B
A Y W O L F
3853 Piedmont Ave
Oakland
510.655.6004
Just as Chez Panisse has its loyal following, Oakland’s Baywolf on Piedmont
Avenue has a very devoted group of customers. The 25 year old Italian restaurant
specializes in original Italian cooking and I don’t mean spaghetti and
meatballs as you will see in a sampling of their latest menu below. Baywolf’s
menu changes every three weeks to feature cuisine from a different region
of Italy including a northern California philosophy of freshness of ingredients
and preparation. Part of the magic of this restaurant is that it is housed
in an historical arts and crafts style house.
Again, just like Chez Panisse, you will not find hard liquor on the menu.
However, you will find a very international wine list that is quite reasonable
in prices. This is one of the few Bay Area restaurants that I would choose
a soup for an appetizer on a regular basis. Most recently, Baywolf visited
the North of Italy and featured a wonderful Spanish-style chickpea soup with
red peppers and basil. Other appetizer standouts that evening were a crostini
of bread topped with a fava bean spread with antipasto of grilled asparagus
and proscuitto with marinated mushrooms, balsamic onions; and, a pomegranate-glazed
duck breast with cucumber-mango salad and ginger.
Main courses were tough to narrow down, but three of the best were a grilled
skirt steak with white beans, artichokes and salsa verde; a grilled tombo
tuna with saffron-risotto pancake, marinated beets and citrus vinaigrette;
and finally, a Diestel Ranch turkey scallopini with capers and roasted garlic
mashed potatoes. Desserts are just as difficult to choose from but that evening
our choices were the best. We had a coconut cream tart with caramel and pineapple
sauces and a banana-white chocolate layer cake with candied walnuts and crème
fraiche sauce.
Bon Appetit!
M Y T O P T E N
1.
Chez
Panisse - Berkeley
2. Rivoli - Berkeley
3. Oliveto’s - Oakland
4. Chez Panisse Café
- Berkeley
5. Baywolf - Oakland
6. Citron
- Oakland
7. Soizic
- Oakland
8. Garibaldi - Oakland
9. Dona
Tomas - Oakland
10. tie:
Liaison
- Berkeley
Le Cheval - Oakland
HONORABLE MENTIONS