Of All Places

After lunch at Troy today Mary and I walked into Of All Places, where we were warmly greeted by Celia and Joe. We wandered through the store looking at the various products on the shelves. When I got to the cold case I grabbed a package of the Slanted Door mushroom baos and look forward to having a couple of them for lunch tomorrow. As we were checking out Celia and I got into a conversation about the hours we sleep, having dogs, dog doors and raccoons coming into houses through them. I stay up late and sleep late. When I had dogs, Emily got along w/ the raccoons, allowing them in the house while we were at work, while Genie wouldn't. I have a Dutch door w/ the top open downstairs which keeps the raccoons out of the house. When I had dogs I couldn't close it because they would be unable to access the dog door, but now that I am w/o a dog I keep the Dutch door closed so if they do come in the dog door they can't get beyond the space where the furnace, water heater and washer/dryer are. Celia and Joe can't have a dog door because of the raccoons and their dog wakes her to go out. Mary bought some French made whipped cream which she plans to use on top of hot chocolate and her morning mocha. She seemed to be as enthralled w/ Of All Places as I am.Addendum 1/1/25 I had two of the mushroom baos for lunch today and was disappointed. They were good, but not great. They tasted good, but I would prefer more filling and less bread so I won't buy them again. It was worth a try.

Trekked over to Berkeley from Yolo County. I've been following the shop's owners on IG and saw they opened this shop. It is a treasure trove of handcrafted, unique food and wine. Not only are the goods high quality, they are displayed with the utmost care and attention to detail. The beautiful labels and colorful tiled floor and signs made me giddy. I walked out with a haul of yummy Mill Valley pasta, hot chili oil, chocolate, wine, Fish Wife SARDINES!, spicy potato chips. I went a little crazy. I would have bought more but I forgot to bring a cooler. And I didn't want to chance anything spoiling in that piercing October heat. I WILL be coming back for monthly rations.

Really cute little market with lots of super fun stuff. Great chocolate collection and some of the best iced tea I've ever had. For such a small store you could easily find yourself here for an extended amount of time considering all the fun options. Plus, the owners are super friendly and sweet.

Great place to grab something special for anyone or yourself! I like their offerings of greeting cards, chips, ice cream, and, specialty snacks. You can't go wrong!

I am an east bay native that works In the restaurant industry in SF. Being that I've never left Berkeley, it's such a relief to have a shop like this. They are masters of curating the best and most interesting specialty foods and really really exciting and affordable wines. We stop in all the time and they continue to just add more and more great things. The cookbook selection is fantastic! We are pumped to support a business like this. Of all places, is exactly what Solano was missing.

Everything they have is from a small producer, much of it local, and really special treat. Perfect for special occasions and gifts and making daily food gourmet. Very welcoming, and it feels like a great addition to Solano Avenue. Fabulous condiments. The Fine & Raw oat milk chocolate hazelnut butter spread, which is 40% hazelnut and has coconut suga, cacao, oats, vanilla powder and sea salt, everything organic is by far the best hazelnut chocolate spread I've ever eaten. I fear this has just become a staple food in our household!