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Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Rosemary Jordan plays one of the several games available to visitors of the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company with Kevin Jordan (left) in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. The microbrewery focuses on fine craft beers.
lessRosemary Jordan plays one of the several games available to visitors of the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company with Kevin Jordan (left) in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. The
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Kevin and Rosemary Jordan play a game as RE Casper and Bob Conway enjoy tasting flights (left to right) in the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. The microbrewery focuses on fine craft beers.
lessKevin and Rosemary Jordan play a game as RE Casper and Bob Conway enjoy tasting flights (left to right) in the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. The
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Rocky Harris (center) talks with a friend while having a beer in the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. Harris visits the brewery every Sunday with his dog Jessie. The microbrewery focuses on fine craft beers and has a tasting room.
lessRocky Harris (center) talks with a friend while having a beer in the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. Harris visits the brewery every Sunday with his
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A beer is poured in the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. The microbrewery focuses on fine craft beers and has a tasting room.
A beer is poured in the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. The microbrewery focuses on fine craft beers and has a tasting room.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Guests of the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company prepare to drink tasting flights of beer at the brewery in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. The microbrewery focuses on fine craft beers and has a tasting room.
lessGuests of the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company prepare to drink tasting flights of beer at the brewery in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. The microbrewery focuses on fine craft beers
... more
Popsicle sticks which are being used for Alameda Island Brewing Company's Beer It Forward program hang on display at the microbrewery in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. People can buy a beer for a friend or even a stranger to redeem at future time.
lessPopsicle sticks which are being used for Alameda Island Brewing Company's Beer It Forward program hang on display at the microbrewery in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. People can buy a beer for a
... more
A beer is poured in the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. The microbrewery focuses on fine craft beers and has a tasting room.
A beer is poured in the tasting room at Alameda Island Brewing Company in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 17, 2016. The microbrewery focuses on fine craft beers and has a tasting room.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Jerry Rand, left, and Chris Reece of the Gomez Norton Brewing Co. look over their beer brewing at Alameda Island Brewing Company. They were participating in a guest brewer program the brewery recently started.
Jerry Rand, left, and Chris Reece of the Gomez Norton Brewing Co. look over their beer brewing at Alameda Island Brewing Company. They were participating in a guest brewer program the brewery recently started.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Pastries for sale sit on display at Crispian Bakery in Alameda, Calif., on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The small-batch bakery produces French-inspired breads and pastries.
Pastries for sale sit on display at Crispian Bakery in Alameda, Calif., on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The small-batch bakery produces French-inspired breads and pastries.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Pastries for sale sit on display at Crispian Bakery in Alameda, Calif., on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The small-batch bakery produces French-inspired breads and pastries.
Pastries for sale sit on display at Crispian Bakery in Alameda, Calif., on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The small-batch bakery produces French-inspired breads and pastries.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Visitors to Crispian Bakery have coffee and lunch at the bakery in Alameda, Calif., on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The small-batch bakery produces French-inspired breads and pastries.
Visitors to Crispian Bakery have coffee and lunch at the bakery in Alameda, Calif., on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The small-batch bakery produces French-inspired breads and pastries.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Beth Woulfe, the owner of Crispian Bakery, sets out fresh pastries at the bakery in Alameda, Calif., on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The small-batch bakery produces French-inspired breads and pastries.
Beth Woulfe, the owner of Crispian Bakery, sets out fresh pastries at the bakery in Alameda, Calif., on Saturday, April 23, 2016. The small-batch bakery produces French-inspired breads and pastries.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
A pork chop dish at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda. The restaurant offers Italian food in a modern setting.
A pork chop dish at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda. The restaurant offers Italian food in a modern setting.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
A fish dish sits in the kitchen at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 24, 2016. The restaurant offers Italian food in a modern setting.
A fish dish sits in the kitchen at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 24, 2016. The restaurant offers Italian food in a modern setting.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Kevin Stein makes bloody mary drinks at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 24, 2016. The restaurant offers Italian food in a modern setting.
Kevin Stein makes bloody mary drinks at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 24, 2016. The restaurant offers Italian food in a modern setting.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Linh Nguyen sits down to dinner for her birthday celebration at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 24, 2016. The restaurant offers Italian food in a modern setting.
Linh Nguyen sits down to dinner for her birthday celebration at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 24, 2016. The restaurant offers Italian food in a modern setting.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Jana Din (right) eats dinner with Kathy Chong-Lee at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 24, 2016. The restaurant offers Italian food in a modern setting.
Jana Din (right) eats dinner with Kathy Chong-Lee at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda, Calif., on Sunday, April 24, 2016. The restaurant offers Italian food in a modern setting.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Giuseppe Naccarelli, the chef owner of Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails, makes a pizza at the Italian restaurant.
Giuseppe Naccarelli, the chef owner of Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails, makes a pizza at the Italian restaurant.
Photo: Laura Morton, Special To The Chronicle
Skilled chefs, fresh ingredients at local eateries
Alameda may be an island unto itself, but it’s smack dab in the middle of some of the country’s best dining landscapes via San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland. So for lucky residents and visitors that means top-notch ingredients and skilled chefs seeking a quieter, more gentle lifestyle, as well as lower prices on meals thanks to lower rents.
Waterfront restaurants line the piers, newer shopping areas beckon with upscale eateries and options range from Italian to Chinese to German to Vietnamese to even wine and waffles, where you can enjoy lox on a waffle with your Mitchell Katz Livermore Valley Chardonnay. What’s not to love about that?
