FOOD & FUN for EVERYONE

By CECILE CRUZ

Located just across the Bay from San Francisco, Oakland is often overlooked and underrated, relegated to the shadows of its iconic Bay Area neighbor. But, known affectionately among locals as "The East Bay," it is one of the largest cities in the Bay Area and is home to a stunning diversity of history, arts, culture, outdoor activities, and a plethora of fine dining options.

Oakland offers everything from romantic getaways to fun-filled family adventures and we did both! We enjoyed our romantic getaway so much, we decided we needed to come back and bring the whole family for a mini family vacation!

First up was the romantic getaway. We arrived at the Claremont Club and Spa, a Fairmont Hotel, on a fairly cold evening. Outdoor patio heaters were ablaze in the outside seating areas to allow guests to enjoy the incredible view of the bay regardless of the chill.

Built in 1915, this historic hotel is simply stunning. It retains the elegance of times past but has been updated with three pools and a modern fitness center, replete with treadmills featuring smart displays that allow you to binge watch your favorite shows while working out. There are separate rooms for spin class, yoga, and weights as well, so whatever motivates you to get moving, there is something for everyone. The hotel is definitely designed for those who want to be active. Along with the swimming pools and the amazing fitness center, there are tennis courts and private lessons are available, as well as personal trainers and fitness classes. But for those who simply wish to relax, the four-star spa offers facials and massage services.

Our room, a Deluxe Bay View overlooking the tennis courts, was spacious, clean, and stocked with coffee and tea and plush terrycloth bathrobes.

After settling into our room, we walked a short downhill mile to Millennium for a romantic dinner for two.

Dinner for Two

Millennium is an upscale, fully vegan restaurant. It has been featured by the Huffington Post and Food & Wine Magazine as one of "The Top 25 Vegetarian and Vegan Restaurants in the World". In 2016, it was awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand. All of this praise is not without merit. Their menu is intriguing and innovative and changes depending on what is in season. The ambience inside Millennium is pleasant though loud -- most of the tables sit opposite the bar, along a narrow thoroughfare. But such an environment is perfectly conducive to a romantic evening as conversing with your date requires sitting quite close to one another and speaking directly into one another’s ears.

A good opening for any romantic evening is to start with cocktails. We shucked the kids; it was time to get busy: a Widow’s Peak for me -described as citrusy, sweet, and effervescent -and a "tart and bittersweet" Bourbon Renewal for the spouse.

While settling in with our cocktails, we perused the menu. On Fridays, Millennium offers a prix fixe four-course menu: an amuse bouche, a selection of appetizer, main course, and dessert.

I was so excited about the menu, I did not fully pay attention to the description of the amuse bouche , but it included in-house focaccia, marinated mushrooms and olives, and a house spread which I think involved butternut squash. It was absolutely delicious.

For appetizers, I tried the coriander and arborio-crusted oyster mushrooms with a Calabrian chili-Meyer lemon and caper aioli served with a cabbage slaw. The hubby tried the Gold Beet and Blood Orange Salad served with chaat and chili pickled shallots, a carrot miso and mustard seed dressing, mint, cilantro, toasted pistachios, and a crisp pappadam. The intermingling of spices and international flavors was delectable!

After that it was on to the entrees. There is something about eating food described with exotic words that makes you really feel like you’re getting something special and unique! With my entree alone, I had to google the following terms: brik (a brittle pastry), spigarello (a green leafy weed related to broccoli), and chermoula (a marinade or relish).

As it turns out these comprise elements of Tunisian (brik) , Italian (spigarello) , and Moroccan (chermoula) cuisine. This (con) fusion was delicious!

The husband's dish, though not as fusionoriented, was equally delectable: dark chocolate mole, masa chochoyotes , turnips, and braised greens with ruby grapefruit, jicama, a nopales salsa, and cashew crema.

Dessert was a Milk Chocolate Rum torte made with espresso anglaise, toasted hazelnut, cocoa nib crumble, served with a coca whipped cream as well as an order of Buñuelos Mexicanos served with anise piloncillo (cone-shaped Mexican brown sugar) ice-cream, roasted pineapple, and guava sauce. The buñuelos were light and not too sweet and the ice-cream, made inhouse, was subtle, with just a hint of anise, and creamy, perfectly complimenting the crisp buñuelos.

Stuffed to the gills and feeling very sated, we ambled back to the Claremont arm-inarm, only a little sorry that it was an uphill stroll.

