The restaurant is on College Avenue, one of the main streets in Oakland. It has a tiny, easily missed sign in simple block letters. Inside, the ceilings are high and, fittingly, wood. Wood is definitely a major theme throughout the decor, from the tables to the support beams. Somehow it manages not to have the whole hunting lodge feel, perhaps in part due to the enormous wine bar being the focal point of the place. The dining area is narrow and long, and the bar spans probably half of the length.
Anyway, Jim and I sat at a table for two with my back against the left wall. We got their daily printed menus and quickly decided what to eat. Jim went with the Niman Ranch burger with cheddar and I got the Portabello Mushroom sandwich. While we waited for our food, they brought us out some bread to tide us over. I loved that it came in this cute little metal cone. There were two types, sourdough and some sort of walnut wheat. Jim obviously preferred the sourdough, as did I, but I liked the walnut bread, too. It was very rustic and earthy, definitely different than what I'm used to. But both breads were fresh, chewy, and had a great texture to them. It was a good sign, and I was quite hopeful for the main course.
My sandwich was so cute. It came on a sourdough baguette and looked so delicious. When I bit into it, I was in heaven. The mushrooms were grilled along with red bell pepper and topped with two different spreads, one olive-based and the other goat cheese-based. Such a great combination, and then along with the fresh bread, it was amazing. The bread was crusty but it didn't rip up the roof of my mouth at all. I also had a side of cole slaw, which didn't have any mayonnaise on it whatsoever. In fact, it tasted an awful lot like the cabbage salad my family makes at home, only soggy instead of crispy. It was quite good.
Jim's burger also came on a sourdough baguette. All of the veggies were on the side, which is the way he likes it. Plus there was a whole mess of pomme frittes which, as Jim described them, were a combination of BK and In-N-Out fries. I don't know about all that, but they did have the light, crispy texture of In-N-Out, although they were thinner and less uniformly cut. I really liked them a lot. They were just really, really good french fries. Jim's burger was cooked perfectly and the meat juices seeped into the bread, which he raved about.
I didn't plan on eating dessert, but seeing the couple next to us get the s'more pie, we had to try it. It ended up being an orange chocolate mousse on a graham cracker crust, topped with marshmallow creme. Again, the whole from-scratch marshmallow thing worked. It was completely different from Buckeye's s'more pie, but it was probably equally good. I couldn't taste any of the orange, but that was fine with me.
The total bill wasn't anywhere near out of control. My meal was $9 and Jim's $11 (he also got an iced tea that he wasn't charged for). Even after adding in the $7 dessert, we were good. And the service was great. My small water glass was rarely empty, the same with Jim's iced tea. The server was friendly, personable, and prompt. He also cracked a couple of jokes, one about how all of Jim's refills on his tea would make him stay up all night. He also commented that I couldn't leave his fries alone, which was very true.
After lunch, we walked around College Ave for a bit before heading to Solano Avenue. Jim wanted to find this burger place which his co-worker had raved to him about. We finally found it, and even I was excited. They had so many different varieties to choose from that it was overwhelming. And even the vegetarians had a ton of options. We checked out a whole bunch of restaurants along that street that we wanted to try. I don't know that we will anytime in the near future, but it's in the back of our minds. We also stopped by a French bakery and got a peanut butter cookie.
Because I wanted the 1000 points from Open Table, we had reservations set for Bridges in Danville at 5:30. Yeah, that's not the WC, but it's close enough, which is why I'm labeling it as such. I knew we wouldn't be starving after our 1:30 lunch at Wood Tavern, but points is points. :-) Plus, it was like the whole Prima deal, since it was also a Passport place.
Danville is one of those snooty towns that I love to mock, but the truth is, if I won the lotto, that would be one of the places I would look into moving to. Bridges is located right off of what seems to be their main street downtown. Jim was wearing a very casual t-shirt and jeans and when we walked past the valet, it seemed a pretty safe bet that he was underdressed. True, I was also in jeans, but they were a dark wash and I was also wearing a nice sweater and high heeled boots. But I didn't care, and we were early enough that we weren't too incredibly out of place. In the future, however, we will be dressed up more.
It was very Asian-inspired, as they brought us warm washcloths. Loved it!
They brought us an individual roll each, which was quite good, but I only ate half of mine because I still wasn't very hungry. Jim happily ate the rest. We were seated right by a pair of glass double doors. The table actually blocked the exit completely. I have a feeling that they use the exit only in the summer. We actually ended up liking our seats, although I wasn't too sure about it at first, because it was so blatantly obvious that a table didn't actually belong there. Turns out, our seats gave us more privacy because we were perpendicular to the other tables for 2, so our backs were to the other diners. Even though they were right behind us, it was easier to ignore them when we couldn't see 'em.
Jim ordered the salmon, since he had chicken for dinner the night before and Bessie for lunch. It came on a bed of pureed celery root, which Jim swore up and down was potatoes. I had a small bite and didn't think they were potatoes because they were so watery and had a slightly mealy texture. It was glazed with an orange blossom honey soy sauce and came with baby bok choy. The plating was quite nice. He got a glass of white wine to go with his meal. It wasn't bad at all.
My Vegetarian Bento plate was super yummy. I loved how it came out in a four section square plate, with a small serving of each in each quadrant. The first thing I tried was the risotto, which was simply amazing. It was a peanut based sauce with coconut. Soooo good, and the risotto was nicely creamy and perfectly al dente. Next I tried the truffle essence spinach, which tasted like plain sauteed spinach to me. It was room temperature, which was a bit of surprise to me and a big surprise to Jim. The third thing I tried was grilled asparagus and green papaya salad, which was about 500 times better than it sounded. It really was quite delicious. I don't even care much for papaya, but that's more for the stringy factor, which the shredded stuff wasn't. It didn't taste sweet. I can't really explain it other than it was really good and I never would have guessed it to be papaya. Finally was the mushrooms and red curry sauce, which, shockingly, was not my favorite. It was my least favorite other than the spinach (which doesn't really count, because it was just plain spinach). It was good, but not great. And for as much as I love mushrooms, that's saying a lot. The risotto was definitely my favorite. I would have been thrilled with a bowlful of that and a small side of the papaya salad! I also got a Pomegranate Lemon Drop with my meal. The glass was sugar rimmed and garnished with lemon peel--sooo pretty! The taste wasn't half bad, either.
I'm really glad we tried this place. Besides being a beautiful restaurant, the food was pretty good. There was a mural of all of the Bay Area bridges inside of the place, so I got the name reference. I absolutely loved the outside--it was so cute.
I hope we can come back sometime. We were talking about doing a Mt. Diablo hike and then going here again for dinner. Or going out with Sister K and her hubby.
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