The Context

Oakland has always been home to some amazing food, but over the past five years its culinary reputation has skyrocketed.  With gourmet ghettos in Rockridge, the Uptown (Downtown for those of you who refuse to adopt Developer-motivated rebranding), and Jack London Square, Oakland is a foodie’s paradise. It feels as though every San Francisco restaurateur and Chez Panisse alumni is opening up a chic new spot with artisanal cocktails and exquisite farm-to-table dishes topped with a poached egg (not sure why that’s a thing).

The Focus

Many of these buzzed-about restaurants are truly delicious, but their shine tends to overshadow other great eateries that are off the beaten path and serve good food in larger portions for less money. These restaurants tend to be family-owned and lack the newsworthiness of a decorated chef, a newly redeveloped location, or pretentious gastronomy.

The food at these places tends to be functional, affordable, comfortable, and you don’t need a food critic’s palate to enjoy it. The restaurant is in your neighborhood, you know the family who runs it, and they make food feel more like community and less like a special occasion.

It just so happens that there are lots of these places in our largest and most demonized region – East Oakland. Due to the east’s many social issues (violence and lack of city investment chief among them), there is no “restaurant scene”. But there is lots of good food here that gets very little fanfare.  We hope that by sharing the community’s experiences at these restaurants, we can generate increased interest in supporting these neighborhood institutions.

The Inspiration

My grandparents ran Brekke’s Cafeteria at 2811 Havenscourt Blvd (between Bancroft at Foothill) from 1960-1982. For 22 years they served home style cooking, pies, and cakes by special order. People came for the food, but many stayed for the familial atmosphere. We all need food to survive, but breaking bread together is one of the most sacred community-building rituals there is. Brekke’s Cafeteria was an amazing restaurant, but it was so much more than that.

My mother and her seven brothers and sisters grew up working there. My father’s family lived around the corner and ate there on a weekly basis. And so, decades before they would ever begin dating, it’s the place where my parents met. My grandparents can still tell you all about the folks who used to eat there. 22 years comes with memories, stories, laughter, and struggle.

The Reminder

A restaurant called Tasty Szechuan now inhabits the building Brekke’s Cafeteria once called home. Given its location next to Chico’s Discount Liquors and the bars on the building’s windows, one may be quick to dismiss it when pondering a place to eat.

And yet, when you read the Yelp reviews, people have deep connections to this place. Rita, who lives around the corner, gushes about how delicious and affordable the food is, adding that the “madame and her family are top chef cooks.” Another patron says, “The dried fried ribs are something that I got ever since I was in middle school at Frick.” And just like that I think about my father, once a student at Frick himself, saying the same thing about a turkey dinner at Brekke’s.

I write all this to remind us that it doesn’t take a trendy restaurant with dim lighting and small plates to make food worthy. East of the Lake is a series that celebrates the food, people, and stories that comprise the East Oakland restaurant experience.

Check out our restaurant write-ups below

>>Champa Garden<<

>>Loard’s Ice Cream<<

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