Uncle Willie's Bar-B-Que: beef links

Uncle Willie's Bar-B-Que: beef links

Uncle Willie's pork sandwich (an actual sandwich, not a "sandwich order," or smaller portion than a dinner order in common 'cue joint parlance) used to be one of the great, tasty bargains in the area, but I guess I was the only one eating 'em because they don't do it anymore, so nowadays I often go for the beef links.



Uncle Willie's links have a nice, coarse grind. They sport a light smoke ring and have more of a charcoal-grilled flavor than a smoked flavor, though the outer casing bears no obvious grill marks. The medium sauce (on top of the meat if you don't ask otherwise; I like sauce over my links but on the side of other barbecued meats) gets the heat right- the hot has a bit much red chile flakes, which compete with the meat, and I don't do mild.

Sandwich orders come with one side; I usually go with the collard greens. Uncle Willie's are chopped, peppery greens with just a bit of likker, probably canned but you know what? I don't care because they're tasty and I'm eating a large serving of a highly nutritious veg at lunchtime. That doesn't happen much away from Asian cuisine. 2 slices of regulation-issue wheat bread for sopping up sauce round out the order.

$9.73 all-in, and I had a half dozen slices of links left over for a snack later.

Uncle Willie's Original Bar-B-Que and Fish
614 14th
465.9200

Kai's Japanese Restaraunt opens in Old Oakland

Kai's Japanese Restaurant opens in Old Oakland



Strolling down Washington during my midday foraging I was startled to see that Kai's Japanese Restaurant, which had appeared to be on the verge of opening for months, had finally done so. This is the 2nd Kai's; the other is in Alameda (I have never been there). I settled on the chicken teriyaki bento as an opening foray, placed my order for takeout, and sat at the bar about 5 minutes as my order was prepared. The other bar denizens were eating sushi and seemingly enjoying it.


The grilled chicken is slightly smoky where charred, and topped with a sprinkling of sesame seeds. The slightly sweet teriyaki sauce is absorbed a bit by the bed of rice which nonetheless remained firm. The accompaniments are an iceberg lettuce salad with shredded carrot and red onion and lightly dressed in a sweet, mayo-based condiment, and a Hawaiian-esque macaroni salad (no potato) featuring carrots as well.

$5 all in- far, FAR better than the heat-lamp preserved offerings from Suruki's on the same block. The chicken teri bento was satisfying, and if it's any indication Kai's is certainly a worthwhile addition to the lunchtime rotation, particularly given the reasonable toll.

Kai's Japanese Restaurant
801 Washington
893.KAIS (893.5247)

Spices! 3 Szechuan Trenz Kung pao chicken!!

Spices! 3's Kung pao chicken, branded a 2-dot incendiary alarm on the menu, kicks ass.




I'm no Chinese food guru but I'll venture to say that if one were fishing around Chinatown for a benchmark of this classic though oft-bastardized Szechuan stalwart, one could do far worse than Spices! 3's tasty rendition.

The nuggets of chicken took a quick spin in the wok accompanied by no less than a dozen red chiles, a smattering of green onion, and a judicious number of large coins of ginger, along with a handful of whole peanuts. The chicken is glazed by a deliciously thick, dark, complex sauce flecked with tiny black bits, most likely from the more wok-scorched chiles- totally worth sitting at the desk in damp pants for an hour after dashing 3 long blocks through the pouring rain.

$7.10 all in.

Spices! 3
369 12th St
625.8889

Cam Huong BBQ Bacon Banh Mi

Cam Huong BBQ Bacon Banh Mi

Banh mi, or Vietnamese sandwiches on good crusty French bread and accesorized with a whole galaxy of contrasting flavors and textures, are the great value of downtown Oakland lunches.



Here we have Cam Huong's BBQ bacon banh mi, or banh mi ba chi. First, the bread- the outer crust is almost shatteringly crisp, quickly giving way to a soft, pillowy interior, moistened by a mayo-like condiment that doesn't taste like mayo down near the bottom of the roll.

Next, the meat- several strips of pleasantly chewy, meaty bacon, not smoky at all, bright pink/red on outer edge (I think that's why it gets labeled BBQ, I'm not sure how they cooked it but it results in soft and chewy rather than crispy bacon) with swathes of creamy white.

Finally, a glorious collision of freshness- the BBQ bacon is nestled beneath lightly-pickled strips of daikon & carrot, followed by cucumber sliced lengthwise, jalapenos sliced both lengthwise and crosswise into rounds, and cilantro sprigs.

When you eat a banh mi, layers of contrasting textures and flavors- crispy, soft, tangy, bright, salty, sweet, spicy, citrusy, meaty- party in your mouth.

At $2.50 for a legitimate, meal-sized sandwich which IMHO needs no adjuncts to form a satisfying lunch (note how it spans the diameter of a standard paper plate), banh mi such as Cam Huong's are one of the great bargains in town. And if you need something more, throw in a mere $3 for the goi cuon (fresh shrimp rolls) that kick the ass of the Le Cheval pretenders at a fraction of the price.

Try to go a little before noon, it can get hectic in this narrow storefront.

Cam Huong
920 Webster

Never mind the phone number, the sandwich is done in a minute or two.