The next morning, we ordered breakfast in our room: fresh fruit, orange juice, oatmeal with flax seed, dried fruit, and brown sugar toppings and a carafe of hot coffee. We wrapped up our morning and our romantic getaway with a lovely stroll through the hotel grounds. As we viewed the old timey pictures lining the halls of past hotel events and guests, we were happy to have made a little history of our own here and look forward to coming back -- both to Oakland and to the Claremont Club and Spa!

As we pondered our romantic Oakland getaway, it was clear that there was much more to do together here as a family. So, we brought the kids back with us.

This was a lot of fun! Oakland offers a Vegan Trail, offering plant-based options from very casual food-truck fare to high-concept vegan cuisine. During our overnighter here, we were lucky to try many of them.

Our first stop was Roasted and Raw on the vegan trail, a food-truck-turned-cafe offering plant-based breakfast sandwiches, burritos, black bean burgers, comforting pasta dishes, and innovative menu items such as jackfruit carnitas and mushroom carne asada. We went with falafel burgers, the fiesta taco bowl, and yucca fries, all very mildly spiced and filling. The kids also gave their chocolate chip cookies a big thumbs-up!

To burn off some calories, we made our way to Lake Merritt. It was a beautiful morning — clear, sunny, and brisk. The entire circumference of Lake Merritt is 3.4 miles, the perfect distance for a morning stroll or a training run — we encountered many of both stripes: morning strollers and fit runners. It is no wonder that that Oakland hosts a running festival (our family of runners may find ourselves back to participate!).

From Lake Merritt, it was a short walk to the Oakland Museum of California. This place is a hidden gem within the hidden gem of Oakland. One of their current exhibits featured Angela Davis, an icon of Black radical resistance and feminism and whose historical significance continues to resonate with Black Lives Matter. The

Angela Davis Exhibit along with additional exhibits on Photography as Activism and on California History seem to highlight social change as a part of Oakland’s cultural DNA. After an afternoon of much strolling, we worked up an appetite and headed to Malibu Burgers, another stop on the Vegan Trail. They have an incredibly extensive menu of burger varieties and the options we tried were delicious: their signature Malibu and the Ghost town Burger. We also relished their Stadium fries and gave the Tempura Fried Oreos a whirl. Seriously yummy.

And, although we were full, we enjoyed free popcorn refills at the Landmark Piedmont Theater, located just a 5-minute walk down the road from Malibu Burgers. This theater is indeed a landmark and another homage to Oakland’s long history. It is the oldest operating movie theater in Oakland and offers an “eclectic mix of independent, art-house and Hollywood fare.”

Ritz Carlton patio

After a long day, we slept soundly and awoke to another beautiful Oakland day. We started our day with a visit to Timeless Coffee easily one of the highlights of our trip. Everything is vegan — pesto rolls, donuts, breakfast sandwiches, cakes, scones…and it was all absolutely delicious. If we could, we would eat up their goodies daily! Try their pesto rolls. Seriously!

Jack London Square was our next destination. We were fortunate enough to catch the Farmer's Market where, much to our pleasant surprise, there were lots of plant-based goods on display — everything from shoes and wallets, to candles, ramen broth bases, and health and beauty products. We walked along the trail, saw one of the reconstructions of Jack London’s Cabin, and took in a little more Oakland history.

, a must and “an Oakland staple since 2006” serving “authentic Louisiana creole flavor.” I had

We also tried the mac and cheese, the creamy mashed potatoes, country collard greens, cinnamon brown sugar yams, and cornbread. The servings are generous and

Mr. Dewey’s Cashew

This place has only dairy-free ice cream options — and lots of them! Caramel

Almond Crunch, Cool Mint Chip, Mocha Chip, and Coconut Chocolate were among the flavors that caught our attention. But wait, that’s not all! Mr. Dewey’s also offers vegan chocolate chip cookies, ice cream sandwiches (made with previously mentioned cookies!), bon bons, and vegan caramel and chocolate ice cream sauces. If we weren’t so stuffed, we would have ordered one of everything! What we did have was creamy and rich and well worth the dessert-pocket space we reserved for it!

With full stomachs and hearts, we concluded our trip. Oakland is an absolute gem. There is so much history on display throughout the city. There is more culture and diversity that is so openly and widely celebrated than we had previously realized, along with a surprisingly strong sense of community and a thriving vegan food scene. Oakland definitely has shown us that it holds its own against the backdrop of San Francisco with its rich history, celebration of diversity and the arts, and a plethora of unique and delicious dining options – all to be enjoyed without the traffic and parking headaches of its bigger-city neighbor. We’re so glad we could spend some time here and look forward to coming back.z