Welcome to Chez Panisse Restaurant, to locals just a neighborhood bistro, which is at the heart of Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto. (Robert Durell / For The Times)
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)
