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Food Recommendation of the Month - November
Pyeong Chang Tofu House
Address: 1269 University Avenue , Berkeley, CA 94702
This restaurant specializes in traditional soup tofu and hot stone bibimbap. it just expanded to Berkeley after opening up in Oakland for 19 years. I tried the spam and cheese tofu and the mentai wakame bibimbap.
For the tofu, the cheese melted in the mouth and added consistency to the soup into having a buttery taste. I feel like this adds flavor to just a normal tofu soup.
The bibimbap came with a smaller portion of the original tofu soup so it is a great addition if you don’t feel like ordering both!, I’m personally not a big fan of bibimbap, and I couldn’t taste the mentai after mixing it, but i really loved the burnt rice at the bottom of the stone bowl even though overall it was quite bland .
I feel like by expanding to Berkeley, Pyeong Chang is a great addition to Berkeley restaurants, since there isn’t really a lot of authentic Korean restaurant in Berkeley, as compared to in Oakland!!
What to order: Spam and Cheese Tofu
Ps: There is a cafe called Algorithm Coffee that’s close by as well as my favorite place to get donuts in Berkeley called Rainbow Donuts (Get the red velvet!)
-Dhe
Food Recommendation of the Month - October
Rick and Ann’s
Calling all the brunch lovers out there!!!
Rick and Ann’s
Address: 2922 Domingo Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705
I first heard of the name Rick and Ann's when I was scrolling through Yelp, but I don’t know why I never really had the intention to try it out. It was until Jason reminded me again of it, and so we decided to try it out for brunch!
The first time I arrived, my first impression was that the setting was very welcoming and homey. I ordered the Mid West plate which had a pork chop and potato pancake. The potato pancake was very crispy and was shredded like a hash brown, and the pork chop was very soft and tender.
This place is perfect for those who want a good brunch place (Reminds me of SF’s Mamas at Washington Square) but still want to stay at Berkeley. I'd definitely consider it a hole in a wall kind of thing since not a lot people know about it.
What to order: Mid West, Erica’s French Toast
PS: Take the 79 bus and walk for 2 minutes! There is also a bakery next to it called Fournee Bakery.
Meet Dheanna Tedja
Hello! My name is Dheanna and if you've ever talked me, you will most likely know that I’m a foodie hehehe. I browse Yelp for fun and my friends would occasionally ask for restaurant recommendations, so I decided to pick some places to be featured here!
Feel free to ask me personally if you want any recommendations!
Humans of BISA
Indonesia is among the most culturally diverse nations in the world. We speak over 700 languages & dialects and come from more than 15 ethnic groups across the archipelago we call home. So, we thought that we’d set up our very own rendition of Humans of New York – Humans of BISA, as we like to call it – so that we could get to know each other better and hopefully inspire some!
Here are our stories. What’s yours?
Why did you start Humans of bisa?
I started Humans of BISA because I believe storytelling is a powerful tool that can bring a group of people closer together. We are a big group, and it is easy to forget just how special each of us are despite our common heritage. With this project, I wanted to cherish those differences. I wanted to create a space where people could be inspired to get to know more people, to go beyond a simple hi, and to live united in diversity.
~Steven Singorahardjo
AS a freshman, how would you describe your recent transition to Cal?
When I was a high school student, the idea of going to college seemed like an exciting but distant period in the future. Four years later, the reality of college life finally sinks in and all of that excitement dissipates into a plethora of fears. “What if I’m not good enough for Cal?” Questions of this sort began manifesting in my thoughts and only fueled my fears. As I meekly entered Sproul Plaza on my first day at Cal, I vividly remember being overwhelmed by a flurry of flyers and enthusiastic clubs trying to recruit members. This experience alone is an allegory to my experience at Cal so far: overwhelmingly intimidating, yet compelling at the same time. Despite my initial fear, experiencing the ambitiously driven community at Cal compels me to transform that fear into resolve.
~Natasha Steven
What is your fondest memory of Berkeley?
Just one? Haha well I don’t have one particular memory, but in general, it’s definitely been the people that have made the last 4 years so memorable. If my life were a movie, this would be the cue for the dramatic flashback montage, complete with the voiceover, bokeh, light leaks - the whole shabang. From the “no door remains closed” norm in the dorms my freshman year, to the monthly Dominoes deliveries and rant/gossip sessions with my housemates and the spontaneous late-night drives after failed exams my sophomore year, to the picnics on Glade and possibly some the best trips to Mexico I’ll ever have my junior and senior year, I am very grateful to have met some of the best people here.
~Gaby Wantah
What is one value you live by?
I have always admired those people who seem to have it all, smart, kind, charismatic, successful, confident, you name it, but now I don’t think that’s necessarily the case - it’s not that they have it all, it’s that they understand their intrinsic self worth and feel so comfortable in their own skin that they need not compare themselves to others or beat themselves up when things don’t turn out the way they expect. They view each challenge with an optimistic mindset and each failure as an opportunity to grow. In a way, those who exhibit humility are confident but modest, and aren’t afraid to fail, and I think those qualities are some things that I strive to live by everyday.
~Ryan Jusuf
Tell Us about your hobby of calligraphy that you recently picked up.
I want people to know that I am not afraid to express myself. The thing is that it is easy to express yourself when you are happy but when you are feeling not so happy, when you are feeling sad or troubled, for me, that’s when I mostly write. I am a math major and so like, math majors, you don’t really expect them to type numbers up on a computer. So you always see them like writing numbers down and doing equations and stuff, but now I am using writing in another way. I always write in black, blue and green. Black is a very stable color - people always write in black. Blue because Cal and green because it’s my favorite color and because I don’t have any other color pens, but I’m not planning to get any other color pens. I see myself as more of a mellow, introverted person and blue and green, they’re calmer colors.
~Aprillia Judokusumo
How do you navigate through your life here at Cal?
Here you see people with different passions, which inspires me to try out as many things as I can. Here, you have a lot of choices - you can pursue entrepreneurship, join sports teams, the list goes on. So my first semester, I decided to take a shot at applying to student organizations. Sadly, that didn’t work out for me. But hey, when life closes one door, it opens another one for you. Right now, I am studying Business at Haas, while also discovering my passion in IEOR and am pursuing a minor in it. Who knew? I always tell myself to be grateful for everything I have, and for everything that I don’t have.
~Melissa Tania
I see you a lot in Wurster... how did you end up in architecture?
I was originally a Chemical Engineering major. I did fairly well in my classes and all, but I wasn’t enjoying what I was doing. One day, I was moving into my house when I saw an Architecture student bringing his model around. That moment changed everything. I suddenly remembered the days when I joined drawing competitions, and my artistic side was rekindled. So I thought, “Rather than doing something I am good at, why not try something that I also have a passion for?”
~Parama Pradana Suteja
I think one of the most eye opening things about my transition from Indonesia to the US was a new understanding of where my own happiness lies. Family played a huge role in my life and suddenly being removed from them, coming here has definitely pushed myself to find new avenues to seek happiness. I focused a lot on making friends and building a community last year but right now I’ve been more focused on taking some time for myself. I’m so glad with all the decisions I’ve made this semester.
I’m taking only three classes. I’m taking the Backpacking Decal. And I’ve gone on multiple spontaneous trips around the Bay Area. This sounds really cheesy but I guess just going on these trips really make me realize how small I really am in the face of the surrounding nature. It’s so easy to get caught up in the Berkeley bubble and even more so to forget to appreciate the fact that we live in such a beautiful part of the world with so many places to discover. So yeah, I guess you could say the overlying theme for me this semester has been exploration, both around me and also for myself.
~Iqbal Nurjadin, c.o. 2022
