Hopskotch

Hopskotch

1915 San Pablo Ave. @ 19th St.

Oakland, CA 94612  -   2 Blocks from the 19th St. Bart Station

510.788.6217

I guess that I should finish up with the food business before I attack the other stuff. Do you know how hard it is to find your voice and how easy it is to lose your literary rhythm after you take some time off? Very, at least for me. I am struggling a bit putting my thoughts down, there are so many things I wanted to riff on that have now flown right past me and out of brainshot, if not relevance. I have somehow missed a whole turn of the wheel. 

© AnaRay

Anyway where was I, food, that's right? I was on the tail end of the show in San Francisco and exhausted. Third show on the road in a month and although there were some small blessings, I sort of missed the big payoff. In a maintenance routine, will have to keep grinding if I want to continue breathing air.

Anyway we were all bushed but had a commitment across the bridge in Oakland. Trendy restaurant, very great reviews, Hopskotch. My pals who had been there all said you have to have the chicken. Five of us for dinner including a wife. But there was a warning; the neighborhood was a bit sketchy. "No problem," the tough guy Rob says.

Sketchy ain't the word. We traveled down 27th and Martin Luther King Blvd. on the dark night and this was not Woodside or Piedmont. We looked for a place to park the van and I thought I had it until Cam told me to look up and I saw that the next car had it's window recently knocked out and there was glass all over the sidewalk. Looking around it was pretty much like this the entire block.

Cam took the van around the block in search of safe harbor when I noticed the nefarious creatures starting to emerge from the darkness like jackals and hyenas in the moonlight on the veldt. I reached in my pocket and nervously fingered the woefully undersized penknife, my flip having been confiscated by TSA on the flight to Madrid.

I walked across the street to chaperone Cam and approached the restaurant. Sandwiched between a Subway and a market it is certainly a pearl in the bivalve. Edward Hopper would have loved the block. I have great street antennae, having put a lot of mileage in NYC and the vibes in the area were akin to some of the areas I remember in Bed Stuy. A place where I would seriously considering packing heat on reentry.

I went into the charming little restaurant and was immediately met by the remarkably friendly and charming staff. Just delightful, smart, glib, together. They sat us at our table while we waited for our compatriots. I pulled the seat on the narrow ledge, one false move would have sent me careening backwards but I managed to stay upward for the whole evening.

Our pals showed up. A went to culinary school and has been in the food provision business for a long time. Very cool lady. Into soccer and rugby as well as raising her kids. The awesome Charlie and E. We ordered libations, A wanted a non oaky, non buttery white wine with high minerality. They delivered. The rest of us opted for a bottle of tempranillo. Very decent. I think that I was probably a boorish lout for most of the evening, being exhausted and self absorbed as usual but tried my best.

The menu steered towards comfort food. Buttermilk fried chicken. Fish. We started with a bonito crudo which was excellent. House brought us a lovely mouse bouche which we hungrily scarfed down. I had the First Base burger, which included grilled tongue, sesame aioli and amazing house cured bacon. We got an order of potato chips cooked in duckfat with Yuzu which were okay but no great shakes. Cold, boring and sparse. Needed a little truffle, although I suppose that is already passé.

A's fish was so salty she sent it back, which they were happy to do, being the loveliest wait staff imaginable. I had a bit of the chicken, not impressed. Way too much breading, couldn't find the fowl in there. My burger came with a  mushy bun. I sort of picked the good parts out but the thing didn't sing.

I forget dessert, it must not have been all that good.

Would I go back to Hopskotch? Packing sufficient artillery I think that I would. I felt a lot of integrity and commitment there and I think that the place will only get better with time. The whole area is undergoing some sort of hip and trendy renaissance. Maybe need to catch it for lunch in the light of day.

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BTW, If the east bay eating tour comes off in April I have a friend on Grizzly Peak that wants to have us all over for tapas.

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Was talking to a dealer who has lived in Oaxaca for decades about the perils of water. I am careful to peel vegetables and open my own cans but once got nailed by an ice cube in the Yucatan. He says that only drink ice with a hole through it when you are on the road in a foreign country, Machine made is safer.