The Best Restaurants in OAKLAND

The most amazing and heavenly crisp potatoes you've ever tasted. I was riveted by the well-seasoned and satisfyingly crunchy crust, which I found utterly addictive.

For the best fried chicken sandwich in Oakland, fans head to Bakesale Betty. Open just three hours each day, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., look for the line outside the lunchtime bakery and take-out stop at the corner of Telegraph and 51st Avenue in Temescal. The shop is owned and operated by Australian-born chef Alison Barakat (you’ll recognize her by her trademark blue wig) and her husband and baker Michael Camp. The two opened Bakesale Betty in 2005, and along with a rotating menu of delectable sweets, began to offer a fried chicken sandwich. The word got out. Today, they sell between 500 and 600 sandwiches in three hours. The secret to Betty’s fried chicken sandwich lies in its simplicity. Barakat deep-fries buttermilk-soaked, air-chilled chicken breasts and heaps a mayonnaise-free jalapeño coleslaw atop two soft Acme Bakery buns. The result: A spicy, juicy sandwich bursting at the seams. Interesting tidbit: On nice days, people sit outside the shop and eat on vintage ironing boards used as tables.

Hopscotch is an upscale diner serving seasonally inspired cocktails and regional American food with a Japanese sensibility in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood. Among its amazing menu: a briny oyster topped with sea urchin and salmon roe drizzled with citrus soy ponzu.

At Pizzaiolo in Oakland, the pizza is a collision between Neapolitan style pizza and Californian cuisine. The chlorophyll-laden flavor of the wild nettles combined with thin slivers of red onion softened just enough to bring out all their sweetness, random salty shards of Pecorino cheese, underlying soft mozzarella, and richness from a splash of olive oil.