Photos: Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto

During the evening dinner rush, Chez Panisse’s kitchen is a hive of activity.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

Blood oranges are prepared for the evening’s meals at Chez Panisse.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

In preparation for those wanting dessert at Chez Panisse, final touches are put on a galette.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

Radicchio is artistically arranged in a basket at Chez Panisse.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

The choices are extensive at Berkeley’s Cheese Board Collective -- more than 300 kinds of cheese are in stock.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

Marshall Roberts greets Breidi Truscott with flowers and pizza-to-go at the Cheese Board Pizza Collective.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

It’s pizza and a beer for Tiffany Anderson, left, of Idaho, outside the Cheese Board, which an “epicurean concierge” refers to as “the cornerstone of the Gourmet Ghetto.”  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

Tonya Newstetter displays some of the pickles that have made Saul’s Deli famous in the heart of the Gourmet Ghetto in Berkeley.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

Smoked trout is displayed at Saul’s Restaurant & Delicatessen in Berkeley. Don’t like fish? Try the pastrami.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

Olaf Groth and his daughter, Hannah Groth-Reidy, 4, enjoy drinks outside the original Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Berkeley.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

Panos Panagos cleans shelves at his Alegio Chocolaté, one of eight fine food businesses at the Epicurious Garden. His chocolates are to die for.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)

“Food makes sense to everyone,” says “epicurean concierge” Lisa Rogovin, who offers walking tours of Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto.  (Robert Durell / For The Times)