Belated birthday

I had my qualms about the vegan Japanese restaurant. I envisioned rolls filled with hard brown rice instead of the sticky soft white kind. I pictured too much tofu. I saw myself smiling politely as I tried to swallow. But, I was pleasantly surprised when I met up with Lisa and Mo for a belated joint birthday gathering at Cha-Ya in Berkeley.

Located in the gourmet ghetto along Shattuck Avenue, Cha-Ya is a tiny place with few tables and spots along the counter. There was a long line forming outside when I arrived and found Mo and Lisa already seated. I felt slightly guilty to just breeze past all the folks freezing as they were waiting for a table.

Lisa and Mo had already done some ordering. I looked at the menu before deciding that there were too many options, gave up, and went with whatever those two had decided upon. There was a jicama salad on the table and cubes of tofu in a light brown sauce. The salad was clean and fresh. The julienne jicama and radishes crunched in mouth, and I tried to figure out what else was mixed in there. The tofu cube was soft and tender without being impossible to pick up with chopsticks. I topped my piece off with seaweed. The vegetable tempura that came out was crispy, the batter flakey and not greasy. There was a roll that looked and tasted like a roll from any other non-vegan Japanese restaurant. We also had a bowl of sushi rice topped with a mixed vegetable assortment: lotus root, snap peas, carrots, and I don’t remember what else.

Everything tasted fresh and clean. And, although I did spy brown rice options on the menu, I was more than happy with our non-brown rice dishes.

After dinner, we headed across the street to Cesar for cocktails and dessert. Through the crowd of older people being hip, I ordered a Cuban Manhattan and a cheese plate with figs and almonds drizzled with honey. The white cheese was smooth, creamy, and sweet—really tasting like a dessert. The figs that surrounded it were perfectly ripe with their seedy middles exposed in full glory. And the honey that covered the dish pulled the parts together in a light touch of sweetness. Delicious.