gee and Rhonda Hirata, I jumped at the chance for a guided tour of the best places to eat and shop. I wrote up our weekday morning stroll, including addresses, for the Spring 2007 issue, which the distibrutor is lugging through Alameda and Contra Costa counties as I write. It is the most blog-post-like of my published pieces.
I know the real reason I walked past the restaurant windows, with mahogany-colored duck and pig carcasses hanging upside down. The shops intimidated me. I've studied European cuisine until it feels familiar. In Chinatown, I had no interior dictionary to connect the food for sale and the food I know. I had no map for the bright-red symbols and strange words painted across pastel menu pages. I had no guide to get me started.
You'll also find articles on morels, Oakland's Food Policy Council, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, and more. Keep an eye out for the issue at local farmers' markets, Andronico's, Vintage Berkeley, Bakesale Betty, Market Hall, and other select destinations. You won't have a problem spotting the gorgeous cover, a print by artist Adria Peterson. Don't want to hunt down the magazine? Have it delivered to your door when you subscribe.
As an aside, check out this fantastic interactive map of Downtown Oakland. Melissa discovered it recently.
