At Tanzie’s Cafe, every table next to ours ordered lava eggs. These soft-scrambled eggs came out of the kitchen with molten, overlapping folds. Some of them looked like a golden rose with conjoined petals, others like a squat artichoke at rest next to a side of rice or pa tong go, an irresistible batch of Thai beignets. The eggs are paired with a house-made chicken or pork sausage ($21), pork jowl ($20), ground pork ($20), ham and cheddar, ($19) or as a vegan dish with mushrooms ($20).
Chef Jezreel Rojas describes this popular dish as a cross between a Thai omelet and other Asian dishes that slowly and gently cooks the eggs into a spiral scramble. Rojas, who owns and runs Tanzie’s Cafe with his partner Tanz Tussanaprasit, said they wanted to elevate the combination of eggs, meat and rice on a plate. The Thai influence shows up in the seasoning, a curry paste made from scratch. And the soft-scramble lava effect produces eggs that aren’t dry.
When Rojas and Tussanaprasit found the space, the Homemade Cafe was still open on the corner of Dwight Way. “We both instantly fell in love with it,” Rojas said. “We saw the potential to make it cozier.” During the remodel, they removed layers and layers of paint to expose the wood. “It definitely adds to the aesthetic of the space,” he added.
Tussanaprasit runs front-of-house operations and she makes every brightly colored matcha drink. Rojas describes his partner as “our North Star,” the final arbiter of how each dish should taste. Tussanaprasit taught Rojas how to make her mother’s recipes. Rojas, in turn, has taken those traditional home recipes and adapted them so they can be cooked at a high-volume restaurant. After learning how a dish is made, the chef then asked the question, “How can we maintain this quality but also cook for 50 people?”
The Thai beignets are a donut lover’s delight. Tussanaprasit explained that the recipe is based on Chinese donuts. “In Thailand, we have a big Chinese population. That’s why you’ll see a Chinatown in the middle of Bangkok,” she said. The Thai and Chinese techniques are similar, but the Chinese donuts are longer.
“We make a smaller version of it,” she added. “We also serve them with condensed milk on the side.” In her recipe, she combines two different doughs. One ferments for four hours, the second for one hour. “I really want a crispy outside, and then inside to be soft,” she said. The texture is similar to American donuts, but they’re not as sweet.
Before opening Tanzie’s Cafe, Tussanaprasit owned a boba cafe. Her recipes covered more than 30 different beverages. Originally, she hoped to serve boba at Tanzie’s, but there wasn’t enough room in the kitchen. Along with iced matcha drinks, she makes a variation on the familiar orange Thai iced tea. “It’s a green color, the flavor and the smell is jasmine flower,” she said. “I don’t put any sugar in. I only use Thai cream, which is equal parts regular milk and condensed milk.”
She added, “I make over 100 drinks a day by myself. I want to make them order by order, even though it’s not easy.” She and the server let diners know, when they’re seated, that the drinks won’t be out right away. The upside is that they make every drink fresh.
The cafe has quickly established itself as a favorite Berkeley brunch destination, filling the void that the Homemade Cafe’s closure left behind. But Tussanaprasit has plans to serve dinner on the weekends later this summer.
“I’m going to do a small menu,” she said. “I would say 95% of the dishes, you’ve never seen at other Thai restaurants in the East Bay.” Tussanaprasit will include many of her mother’s signature dishes from Chiang Mai. One of those dishes is a whole chicken marinated overnight and then steamed for about four hours. She said, “It’s funky and spicy in an umami way.”
Tanzie’s Cafe, open Mon, Wed-Fri 8:30am to 2pm; Sat-Sun 8:30am to 3pm. 1453 Dwight Way, Berkeley. 510.326.4199. instagram.com/tanziescafe
