A few things you really ought know about…

Food

Some of which we like so much we carry it.

Far Leaves
2979 College Ave. at Ashby
Berkeley, CA
11am-9pm, 7 days a week
510-665-9409

Zocalo gets all of our fine teas from Far Leaves. Not only do they have a wonderful selection, but Donna, the owner, is absolutely wonderful. She’s in it for all the right reasons and doesn’t compromise.

Donna flies to the far reaches to buy her own teas and can tell you everything you need to know to make a wonderful tea. The shop’s hours are amazing enough, but the place is a serene escape from everything and you can enjoy tea like no where else.

Hidden City Cafe
Point Richmond, CA

This is where we get our honey almond granola, the best we’ve run across! They do a wonderful breakfast.

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker
914 Heinz Avenue
Berkeley, CA

Zocalo carries their fantastic chocolates… They make a wide range and have factory tours as well! Check out their site on the web for more details.

Pearson’s Bros Cream Soda
Oakland, CA

Mitch, about 15 friends, and I did a taste test of cream sodas. We ordered 26 different cream sodas and Pearson Bros came out on top by a large margin.

Paradiso Restaurant
685 Bancroft Ave.
San Leandro, CA
510-430-9310

Paradiso is San Leandro’s best restaurant, hands down, and we’re lucky enough to have them only a few doors down. I particularly recommend their Seared Ahi Tuna and Mitch really like’s their creme brulee, but just about everything is excellent. They’re open for lunch and dinner weekdays, dinner on weekends, and closed on Mondays.

Full House Cafe
3719 MacArthur Blvd
Oakland, CA
(510) 482-2200

On MacArthur in the Laurel District, lmost directly across from World Grounds, a nice independent coffee house, sits this tiny and great breakfast spot. Good solid coffee, great food, clean and friendly, and I see the owner there everytime I’m in! The owner, by the way, worked at Mama’s Royal Cafe (as did I in ’88) on Broadway in Oakland and Bette’s Diner among others, giving him quite the cafe heritage!

Raging Sage Coffee Roasters
2458 N. Campbell Ave,
Tucson, AZ 85719-3368
(520) 320-5203

Just recently found out these folks are roasters as well! Loved their coffee when I was in Tucson visiting my sister and brother-in-law. Wonderful drinks, really! They won best new business in ’99 in fact. There’s a review at http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tw/1999-07-22/chow.html.
Cool Stuff

Cliff Stoll’s Acme Klein Bottles

You can’t go wrong with a fourth dimension object in a 3 dimensional world. Buy one for the geek in your family! Or hey, get the mug klein bottle and have a latte in it!

San Leandro

My home and the location of my business… San Leandro is a great city jammed in between Hayward and Oakland. Often unknown and unnoticed, this quite city has wonderful houses, is the 4th most diverse city in the bay area, and still has the charm that many of the larger cities around have lost (and until recently, lower housing prices than just about anywhere around). Here are a few links for more information.

Neighborhoods

Broadmoor Neighborhood Association (The BNA)

http://www.thebna.org

Zocalo isn’t actually IN this neighborhood, but it’s only a half block outside of it and I was (until about March 2005) president of the BNA, so I’m linking to it here. They do good stuff, serving as the “watchdog” of the area and working to prevent overdevelopment and the like.

Estudillo HomeOwners Association (The EHOA)

http://www.estudillo.org/

The EHOA is the association in which Zocalo Coffeehouse is located. They put out a monthly one-sheet newsletter.

Other Sites

The Official City of San Leandro site

http://www.ci.san-leandro.ca.us/

The San Leandro Chamber of Commerce

http://www.sanleandrochamber.com/

InsideBayArea.com

http://community.insidebayarea.com/almanac/alamedacounty.asp?region=sanleandro

Bay Area Census site

http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/cities/SanLeandro.htm