Best Thing to Happen in Berkeley This Millennium

It’s here. After seven years of planning, the Bowl has headed west,
opening a decidedly industrial second location with a
140,000-square-foot natural-foods grocery emporium. The best thing:
There’s free parking, plenty of it, including a parking lot and a
multilevel parking garage. And customers and employees — now less
stressed out about the ugly parking issue — seem happier. The
inside setup mimics components of the Oregon Street Bowl with W-I-D-E-R
aisles and a front-and-center health products center, but this
spiffy-clean warehouse-ish newcomer is more fun to explore since now
you’re not blocking anyone’s reach. Of course it’s full of produce
items you’ve never seen before, plus a sea of heirloom tomatoes and
mountains of stone fruit. There’s a gleaming deli case with prepared
items too good to resist, including decadent desserts. Other
attractions: Cheeses galore. Major meat, fine fish, and plenty of
poultry. Organic this, organic that. Bulk food bins brimming with nuts,
dried fruits, and arborio rice. More space for adult beverages. With
its easy access to Interstate 80, high-caliber contents, and dandy
digs, it’s easy to see why the second location of Earth’s Best Grocery
is already attracting crowds. But it can handle ’em.