Here are some Alameda stars well worth checking out.
Crispian Bakery
Earlier this year, the creative Crispian crew hosted a beer and cookies pairing party at Alameda Island Brewing Company next door. And why not? Crispian pastry chef Beth Woulfe said she came up with “a variety of cookies that go surprisingly well with some of AIBC’s brews.”
Just debuted on Park Street last summer, the brick-clad bakery is named after the Feast of Crispin, heralded in William Shakespeare’s Henry V (with a spelling twist; Shakespeare wrote, “This day is called the feast of Crispian”). In a nutshell, it honors twins and Christian saints Crispin and Crispinian, who were martyred then beheaded in the year 286. The official October 25 St. Crispin’s Day also salutes English survivors of the Battle of Agincourt.
However it all works, it means visitors get to indulge in French-style breads and pastries, crafted by Woulfe and bread baker Christian Fidelis de Goes, who met while working together at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery in New York.
The cases brim with light-as-air French macarons, marbled financiers, éclairs and naturally fermented breads based on whole grains and charmingly displayed on wood cutting boards. According to Fidelis de Goes, long, cold fermentation enhances bread flavor while also make it easier for people to digest.
It feels very European here, like a chic living room set with small wood bistro tables, the walls artfully cluttered with framed art of all kinds and a chalkboard above the espresso machinery offering filtered coffees, lattes and fine teas.
Ham and cheese croissants, tangy-sweet blue cheese savory cookies, triple-cream Brie on crunchy pain de campagne toast, wheat-free muffins, and sweets like cinnamon rolls or craquelin sugar cube-stuffed buttery brioche are all available to try.
And most visitors leave with breads to enjoy later by slathering with butter and jam, including baguettes, olive loafs, sesame bread and focaccia.
The Crispian connection isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem, by the way. Born and raised in the East Bay, Woulfe holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Princeton University, where her senior thesis was on the role of food in literature.
Alameda Island Brewing Company
On any given day, you can stop by this microbrewery and discover something new and a particularly tiny-batch. Perhaps it’s a Broadside Imperial Oatmeal Stout aged in a bourbon barrel, or an Otis IPA spiked with organic mandarins and lemons.
Founded by home brewer Matthew Fox, the “Island” name was a natural choice for the former Coast Guard agent and his wife, a fourth generation Alamedan. He partnered with his brewery landlord and fellow beer lover, Bill Phua, and built out a 10,000-square-foot, 20-barrel brew house with a 1,500-square-foot tasting room and dog-friendly patio set with reclaimed wood tables.
It’s all about sampling in this casual spot, with some five to 10 beers on tap daily and flights encouraged. Find your favorites, then take them in growlers to go. That might be soft, malty sweet Cavanaugh Kolsch, a robust, chocolate toned German-style “Control, Alt, Delete” beer, or a hoppy Neptune’s Pale Ale kissed with grapefruit and citrus punch.
The signature, though, is Alameda’s IPA, packed with Zythos hops for what Fox calls a “floral, piney, and citrus bouquet with just enough malty caramel sweetness to balance it out, while still stripping the enamel from your teeth.”
Periodically, Fox invites in local guest brewers and snack experts, like the folks from the Salt Point Pretzel Company of Oakland, and Crispian Bakery with their famous beer-friendly cookies.
Trabocco
Since November 2013, Trabocco has been a beacon of fine Italian dining at Alameda’s South Shore Center Plaza, setting expectations with a glamorous open kitchen, trendy décor of subway tile, lots of sleek wood and dangling Edison light bulbs and a gossamer net sculpture billowing from the ceiling.
The sculpture is more than just art: a trabocco, we learn, is a small pier with a complex architectural fishing hut at its end. Set with numerous poles, pulleys, nets and beams, they are found along the Adriatic coast of Abruzzo, Italy.
Indeed, chef-owner Giuseppe Naccarelli was born and raised in the mountain village of Palombaro, Abruzzo. After running his own restaurant near his hometown for a number of years, he found his way to California, where he enjoyed a 19-year career with the Il Fornaio chain.
Now, much of his cooking relies on seafood, like a classic mix of grilled octopus tossed with potato, celery, red onion, lemon and olive oil, roasted salt-cod marinated with roasted bell peppers atop crispy polenta or a stew stocked with clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops and fish fillet in tomato-octopus broth with grilled bread for dunking.
Gnocchi is housemade, as is the stellar chitarrine pasta draped in cocoa powder infused rabbit ragú.
But anything wood-fired is a highlight, too. Even a simple half-chicken is elevated to sumptuous fare thanks to a vibrant herb-chile marinade infusing its juicy meat and a generous sprinkling of Abruzzese salt on its crackly skin, all served alongside roasted root vegetables and potatoes scattered with almonds.
If you go
Crispian Bakery: 1700 Park St., Suite 120, Alameda, (510) 239- 4751, crispianbakery.
com. Hours: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Alameda Island Brewing Company: 1716 Park St., Alameda, (510) 217-8885, www.alamedaislandbrewing
company.com. Hours: 2 to 9 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, noon to 9 p.m. Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Trabocco: 2213 South Shore Center, Alameda, (510) 521-1152, trabocco.com. Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Skilled-chefs-fresh-ingredients-at-local-eateries-7388237.php
