My New Favorite Cafe: Tell Tale

Around the corner from CCA I found a cafe inside a great antiques store with a little sandwich board on the sidewalk as it's only signage, called Tell Tale Preserve Co.  Inside, it's rustic and cozy just like its larger home, Big Daddy Antiques, and they brew super premium coffee one cup at a time and keep primo gourmet goodies like sesame ginger scones on hand.  Ok, so the one drawback is that it's a little pricey, but it's nice to have a treat to reward yourself after those particularly brutal days at school.

Tell Tale Preserve Company

17th at Wisconsin, SF

Favorites: The Golden Lotus

Golden Lotus in the only reason to go to downtown Oakland. There, I said it. I know some people are going to get all bent out of shape about that, but it's true. Oakland had a lot of bustling new apartment buildings going up, new restaurants planting themselves, and a lot of hope until just a year or two ago when everything went bust with the economy. Now there are lots of empty buildings and a defunct old Sears and, OK, probably still places worth venturing into, but the Golden Lotus is the only place where I keep wanting to come back.

Located on the corner of 13th and Franklin, this all-veggie Vietnamese spot will make you crazy for fake meat! When's the last time you wanted to go where your vegan friends wanted to go? Pictured here is the spicy "beef" noodle soup. I also recommend the pot stickers with ginger sauce. The tea is also great. All around the menu, you can't go wrong.

Favorites: Issues Magazine Shop, Oakland, CA

Selection!
Fun music finds.
Just look at all those fashion mags! Also available: anything from belly dancing to guns to Korean brides to video games.
Noella and Joe, photo from their website

Issues Magazine Shop, located at 20 Glen Avenue at Piedmont, Oakland, CA, is one of my favorite places in Oakland. I have lived in Oakland for almost six years but have not found very many places that I love returning to. I have found that there is a lack of ease, comfort, and friendliness in many Oakland spaces. Blame it on a hipster, from-the-middle-of-nowhere-but-now-king-of-the-mountain attitude from many young service employees and entrepreneurs, as well as a jaded, down-on-their-luck attitude from the older service employees with master's degrees waiting tables for chump change.

Regardless of the reasons, I generally find the service is Oakland to be crap and the attitudes are off the charts, but NOT at Issues! Yea, I finally found a store in my neighborhood that sells tons of great magazines, books, music, and other stuff with a pleasant and really neighborly atmosphere! Issues is run by co-owners, Joe and Noella, who do an excellent job stocking their store with enough magazines to keep every walk of life under the sun entertained. Bonus attractions are their hand-picked art, music, and pop culture books and super rare music selections. Yes, I am a magazine addict, and I spend enough time thumbing through there to be a regular, but more importantly, they make me feel like a regular, too. Go visit if you're in the Piedmont neighborhood!

http://www.issuesshop.com/