Brew City Grill >>
You know a restaurant is serious about French fries when it devotes an entire section of the menu to them.
Check out the Brew City Grill menu and you'll find “Craft Burgers” and “Artisan Pizzas” … and “Potatoes & Salt.” The latter include “long cut, crispy and salty” Naked Fries, Gilroy Garlic Fries, Truffle Fries and Nashville Fries plus Tater Tots embedded with sea salt and the real interloper, beer-battered Onion Rings.
Co-owners Matt Westley and Glenn Thompson keep things interesting with about 24 rotating beer taps and seasonal menu specials to supplement the lineup of Pliny mussels, crispy calamari, burgers, wings, pizzas and salads. Fries come with most burgers and sandwiches, and you can upgrade to a specialty fry for just a bit more.
FRY TO TRY >> If you're a heat-seeker, go for the Nashville Fries, which are tossed with a spicy dry rub and served with cooling ranch dip. We loved their version of Garlic Fries, which adds feta to the Christopher Ranch garlic.
DETAILS >> Open for lunch and dinner daily at 651 W. Hamilton Ave., Campbell; https://brewcitygrill.com.
Fully Loaded Fries at Concord's Corner Kitchen top Sidewinder Fries with crumbled bacon, Cheddar cheese sauce, sour cream and scallions.
Brothers John and A.J. Groppetti and their friend Sal Morales knew that March 2021 wasn't the best time to open arestaurant, but the Concord High alums always dreamed of making food together. So they went ahead and launched Corner Kitchen in an undistinguished commercial strip within walking distance of their homes, starting as a brisk take-out business and then transitioning into a go-to place for locals.
With its vintage-style booths, this dineresque eatery offers a twist on American classics, serving a mouth-watering range of sliders that customers can mix and match. There are mini-beef burgers ($5-$6) with bacon, blue cheese, roasted chiles or a brie and caramelized onion topping. Prefer something other than beef? They do sliders with chicken, pulled pork, salmon, oyster mushrooms or falafel patties too.
FRY TO TRY >> You can get your fries in classic fashion ($3), as twisty Sidewinders or topped with garlic, cheese sauce, chili, mushroom gravy and such. The popular Fully Loaded Fries ($7$12) conjures up classic baked potato flavors: Sidewinder Fries topped with a Cheddar cheese sauce, bacon crumbles, scallions and ribbons of sour cream.
DETAILS >> Open for lunch and dinner Wednesday-Sunday at 3606 Willow Pass Road, Concord; thecorner-kitchen.com.
Anyone who's ventured to Alameda Point knows there are gourmet treasures lurking on this wind-blasted former naval air base. That includes food trucks at the breweries of Spirits Alley — lobster grilled cheese, mala Sichuan pork jerky, California-style ube cheesecake, anyone? — as well as the Humble Sea taproom which opened last summer and Firebrand's wholesale bread-and-pastry cafe.
Then there's the year-old Saltbreaker, which sports an industrial look with exposed concrete and hanging greenery, olive-green booths and seats at a stainless-steel bar. The menu offers modern Californian bistro food like Ora King salmon ($31) with coconut green curry and pea tendrils, steak frites ($33) and roasted Brussels ($11) with fig balsamic and Spanish chorizo. Enjoy it with a glass of Love Rose from Berkeley's Broc Cellars, a Nebbiolo from Alameda's Urban Legend or perhaps a “freezer martini” ($15) with Aqua Perfecta Basil Eau de Vie from nearby St. George Spirits. (Don't sleep on their mocktails: The Oranges and Cream ($7) is an adult twist on the Creamsicle and the ultimate, imbibable dessert.)
FRY TO TRY >> The thin shoestring-potato Fancy Fries ($7) are topped with parsley and Parmesan shavings — scented with garlic but without the oily slick of some garlic fries. Perfectly salted and golden, with bits of earthy potato bark on the end, they'll be gone before you know it.
DETAILS >> Open for dinner Wednesday-Sunday and brunch one Sunday per month at 2350 Saratoga St., Alameda; saltbreakeralameda.com.
For more than a decade, the Stephanos family has applied a farm-to-table philosophy to their fare, even while ensuring guests can be in and out in half an hour, if they so choose. But the San Ramon location in particular provides a cozy farmhouse feel for anyone who wants to linger, with an entire wall paneled in roughhewn wood and drinks served in Mason jars.
Named for one of the family's goats, Fat Maddie's uses organic eggs, herbs and produce from the family farm just outside Danville for its artisanal salads, sandwiches, gyros and specialty burgers. The Cali burger ($12) is a standout, with a juicy patty, cheddar and applewoodsmoked bacon squeezed between two toasted slices of sourdough.
FRY TO TRY >> You'll find all the delicious classics ($6-$9) here, including curly, sweet potato, garlic and even a garlic-feta take. The Buffalo and chili cheese fries ($8-$10) may be labeled as sides, but they're a meal all by themselves. That's especially true of the chili fries, which are layered with what must be an entire bowlful of smoky chili filled with tasty chunks of beef.