I celebrated a loved one’s birthday with a treat from bakery Grand Opening in Oakland, and it was one of the most fabulous desserts I’ve had in recent memory. It consisted of four layers: sweet cheese at the bottom, black sesame cream in the middle, guava mousse above that and a thin coating of guava jam at the top. The top has a halo of cream garnished with vibrant but sadly inedible flowers. Each bite was tropically sweet, with notes of peanut butter from black sesame. Who needs a birthday cake when you can get the Rolls-Royce of tarts? Grand Opening is set to fully open in Oakland soon, but in the meantime the operation offers treats via pre-order.
Grand Opening. 2311 Magnolia St., West Oakland. grandopeningbakery.com
I’ve passed Thai restaurant Bird & Buffalo countless times but it wasn’t recently that I actually tried it. The vibe is relaxed, with a dining room styled by Thai movie posters, a shelf lined with Thai products and a TV showing videos of Thai street foods. The menu runs pretty classic — pad Thai, curries, krapow — but the roti tacos caught my eye. The cook on the beef was not dialed-in (too chewy) but the roti stood out with its lightness, flakiness and greasy sweetness. The highlight, though, was the mango sticky rice topped with crisped mung beans; the mango was custard-soft and the rice well-coated in coconut caramel.
Bird & Buffalo. 4659 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. birdandbuffalo.net
A craving for boat noodles brought me to Zen Yai, a casual Thai restaurant in the Tenderloin that’s been operating since 2006. Awash in light wood, the dining room is filled with families sharing noodles and groups of young friends splitting orders of fried shrimp wrapped in rice paper. Most people come for the same reason I did: the boat noodles, which have a spiced broth that’s darkened and thickened by pig’s blood and topped with meat balls, liver, cracklings and crushed chile flakes. For extra heat, ask the staff for the prik nam pla (chopped bird’s eye marinated in fish sauce and lime juice)…