La Capilla opened about a week ago at 1106 University Ave about 75 feet east of San Pablo Ave. That spot was vacant for several years after Kabana, the terrific Pakistani/Punjabi restaurant moved a block away to a larger place.
I didn’t go in but the menu displays a novel mix of a juice bar and slightly upscale Mexican dishes: 23 ingredient moles, sides of sauteed kale, rostizado roasted chicken in adobo, chilaquales, 12-hour roasted carnitas on organic corn tacos and a Cubano sandwich.
I didn’t get the listing for hours open but it looks like it’s got a breakfast menu starting at 9 am.
From the outside, the redo on the space looks stylish but I will miss the cramped quarters of Kabana and the smoke wafting from the fiery iron skillets with crisping sliced onions and singed tandoori catfish, my favorite under $10 dish in Berkeley.
If you have the time, nearby shopping includes Middle East Market on San Pablo with a popular steam table with Persian specialties. Happy Nowruz, Persian New Year is this week. Also close by is La Marcha for reasonably-priced tapas starting at 4 pm.
The photo slideshow, below, was taken by me with a waterproof pocket camera, the Olympus Tough TG-4, mostly using automatic settings at about 25mm focal length, jpeg files, very little post processing. The slideshow is done in Proshow Web online software.
I noticed a sign on their door today saying that their soft opening is ending and beginning on Friday, March 24, 2017 they will be open from 7 am until 9 pm.
I’ve tried Secret Scoop and while the flavor was good, I would not call it “gelato.” The texture wasn’t very good and was much more like an icy sorbet than a real gelato. I think it is “thai gelato” because all of the flavors are thai (thai iced tea, coconut, lemongrass, etc.) The sticky rice is a nice addition though
We got some takeaway containers from Secret Scoop to eat at home. We tried both mango and Thai tea flavors. I really enjoyed the Thai Tea, but the mango was sort of mediocre. Curious if others have favorite flavors
Venus Cafe, a HK soy sauce western cafe is open downtown on Shattuck, next to the soon-to-arrive Ippudo. Apparently they have 3 shops- Newark, Hostetter in San Jose (which apparently is not related to Venus/ Tam Cafe in West San Jose)
What’s Ippudo up to now? Still boarded up a few weeks ago.
The place looks more like a real snack bar for the locals than any of the glitzy ‘tapas bar’ that opened all around the Bay Area in the last few years. If I don’t live so far away I’d be there too.