stylish Berkeley Bowl West
Sunday was a spectacularly sunny afternoon in the San Francisco Bay Area making it a perfect day to spread our wings and explore Berkeley. If you don’t know that lovely city by the Bay, it’s probably most famous as the home of the University of California, the first and premier “UC school.” The city has a fine tradition of food cosmopolitanism as well. Chez Panisse, the famous Alice Waters restaurant can be found nestled near the University. Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants calls Berkeley home. There’s the Cheese Board, famous for years as a merchant of fine cheeses, and of course, there’s Berkeley Bowl.
Per their web site, the original BB was founded in 1977 as a small neighborhood market. Well, the place grew. They moved to a new location, a renovated Safeway store, in 1999, and now they’ve a new store at 920 Heinz at 8th Street in Berkeley. It’s a quick ride from San Francisco over the Bay Bridge to the Ashby Avenue exit.
she's not the only one fascinated with this case
high ceilings and wide aisles make Berkeley Bowl West seem much less crowded than other supermarkets
The store is huge and beautifully designed with a contemporary look in wood, steel, glass and concrete. There’s a stand-alone café across from the supermarket. And unlike places nearby our home or the other BB, there’s ample parking.
think Organic, Inc.
I really liked the look of this place
BB West is a kind of upscale supermarket sort of along the lines of Whole Foods. They’ve a wide selection of organic and other kinds of produce, for which they are rightly famous. The place has an active bakery and offers prepared foods made right on the spot. There is a large bulk food section where Hegui went a little wild buying rare and obscure kinds of dry beans. They offer a wide assortment of fish. I saw more than six types of salmon alone. The dry goods are extensive and interesting. Where other stores may have one or two kinds of sun dried tomatoes or red wine vinegars, there were literally dozens on display. I like soy milk. BB West had four brands to choose from with several kinds of each label. For a supermarket, their wine selection was exciting, too.
Berkeley Bowl West is a dream for soy milk fans
Of course, such a broad array of options comes at a premium. But it’s fun to go occasionally and splurge a little.
I’ve been to Berkeley Bowl on Oregon Street, but think that I prefer BB West. It’s easier to get into and out of, the aisles are less mobbed, and the lines seem to move faster. We’ll be back!
Berkeley Bowl West has a large selection of bulk foods
so many kinds of salmon at Berkeley Bowl West
even the stairs look amazing at Berkeley Bowl West
the Berkeley Bowl West cafe is stunning, too
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They sell this french yogurt here that comes in little ceramic cups…you can’t find it anywhere else in the bay area. It is the best yogurt I have ever had. Full fat, of course…St. something or other…..
Never been here, but now I have to go.
-t!
The store has its pluses. But the segregation of the organic produce and required pre-weighing of it before going to the register is a drag. The cashiers don’t seem to like it either. One of them told me it’s set up that way (unlike the original Bowl) because certain organic produce consumers don’t like pen marks on their produce–the little codes that tell the cashiers how to ring up the items. My question is this: why must the masses be inconvenienced again and again so (what I think is) a distinct minority can have their produce pen-mark free? If anyone wants to start a revolution over this, let me know.
AT
I couldn’t agree with you more! It sounds like old-school segregation to me. So organic produce gets to sit at the front of the bus and everyone else suffers.
I like the original berkeley bowl very much. When I visited the new one, I found it to be huge, sterile, and uninviting. The organic produce section was sorely lacking as well. It’s amazing what some of the articles I’ve read about the new space say “the sexy younger sister of Berkeley’s legendary Berkeley Bowl—the 10-month-old Berkeley Bowl West” for example. SEXY????
I won’t ever go back to Berkeley Bowl west.
Thanks for your comments, Bill. I don’t know about “sexy” though the BB West building is pretty attractive. I’m not terribly familiar with the original Berkeley Bowl but recall it being very crowded with long lines. BB West has none of those if our shopping excursion is in any way typical. Perhaps you’re right and folks are “voting wiht their feet” by sticking with the BB instead. I was chatting with some friends at a party over the weekend about the controversy. Their response was “aisle entitlement” and “cart wars” at Berkeley Bowl.