Our good friend Roy Fong of Imperial Tea Court of San Francisco, CA just
opened a new place in Berkeley at 1511 Shattuck.
As opposed to his tearoom at Powell and Broadway in SF, this has an open
space place, a garden inside. Epicurious Garden is a collection of several
gourme places. ITC is just one of them.
http://epicuriousgarden.com/index.html
If I understood him right they will also be serving very "chinese" chinese
food there shortly. I hope that the pot stench that permeates the vicinity
of the campus will spare the delicate interiors of the wenxianbeis.

Sasha.

Alex digy.net3/20/06


> Our good friend Roy Fong of Imperial Tea Court of San Francisco, CA just
> opened a new place in Berkeley at 1511 Shattuck.
> As opposed to his tearoom at Powell and Broadway in SF, this has an open
> space place, a garden inside. Epicurious Garden is a collection of several
> gourme places. ITC is just one of them.
> http://epicuriousgarden.com/index.html
> If I understood him right they will also be serving very "chinese" chinese
> food there shortly. I hope that the pot stench that permeates the vicinity
> of the campus will spare the delicate interiors of the wenxianbeis.
>
> Sasha.
>
>

Sasha,

Have we reason to fear a proliferation of
Tea Courts throughout the nation, bringing
tea to the masses in the style to which they
have become accustomed?

So, what's "very 'chinese' chinese food"?

Michael

"Alex Chaihorsky" > writes:

> Our good friend Roy Fong of Imperial Tea Court of San Francisco, CA just
> opened a new place in Berkeley at 1511 Shattuck.
> As opposed to his tearoom at Powell and Broadway in SF, this has an open
> space place, a garden inside. Epicurious Garden is a collection of several
> gourme places. ITC is just one of them.
> http://epicuriousgarden.com/index.html
> If I understood him right they will also be serving very "chinese" chinese
> food there shortly. I hope that the pot stench that permeates the vicinity
> of the campus will spare the delicate interiors of the wenxianbeis.

Hmm, how recently have you been to Berkeley? I spent a few hours
wandering the campus early last November and found it pretty tame.
The biggest crowd on Sproul Plaza was for the Young Republicans. I
didn't smell anything, uh, amiss either on campus or during several
walks on Shattuck.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Ever since opeining an ITC in San Francisco's gourmet haven at the
Ferry Building, Mr. Fong has seen a great boom in bussiness. He has
been working very hard to open this new Berkeley location and I'm sure
it will be a great success.
ITC seems committed to maintaining a high quality of product, but I
fear how this will affect the staff. Since the Ferry Building location
opened and proved to be a success, Mr. Fong seems to have a hard time
hiring and training knowledgeable employees. His best employee
recently left to pursue his academic career, and now when I go to the
main store the workers cannot answer simple questions about tea source,
age, leaf quality, etc. This is particularly true of the puerhs.
So, I wish Mr. Fong continued sucess, but I hope he can invest time in
the training of a knowledgeable staff.

'odors' in Berkeley, most of the recent UC grads that I know are
more concerned about earning potentials and investment portfolios to
have time for a little weed. The same cannot be said for the Stanford
grads that live above me and stink up the stairwell of our apartment
building.

-David L.

I see. May be my Berkeley experience is outdated or may be its because I
spend more time with Russian artists in Berkeley than with American
students....
I will be in the area (most probably) at the end of March - Roy and I have
some business to do - would you consider a quiet hour together at any of
these locations?

Sasha.


"Davelcorp" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Ever since opeining an ITC in San Francisco's gourmet haven at the
> Ferry Building, Mr. Fong has seen a great boom in bussiness. He has
> been working very hard to open this new Berkeley location and I'm sure
> it will be a great success.
> ITC seems committed to maintaining a high quality of product, but I
> fear how this will affect the staff. Since the Ferry Building location
> opened and proved to be a success, Mr. Fong seems to have a hard time
> hiring and training knowledgeable employees. His best employee
> recently left to pursue his academic career, and now when I go to the
> main store the workers cannot answer simple questions about tea source,
> age, leaf quality, etc. This is particularly true of the puerhs.
> So, I wish Mr. Fong continued sucess, but I hope he can invest time in
> the training of a knowledgeable staff.
>
> 'odors' in Berkeley, most of the recent UC grads that I know are
> more concerned about earning potentials and investment portfolios to
> have time for a little weed. The same cannot be said for the Stanford
> grads that live above me and stink up the stairwell of our apartment
> building.
>
> -David L.
>

Certainly!
Email me off-forum. My address is the same as my username @mac.com.
Let me know when you are coming and we can arrange a meeting. I live
very close to the Powell Street location, so I could easily meet you
there.
-David L.