InBerkeley

Bakesale Betty's fried chicken sandwich

This month’s Sunset magazine (an unhelpful website doesn’t include all the content) has a paean to Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood. I’m a particular fan of both Bakesale Betty’s and Pizzaiolo, but I’m not sure I agree with this:

Why go now: Restaurant openings keep building the buzz in the East Bay’s other Gourmet Ghetto (Berkeley’s is so last decade).

Photo by Karmacamilleeon from Flickr

Food

As reported in BroadwayWorld.com, the Berkeley Repertory Theatre has elected influential local leaders to guide its 42nd season:

This month, at the annual meeting for Berkeley Repertory Theatre, influential leaders from the Bay Area’s top firms signed on to guide the Tony Award-winning nonprofit through its 42nd season. The board of trustees elected new members and a slate of officers to steer the Theatre during a year of daring shows, which includes the latest work from the nation’s top artists.

General

The Daily Californian has two reports about new schools in Berkeley.

A group is seeking approval from the Berkeley Unified School District to open the city’s first public charter high school. The Daily Californian reports:

The charter school, Revolutionary Education and Learning Movement, could open in fall 2010 with 260 ninth through 11th grade students from South and West Berkeley.

A proposal for implementing the charter school will go before the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education for a vote as soon as mid-August.

The charter school would be an alternative to Berkeley High School and Berkeley Technology Academy, a continuation high school for students with academic and behavioral difficulties, said academy Principal Victor Diaz.

“As an educational institution, we want to create people who are committed to think about how the world works with 21st century skills,” said Diaz, a founding director of the charter school. “We’re creating better people, better humanity.”

In a separate article, The Daily Californian reports that Zaytuna College is investigating whether to open the first accredited Islamic college in the US in Berkeley:

Advisors for the project have scheduled a June vote to decide whether Zaytuna College could open as an officially accredited institution as early as fall 2010, according to the Associated Press.

“I think it would be wonderful to have,” said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. “It would be a nice addition to our academic and religious community.”

Two prominent American Muslim scholars, Imam Zaid Shakir and Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, are behind the project, having spent years developing a curriculum that incorporates a liberal arts education and training in Islamic scholarship, according to the AP.

Earlier this month, the London-based Guardian newspaper reported that Zaytuna had ambitions to become a “Muslim Georgetown”.

Education

A taste of Italy? Beer, more beer and a decent pizza at Jupiter's in downtown Berkeley.

Wilco was playing at the Greek so Jupiter was thronging, but it was a revelation. If you could snag a table, then got doubly lucky and landed Sarah as your waiter, she would ensure you got a bite to eat and a glass of ice-cold brew before the opening credits at the Landmark Shattuck across the street.

Having never been to Jupiter before, the real surprise was the setting. A two-story building in central Berkeley hiding an enormous sheltered courtyard out back — hundreds of tables, trellises, fire pits, parasols and potted geraniums: a pretty much perfect spot for the end of a hot summer’s day in the city.

They were calling an hour’s wait for the wood-fire oven pizzas by the time we were seated. But we plucked at a red and gold beet salad and the Galileo arrived in time: artichoke hearts, spinach, aged Asagio and garlic, on a proper blistered thin crust.

Crowds notwithstanding, this is one to keep in mind when racking your brains for somewhere dependable to eat downtown.

[Photo: Melissa Rapp.]

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