.Best of the East Bay

Everyone’s idea of romance is different. My boyfriend and I used to love going to Spettro on Lakeshore Avenue. Its brick-lined interiors always made us feel comforted and cozy. But an old friend of mine disliked the...

As always, we can thank the Germans for coming up with awesome compound words to describe esoterica.  Consider the “wunderkammer,” which roughly translates to English as a “cabinet of curiosity.” More than mere furniture, the wunderkammers contained multitudes—well,...

I’ve been ordering “Doc’s Delight” at Rick & Ann’s Restaurant for the better part of two decades. You get a perfectly crisp and tender waffle, two chicken apple sausages and two eggs any style. My style is...

A local green movement has probably flourished in the East Bay since the area’s inception, but from 1969 onward many of the initiatives to make the world a better, greener place have come from Berkeley’s Ecology Center.  A...

Purchasing items from Oaklandish—Oakland’s 20-year-old apparel brand and social experiment in culture-keeping, community-building and promotion of civic pride—will help you give back in ways that are layered, multiple and—in the current moment—vital.  The brand features signature tees, hoodies...

While not suffering from a shortage of cannabis dispensaries, NUG is a trim above the rest, and I highly recommend it. NUG is the first Asian-owned equity dispensary in California, and a supporter of Oakland’s Social Equity...

Though the title may remind one of a certain punk band from the early 2000s, this is in fact one of the better spas in Alameda County, and I’m a major stickler. Not only is the service...