saturday night = date night

May 6, 2007 at 1:29 am · Filed under asian, bakery, bbq, date night, hawaiian

Red A Bakery
634 Clement St. (x 7th Ave.)

BBG LOVES HAWAIIAN BBQ. We eat dinner on Clement a lot and this is a perenial favorite simply because he likes it so much. I myself am not the biggest fan, but on date night, you gotta be nice to your date. And I didn’t have to say yes twice.

The Red A Bakery doubles as an Asian bakery and a Hawaiian BBQ spot. It’s a semi-odd combination, but that sort of embodies what the place is all about. The interior is furnished with modern style tables, chairs, and carpet. It’s small, with about ten tables, and a counter in the back. The counter has the cash register plus a big display case filled with different kinds of pastries. There’s also a display fridge with not only drinks, but also cold baaus you can take home and re-heat yourself. Neat.

The pastries are mostly Asian. You can get your regular sponge cake in the form of a cupcake, red bean filled cookie thingys, egg tarts/dan tat, etc. Even the less Asian pastries (mini apple pies, for example) look like they’ve had an Asian twist. The baaus are gooooooood. We bought a six pack awhile back, and even though it was mislabled as BBQ pork, we enjoyed the regular chicken filled baaus. All in all, a pretty good selection of small pastries and cakes.

The restaurant part features mostly BBQ plates and some other easy Hawaiian or grill foods. There are different types of BBQ’d meats that come with rice and macaroni salad (which is how they roll in Hawaii). The BBQ is more or less teriyaki style, sweet and tender. They give you more than enough, which is always appreciated by BBG. While it’s not the best quality, it is the best in quantity, especially for a dish under $7. BBG says it’s like the Steve’s Korean BBQ of Hawaiian BBQ, a reference for all you Berkeley folks out there.

Since I’m not a big fan of Hawaiian BBQ, I’ve tried other plates. I love tonkatsu. It’s a Japanese dish that’s made of either chicken or pork meat, which is breaded then fried and served with a thick, dark A1/Worcestershire sauce. It makes sense that many Hawaiian places serve the dish, and the Red A Bakery is no exception. Their tonkatsu is made with chicken and overall, it’s pretty gross. There’s a lot of fat and thus a lot of grease that comes with the dish. The breaded outside is crispy and flavorful, and the sauce is good, but after a few pieces I got a little queasy. They give you a ton, though, so that counts for something.

Not to worry though, I found something on the menu I liked: cheeseburger and fries. At $3.50 for both, you can’t go wrong. The fries are thick and crispy, much like what you’ll find at Smokehouse in Berkeley (another reference). The burger looks like it’s actually grilled. Mine was medium-well done and slightly charred on the edges, which is perfect for me. It’s served with lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, mustard and mayo. A little heavy on the mayo and onions, and the lettuce was a little limp, but otherwise a classic combo that was yummy. Can’t resist a good burger.

On this last visit I noticed they have fish and chips, which is also a long time favorite of mine. I saw it on a sign right after I ordered, so I’ll have to try it next time. For drinks they have milk tea (no boba! 😦 for shame), coffees, and a nice selection of milk shakes. They have classic flavors for shakes as well as a green tea flavor and a mixed fruit flavor. Sounds interesting, but I’m hesitant to pay $2.50 for something I might not like.

Every time we’ve been there a teenage-ish girl has been working the counter, so it seems as if this is a family operation. They talk on the phone or watch the TV, which is a good sized flat screen always playing kid cartoons (I’ve seen Dora and SpongeBob, plus weird PBS cartoons) – something we’ve found to be pretty strange. While the eating area looks pretty clean and simple, the back area is not so nice. I had to use the restroom on one occasion and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Down the hall to the bathroom the floor was greasy and slippery. The bathroom was small and felt grimy. The back area/kitchen was big, as if it could be used to cook for a much larger restaurant, but filled with junk and boxes of stuff. The whole area felt dirty, as if it hadn’t been cleaned in a loooooong time only because it wasn’t used for a long time. If that makes sense.

If it’s any consolation, I’m sure most restaurants look like this behind closed doors. And I didn’t see any mice or insects, so there’s a plus. Every time we’ve gone the place is pretty empty, with one or two people eating besides us. Since the place opens and closes so early (their hours are 7am – 8pm), it looks like their money maker is the bakery.

Overall: An ok Hawaiian BBQ place that’ll give you the most bang for your buck, especially if you don’t think about what goes on behind closed doors or are concerned about your health.  If you’re not into Hawaiian, though, use the place as a bakery.

Rating: 6/10

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