New Parkway food

Had a chance to try some food at the New Parkway in Oakland.

TL;DR - pretty good, not great. Nice atmosphere in general.

It looks like they’re trying to brand that neighborhood as something other than either uptown or temescal. Noka or NOKO or something. At least, that’s what the signs say. Boy, is that area gentrifying fast, since it’s on the north edge of uptown. And uber’s coming.

I’ve been a patron of the Parkway when it was over on the far side of lake merrit. I think it had a period somewhere in the el cerrito area, which I missed. The parkway philosophy was always reasonable cheap pizza, reasonable cheap beer, couches and tables, first run and rep movies, and don’t take yourself too seriously. They are long known for the monday Baby Brigade and have added Tuesday Dog Night, and other things.

That attitude is still in the house, with some twists. The beer selection is better than it was a decade ago - not surprising, beer in general is better than 10 years ago. They’re long on lighter beers, ales and such, and wine on tap, with only one IPA, no serious belgians. Plenty of people buying a small pitcher so they wouldn’t have to get up during the movie.

We got a pizza. The crust was a particular style that I don’t know the name of. It’s not thin, but it’s not super thick. It’s not burnt or even crispy, it’s arguably underdone. It lacks structure, and needs a plate. But, it’s tasty. There’s a certain amount of yeast and salt and wheat taste that carries the effort through the lack of structure. Toppings were good. We got the “omnivore special” which had pulled pork and apple - could have used a bit of salt, but I’m generally happy for kitchens to undersalt and add more myself - unless I’m in a dark movie theater with no salt. Lots of other people were getting slices. The whole pizza ($20) was about right for two large hungry eaters, and a bit much for one large and one medium size person.

A bright spot was a pumpkin tempura app ( special ). While it wasn’t hard-fried and crispy like a standard tempura, it was cooked with hot peppers to give the outside a fragrance - kind of like 1000 chili chicken, which looks like a huge pile of peppers but is fairly mild.

Overall - the New Parkway is a great place, get there early ( 20 mins ) to snag a couch otherwise you’ll be stuck in an office chair, the food is OK so if you’re pressed for time, but given the great options within 100 yards ( mua! ) you’re better off with a bowl of popcorn and making other arrangements.

1 Like

KONO is Koreatown Northgate.
local businesses created this business district in the last few years.
it encompasses Telegraph ave. from 20th st to 35th St.