Welcome to the Mid-Week Menu, our weekly roundup of East Bay food news.
1) Inside Scoop reports that Berkeley’s zoning board has approved plans for a multi-use complex in the former Cody’s Books space (2454-64 Telegraph Ave.) called Mad Monk Center for Anachronistic Media. The project is the brainchild of Rasputin Music founder Ken Sarachan, and will include a performance space; a store selling books, records, and tapes; a flower shop; and a full-service restaurant known as Commissar, which will serve mostly-vegetarian “upscale peasant’s and worker’s food.” According to Inside Scoop, the restaurant component will be run by Craig Becker of Berkeley’s Caffe Mediterraneum and Scott Cameron of Oakland’s Guest Chef.
Berkeleyside Nosh has more of Sarachan’s comments from the zoning board meeting, including this gem of a quote: “We’re not gonna have gangster rappers. We might have rappers more like Tupac, who have poetry, who speak to educate people, but … it’s not gonna be a dance club with DJs and bou bou bou bou stuff. That gives me a headache.”
Flickr.com user “avlxyz”/Wikipedia Commons Grand Lake Coffee House (via Facebook)
