Berkeley is where California cooking began: Chez Panisse opened here in 1971, Acme Bread followed, and the Gourmet Ghetto on North Shattuck still has the worker-owned Cheese Board, with one pizza a day. Around UC Berkeley the eating is cheap and global, from a Sunday brunch at a Thai temple to Michelin Bib Gourmand yakitori and tea-smoked duck. Go for the bread, the produce at Berkeley Bowl and a long lunch upstairs at Chez Panisse.
Berkeley at a glance
What to eat
Sourdough vegetable pizza; Acme sourdough; Thai temple brunch; California cuisine at Chez Panisse; Yakitori.
When to go
Best: May–June and September–October. Also good: April and July–August.
Top tables
This guide lists 4 award-winning restaurants, starting with Comal, Great China, Ippuku and Chez Panisse.
Where locals eat
Local favorites off the prestige lists include Cheese Board Pizza, Cheese Board Collective, Acme Bread and Wat Mongkolratanaram.
Markets
Downtown Berkeley Farmers' Market, North Berkeley Farmers' Market and South Berkeley Farmers' Market.
4 award-winning12 local favorites1 hot right now3 markets5 walking tour stops10 chef's picks4 sandwich shops5 romantic dinners5 breakfast spots4 new openings11 dish spots
Food walking tour: Vine and Shattuck: a Gourmet Ghetto Thursday hours on foot, 5 stops, in eating order. Add the whole tour to your trip, then give it a day.
Going with a group?Give Chef your dates and hotel and he drafts every meal. Then send the group one link: they heart what they'd go to, add their own, and see the morning each table opens.
New places change fast. “Provisional” means a guide or directory lists it as new but we have not confirmed the opening date. Check hours and book ahead before you go.
Memorable breakfasts in Berkeley
Five places chosen for the food, the room, the history or the local character. In no ranked order.
La Note
Downtown Berkeley
Order: Weekend brunch
The town's most-recommended brunch room, at 2377 Shattuck Ave.
Picks come from romantic-dinner lists on booking and review sites. Confirm dinner service, menus and availability before you book.
Food walking tour
Vine and Shattuck: a Gourmet Ghetto Thursday
The first Peet's, the Cheese Board's bread and pizza, the farmers market and dinner upstairs at Chez Panisse.
Start 11:00 at Peet's Coffee, 2124 Vine St at Walnut StBest days Thursday, when the North Berkeley farmers market runs 3 to 7 p.m. on Shattuck at Vine. Book the Chez Panisse cafe ahead.
The blocks around Shattuck and Vine got the name Gourmet Ghetto in the 1970s, after Peet's, the Cheese Board and Chez Panisse opened within a few steps of each other. This walk takes all three, plus the Thursday farmers market, in one easy afternoon.
Pacing: Share the pizza so there is room for dinner.
Plan B: Not a Thursday? Swap the market for the Saturday downtown market on Center St and walk up Shattuck.
Avoid: Cal home football Saturdays and commencement weekend, when town is full. The Cheese Board and Chez Panisse keep their own closing days: check before you go.
Bring: A bag for bread and market produce. Times between stops were not measured; every stop is within a few blocks.
Skip it if: You can't book Chez Panisse: end at Saul's deli a few blocks south.
Ends at: Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Ave.
Walking times and distances are approximate, and opening hours change: confirm before you go.
Hot right now in Berkeley
What people are lining up for and posting about this month. Entries expire after about four months unless they are reported again.
Always a lineLast confirmed Jul 2026
Cheese Board Pizza
Gourmet Ghetto · $
The thing: The pizza of the day
The line: Lines out the door at dinner and by midday Friday and Saturday
Topped Yelp's 100 Places for Pizza; in 2026 the collective's expanded corner shop reopened with separate lines for cheese and bread.
Three Ecology Center farmers markets run all year, rain or shine, so any month works. Spring brings Berkeley Restaurant Week (April 2 to 12, 2026) and Taste of North Berkeley (May 13, 2026); September has the vegan Bizerkeley festival and the Solano Avenue Stroll. Hotels fill on Cal home football Saturdays, at move-in in late August and on May commencement weekend, so book early or pick another weekend.
In season
Berries and stone fruitJun–SepSummer tables at the farmers markets overflow with berries and stone fruit (Spoon University).
Asian pearsJul–NovA seasonal farmers market stand from July to November.
Persimmons and wild chanterellesOct–DecFall finds at the Berkeley markets.
Cheese Board's vegetable of the dayJan–DecThe one pizza changes daily with the season.
Food events
Berkeley Restaurant WeekAprApril 2 to 12, 2026; 2027 dates not yet announced.
Taste of North BerkeleyMayMay 13, 2026, 5 to 8 p.m. around Shattuck and Vine, food and drink tastings.
Bizerkeley Food FestivalSepSept. 6, 2026 at Civic Center Park; billed as Northern California's largest vegan food festival.
Solano Avenue StrollSepSept. 13, 2026, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; the 50th stroll, with about 25 food booths.
Closures to plan around
Some campus-area places keep shorter hours when UC Berkeley is out in summer and over winter break; check before you go.
From published guides and tourism boards. Months are our mapping of how guides describe the seasons; 2027 event dates are expected, not confirmed. Prices come from single sources of varying age, so treat them as a rough guide. Compare cities by month
Every place we have in Berkeley (33)
Search or filter, then tap Add to my trip. Places you add go straight into your trip planner.
Chez PanisseAward-winningWalking tour stopsDish spotsChef's picksRomantic dinnersNorth Berkeley · Michelin listed · Californian · $$$$
Awards come from the guides named on each listing (2026). Researched November 7, 2026. Restaurants change; confirm hours, reservations and current stars before you go. Some addresses, phone numbers and websites come from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), so call ahead to confirm. Local favorites are editorial picks, not rankings.
