Restaurant tour highlights Oakland’s cuisine

‘ ‘ ‘ For those who have trouble choosing where to eat in Oakland, Tuesday night was a good… ‘ ‘ ‘ For those who have trouble choosing where to eat in Oakland, Tuesday night was a good night. ‘ ‘ ‘ Oakland restaurants welcomed new and old Oakland residents to sample their fare for its sixth annual restaurant tour. ‘ ‘ ‘ Nine restaurants and about 200 guests participated in the event, organized by the Oakland Planning and Development Corporation in conjunction with Pitt’s International Week, which began Monday. ‘ ‘ ‘ Tickets for the event were $10 in advance and $15 at the door. The tour allowed its participants to move freely from one restaurant to another as they wished. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Each ticket indicated a starting place for each participant, and we asked the guests to follow the order on the back of their ticket to avoid a rush of people at one restaurant,’ said Kelly Wawrzeniak of the OPDC. ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt graduate Freda Ellis, who took part in the event, said she enjoyed sampling the cookies and fresh bread from Panera Bread. This was the first year she attended the tour. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Some places give you a lot of things to choose from, and others only have one small serving,’ said Ellis. ‘ ‘ ‘ Qdoba’s marketing coordinator Richan Gaskins said that participating in the tour was an easy decision. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I think joining the tour is great advertisement for our business,’ he said. ‘It also gives members of the community [a chance] to sample some of our food and enjoy our unusually large dining area.’ This is Qdoba’s third year in Oakland and first year on the tour. ‘ ‘ ‘ Qdoba served soft tacos along with its signature salsa verde to those who passed through. ‘ ‘ ‘ Red Oak Cafe is new to the tour this year, as well as to the Oakland community, The restaurant was founded in 2007. ‘ ‘ ‘ Dave Gancy, a manager at the cafe, explained that the tour would help customers not only to recognize where the business is, but also will give customers a chance to sample some of its unique recipes and creations. ‘ ‘ ‘ The cafe served’ frozen smoothies, oatmeal smoothies and carrot soup, among other samples during the tour. ‘ ‘ ‘ Pitt student Brock Sizer enjoyed the dishes that the restaurant offered, as well as the idea of the tour. ‘ ‘ ‘ Sizer said that the tour was an easy way for members of the community to try the food from many restaurants without buying an entire meal. ‘ ‘ ‘ India Garden, which has participated in the tour for four years, opened its entire buffet to guests.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Victor Barboza, manager of India Garden, said that the tour has helped the business to acquire some of its regular customers. ‘ ‘ ‘ Dave ‘amp; Andy’s owner Andy Hardie said that his establishment has been in Oakland for 25 years. ‘ ‘ ‘ Participating in the tour for his third year, Hardie said that he likes to get involved and support the Oakland community in any way that he can.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘There are a lot of great restaurants in Oakland,’ said Hardie.’ ‘It is just very easy to pass them without even knowing.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Other restaurants which returned to the tour this year included Lu Lu’s Noodles, Leena’s, Chipotle and Rita’s Water Ice. ‘ ‘ ‘ Wawrzeniak said that, in order to notify local restaurants about the event, invitations were sent out in July to get an idea of which local business owners would be interested in participating.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ While many of the restaurants in the tour have participated previously, the OPDC tries to add at least one newcomer to the scene each year.