cepheid

Hey FTers!

Edit: The venue and date have been updated to Jayakarta on March 8; please note the new details below!

Wow, it's been waaaaaaaay too long since the last East Bay DO. It's my fault, of course, since I've been too busy with so many other things... but really, that's no excuse, and so to make it up to you, it's time for Yet Another Semi-Random East Bay DO! (This time, with extra DO!) You've got more than a month to prepare, so you have no excuse not to be there, except, of course, for all those excuses you have to not be there.

As before, we're continuing our tour of Pan-Asian cuisine... This time, we're really serious about the "southeast" in "southeast Asia," so we're going for some lovely Indonesian fare.

You are cordially invited to join us for EBDo4 at Jayakarta in central Berkeley on Sunday, March 8 at 7pm!

As with previous EBDos, our goal is to shun the mundane and feast on the more "travel-worthy" cuisines here in our epicurian playground, while still keeping a sharp focus on accessibility (so you can find it) and affordability (so you want to find it).

Jayakarta is located at 2026 University Ave. in central Berkeley, just west of Shattuck and conveniently away from the highest concentration of downtown Berkeley bums (who are not as colorful or amusing as the Telegraph bums, anyway ). It is only a few blocks away from the downtown Berkeley BART station, for those who enjoy the unique bouquet of smells available on public transportation. For drivers, some street parking is available on University, Milvia, or other nearby cross-streets; meters are free all day on Sundays.

Jayakarta specializes in Indonesian cuisine, which has influences from many other southeast Asian cuisines yet is itself quite unique. Although their website is horrendous, their food is excellent. Their menu is available online if you want to preview the experience - it even includes prices, if you need to find sufficient change under your couch cushions.

So, you've got 34 days to plan - plenty of time for a crafty FTer who has some miles or free-ticket vouchers (or gasoline) to burn! RSVP as soon as you can, so that we can estimate our group size and make reservations, if necessary.

See you there!*

-- Your organizers, mahasamatman and cepheid*
* I reserve the right to bail at the last minute if there is stupendous snow in Tahoe.

(The East Bay DO series of FT gatherings is dedicated to sampling the best ethnic cuisine in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Greater Metropolitan Area. Restaurants are chosen with an eye for quality and affordability, as well as easy accessibility via public transportation such as BART. East Bay DO events occur with no set schedule but will always be announced with sufficient planning time on Community Buzz.)

tom911

I'm due back from Europe the night before and should be able to make this if flights go out as scheduled.

cepheid

Oops, I forgot to reserve Post #2 for the attendee list. Oh well.

Confirmed awesome:
asya999 +1
kalkat
magic111
mahasamatman +1
SFOLIS
wcrhkd +1

Suspected awesome:
BOISJC744
fnothaft
Karen2 +1

So awesome they're not even coming:
boxo
cepheid +1 [Tahoe!]
indo79
KathyWdrf [last-minute illness!]
SFOTerry
tom911

BOISJC744

I'd love to join, but I've got plans on the peninsula that weekend--too bad it wasn't tonight, as I'm in Berkeley right now. Perhaps I'll be available next time.

iluv2fly

Please put me in the "So awesome words can't describe him" category.

cepheid

I thought that was so obvious, I just didn't need to include it. So does that mean that you'll show up bearing gifts? Or that you not only won't show up but will actually send some indication of how unworthy we are of your presence?

jtsaltman82

i would normally be all for this, but i suspect i'll be at the chinese new years parade that night. so, let's say a maybe...

boxo

I'll be MRing that day.

KathyWdrf

I'm a strong maybe (or whatever the terminology is ).

SFOTerry

Please put us (+1) on the So awesome they're not even coming list. We'll be at the CO DO IV.

mahasamatman

Bad news. It looks like the Berkeley location of Unicorn no longer exists. At least there's no mention of it on their web site any more, and their phone number comes back as "you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no loner in service".

Too bad because it was one of the best restaurants in Berkeley.

How about Jayakarta?

cepheid

Alrightie, plans have changed. Since the Berkeley Unicorn has become as mythical as its namesake, we've changed venues to Jayakarta. We've also changed dates to March, since next weekend is looking poor in terms of attendance (on the parts of your organizers, too).

Please note the new details in the OP. I've cleared out the list of respondents - please re-RSVP for the new date/location.

KathyWdrf

Huh? The date has changed? Uh, OK. I don't know yet about March 8.

cepheid

Yes, given that we had only 3 "maybes" and the only 2 confirmed attendees were also leaning towards "maybe," we decided it was prudent to change the date as well... gives more people time to plan.

Sorry for being so wishy-washy. If Unicorn hadn't disappeared, we probably wouldn't have changed anything. It's all their fault, really.

cepheid

It's predicted to snow Thur/Fri in Tahoe so I likely would have bailed on the original plans anyway. Good thing we moved it.

Now all we need are some participants!