A Pig at Gregoire and No, I'm Not Referring To Us

Realizing that today would be the last day of Gregoire's delectable January menu, The Unbalanced One, The Calm One, and The Crazy said "Forget learning and satisfying our brain! We shall satisfy our stomachs!" With that thought in mind, they ventured to the tranquil Gourmet Ghetto in northside to visit their good friend once again.

The layout of Gregoire is pretty cool. There are bar stools with a counter placed in front of the cooking area, and an open window to the right of the cooking ranges and drawers full of ingredients (!!!) so that the chef can call out the names on orders and hand them through the window to the people sitting at tables outside or waiting for their food to go. We, of course, sat right in the middle of things, on the stools, staring down the chef and generally looking like crazies with our frantic picture-taking.

There we paid a visit to our brethen.

The Calm One getting mentally prepared...

Behind that smile is a beast ready to unleash itself on some unfortunate sammiches...That tasty morsel waited in line for 5 hours to go on this delicious ride.

Unadulterated potato mush, ready to be transformed into the celebrated potato puffs

From the specially shaped boxes to the adorable checkered tissue paper, everything is tip-top perfect

He, too, was transfixed by the scene before him

Three beautifully created sandwiches. All with a lot of potential. BUT ONLY ONE SHALL become America's Next Top sammich.

If we had to, we would have eaten him to get to those sandwiches.
The tempura-battered butternut squash with onion chutney sandwich- up close and oh so personal.

The mother of all sandwiches. The Gregoire Experience.

Gregoire, a tiny French takeout place in Northside, houses many delights. Gregoire and his little hats are only the first. The menu changes monthly, with some staples sticking around for most of the year, perhaps with slight seasonal variations. Most hyped about are the potato puffs - golden, crispy pillows of starchy goodness, served with a yummy aioli for dipping. Each dish is prepared with exceptional ingredients, and each month's menu never fails to make us DROOL.

Ready to attack!

Layers of warm, comforting cheesy potato goodness! Do not attempt, as the creatures did, to scale the hills of Berkeley directly following this particular genre of food event. You will only be rewarded with pain, cruel pain. But then someday you'll get back to your dorm and rub your little painful tummy and think "Damn, those were some good potatoes."

From the September menu: Smoked shrimp in a creamy sauce. This was the first visit of the year at Gregoire. Twould be the beginning of a passionate, life-long relationship.

The Calm One took a leap of faith (despite the warnings of the Unbalanced One) and ordered the lamb patty on pantofolina. She especially loved the crunchy-on-the-outside-mushy-on-the-inside bread.

The Unbalanced One and the Calm One had to use every last ounce of their strength (not upper body of course, who are we kidding??) to resist dipping their paws into this boiling vat of heahhh-ven!

From the January menu, this was tempura-fried butternut squash and caramelized onion chutney in pantofolina. ($6.50). Crunchy, sweet, and creamy--It was as good as it sounds. This is the reason we will live in Berkeley's northside next year.

Would you dare resist it's powers?

Also from the January menu: Thinly sliced "fra'mani" Toscano salami with melted Manchego on open face ciabatta ($7.25). Delicious, just a tad messy. BTW. under that avalanche of meat is indeed, a colony of loose tomatoes.

The Crazy One shows us the half of her salami sandwich before she devours the other half. As you can tell, she's not such a fan of the tomatoes.

This rice pilaf side was a pleasant, but not memorable side for our rich sandwiches. Unfortunately it contained a special nut that the Crazy One did not appreciate.

Gregoire

2109 Cedar Street, Berkeley, CA

(510) 883-1893

Smart Alec's. Aka: the frantic run towards telegraph for between-classes cornbread.

Smart Alec's, on Telegraph Ave., famous for its healthy, fast, and affordable food, is a favorite of Southside students. The service is insanely fast, hipsters abound, and you occasionally have to scream at your friend in conversation over the bustle. But we think it's worth it. The food is fresh and full of flavor. Jenn favors the salads and especially the homemade corn bread (each thick golden slice is $1!!), I'm a lover of the hummus sandwich, and I believe I heard Lindsay voice a little lovin' for the fries, piled high and topped with fresh garlic and herbs.

Priya's eggplant melt from Smart Alec's. She was a lucky wench.

Maybe it was the fresh tomatoes that hadn't been stored in the dining common refrigerator for two weeks or the edamame that didn't contain essence of corn, tofu, and all of its dining common neighbors, but this salad would make foothill "chef" Conrad cry.