Went to Alley & Vine (first time) last night after Nari cancelled our reservations to get their employees vaccinated (i’m glad, but this late??) and we had to be in East Bay anyway.
Menu consisted of Bites, Apps, Mains, and Desserts. Blew us away. Best meal in the East Bay since Commis. You could sit inside or out, we chose out, with heat lamps glowing.
Pics below with comments.
Pink Panther: Cazadores, pink grapefruit, pink peppercorn, pink salt
Fashionable Pig: bacon washed Bulleit bourbon, bitters. I could taste the bacon fat!
Liked the etched ice.
First bite: taste of house-made white sturgeon caviar on bagna cauda braised radish. the radish tasted almost potato-like - so interesting, and a dreamy-delicious bite.
Bite: escabeche mussels with pimenton. fabulous, and i’m thinking of trying to recreate them this weekend.
App: house-cured Mt. Lassen trout, cucumber/fennel broth, summer squash, avocado, chili oil. Perfect.
Bite: local bakery bread with house-made cultured butter, sea salt. We had two orders, for mopping up. Bread comes out blisteringly hot.
App: heirloom tomato soup, brioche croutons, lobster, truffle coulis. absolutely delish, but the lobster and truffle got a bit lost in the rich broth. only small complaint of the evening.
Bite: castelvetrano olives, garlic olive oil, white anchovies, fermented chilies, caper berries. so good.
Fleur de Mer, Cotes de Provence - mineral-ly, flinty, crisp and refreshing, subtle yet with a good bold after-taste. my new favorite rose. so dry, so lovely.
Main: we split this - olive oil poached tuna, clams, saffron, fregola sarda, roasted fennel, jimmy nardello pepper. the fish was amazingly good, beautiful texture.
loved the water glasses, plus one of my favorite sparkling waters.
blurry pic! trying to shield the candle from wind. we were too full for dessert but they brought this out: creamy dark chocolate, orange, sesame seed mignardise. perfect last bite.
They opened in January, first doing to-go meals, but of the same quality. The chef is formerly of Waterbar in SF. Impressive wine list, great cocktails. Comments on Yelp were that East Bay-ers no longer need to drive to the City for this caliber of food, and our server was saying it was so great for so many of the staff that live in the (more affordable) East Bay.
Menu is ever-changing, farm-to-table, local, Californian, etc. Service was great, knowledgeable. A winner in every way, and I’d like to revisit each season.
