Nona's Kitchen yum yum yum THE BREADWORKSHOP CAFE IN BERKELY: SUSTAINABLE FOOD TO EAT IN OR TAKE OUT

Nona’s Kitchen
5450 Coast Highway
Pacifica, CA
650 557 1455

The food at Nona’s Kitchen is as close to home made as you can find in any commercial restaurant and it is delicious. Every recipe for each original dish on their extensive menu was invented and then tested by Chef Joreth Toropov. The place indulges you with silver you can get a grip on and bright lavender linen napkins. Everything on the menu is unique with dishes such as pasta pomodoro dotted with vine ripe tomatoes and reeking of garlic and basil for $12 to the “Kitchen Sink Salad with a marvelous variety of tender greens and unexpected veggies like corn and avocado with a light but memorable dressing for $10.

It would be difficult to find another place that serves a ten ounce burger they grind on the premises with your choice of cheese for $8 for lunch. The dinner selections abound with comfort foods like popped roast braised in red wine or bacon-wrapped meatloaf and the weekend brunch served from 10:30-2:30 on weekends offers peaches and cream waffles (remember those?) and eggs benedict on buttermilk biscuits with champagne hollandaise.

The highlight of any meal at Nona’s is the generous plate of baking powder biscuits baked fresh daily and the desserts that are home made. Try “mom’s” award winning apple pie and remember the days when you were small and your mother pulled a pie out of the oven warm and fragrant and unforgettable.

There are wide varieties of drinks including dark, steaming hot coffee served in a mug, endless varieties of teas and sodas and Sioux City Sarsaparilla believe it or not.

Nona’s does not take reservations and the place is very small. On weekends it is often a bit of a wait but very few people complain once they taste this unusual delectable food. No one will rush you, once you are seated. You can eat, chat and eat some more. The cleanliness of the place, the young and enthusiastic staff who remember you the second time you appear and of course those gorgeous old world dishes unlike any you have tasted in the far more expensive and highly touted upscale city restaurants make Nona’s Kitchen worth the trip to the coast. Lunch is served from 11:30 to 2:30, dinner from 5:30-9:00 pm and the restaurant is closed on Tuesdays. Nona’s Kitchen is a diner’s paradise, good for the family, great for a special luncheon and divine for a special occasion.

The Bread Workshop Café is considered one of the top ten greenest restaurants in the Bay Area. It offers many healthy specials this holiday season as well as a large selection of reasonably priced healthy dishes to eat in the café or take home to feed the family. The owner, William Brisco is dedicated to making his café the most sustainable business it can possibly be and their buyer Robert Mott says, “My hope and goal in all of this is that everyone connected to the Workshop, from cooks to customers, benefit from the knowledge I gain and the ingredients that I bring in to form the foundation and inspiration for everything we do.”
The Bread Workshop is now taking orders for their very special you-can’t-get-it-this-good-at home pies: pumpkin for $12.95, organic apple for $18.95 and organic wild blueberry $18.95. Just give them 24 hour notice and your pie will be ready to pick up to delight your dinner guests.
This warm and friendly café is more that a place to meet friends over a coffee, a tea or a delicious meal. It is also a bakery that offers a wide variety of breads and pastries and a place to take the family for a healthy meal in a clean, well lighted atmosphere free of smoke and excessive noise. You can order burgers or grilled meats, sandwiches, soups or salads either to eat there or to take home.
They offer dolphin friendly, low mercury tuna in their melts and sandwiches, grass fed beef and a wide variety of vegetarian combinations in addition to their regular sandwich, soup and salad fare for lunch. For dinner, they serve many unusual daily specials in addition to regulars like their organic vegetable platter served on a bed of brown rice or quinoa and a chicken pot pie that is the traditional mix of vegetables and chicken breast in a béchamel sauce baked in a flakey crust, served with a house salad.
The cost of these dishes is reasonable and the highest price I saw was $29.00 for a whole chicken meal that includes side salad, potatoes or quinoa and a fresh sliced baguette that will serve 4-6 people easily.
This is a friendly, neighborhood café, good for family dining and coffee dates, a treasure of fine eating in the heart of Berkeley. One visit will bring you back at every hour of the day to sit, chat, and sample delicious food you can afford, not to mention desserts to die for, all the more delectable because they are made with organic ingredients that are good for you.
The Bread Workshop Café is a few blocks south of the North Berkeley BART station at 1398 University Avenue and is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m., dinner from 5p.m. until 9 p.m. and their weekend brunch is available until 2 p.m.
For more information visit www.thebreadworkshop.com or call 510 649 9740 to order a special holiday pie or a dinner ready to serve and guaranteed to be far superior to any fast food entrée you have ever tasted.