DeLuxe

When you’re driving into or out of Sonoma during breakfast and lunch hours, it would be easy to miss this little place — it looks like something out of another decade and if it weren’t for the lot packed with cars you just might not notice it. The Fremont Diner is a wonderful find and a throwback to the country roadside restaurant. They’ve got tables outside to eat at as well as a screened in porch inside for a little relief from the hot weather…

The food here is something special with all sorts of country favorites: fried chicken (and waffles!), beans, slaw, cornbread, and catfish. Too much good stuff to order at one sitting. So I know I’ll be going out of my way to plan my next visit to Sonoma so I can stop in here and enjoy a great breakfast or lunch. (their eggs and some other ingredients come from their own on site farm too)… abc

Fremont Diner
2698 Fremont Drive, Sonoma, CA 95476
707.938.7370

It seems like there’s something new in Oakland’s Uptown almost weekly now. First there was local clothing and house ware store Oakollectiv. Then Oaklandish opened their first retail store. And, of course, there are other nearby faves such as the revamped Fox Theater, the 2nd Can’t Fail Cafe, Xolo, Plum (Bar), Bakesale Betty’s #2, Flora, and too many other places to list at once. Now there’s another new place that has me pretty excited given my obsession with dontus the past few months: Donut Savant!

They’ve been open for about 3 weeks now on a block of Broadway that hasn’t looked better in more than 20 years. They have tons of different varieties of cake style donuts — formed in ball shapes without holes. Every variety I tried tasted great (not too much frosting) and I noticed that the cake dough is nicely flavored as well. I got to try about six flavors but they make more than 20 and you never know what you’re gonna get b/c the chef is making new ones in the back all the time. If you’re lucky you will order any flavor that just came out of the fryer — there’s nothing like a warm donut made with quality ingredients.

Donut Savant
1934 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
510.972.8268

Tanya Holland made Brown Sugar Kitchen a huge success in out of the way, industrial, West Oakland. Her newest venture, a BBQ spot called BSide BBQ, is taking on an even more desolate stretch of San Pablo north of Downtown.

Open for lunch through early evening Tue-Sat each week, this place is worth the effort to get to its out of the way location. Inside, the theme is industrial and modern as you might expect and with a block rodeo theme (videos of the old B+W movies, western style etchings on the tables.

Recently wen there and had the pulled pork sandwich. You can get it with different sauces and I picked the carolina mustard sauce. It was awesome and served on a nice roll that had been browned on a grill. We also tried their special of the day which was chili made with brisket ends and pork shoulder debris. Very savory and not too spicy — with a title dollop of sour cream and chives on top. We also had sue sides: beans, a nice vinegar based cole slaw, and some cornbread which was served with a brown sugar butter.

Top top it all off, we had some of their house made peach lemonade and if I didn’t have things to do I think I could have relaxed there a lll afternoon long just soaking in the sunlight

BSide BBQ
3303 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, CA 94608
510.595.0227