Food Friday: Hopscotch Oakland

Hopscotch 1915 San Pablo Ave. Oakland, CA 94612

3/5 Stacks 

Let me start off this post by saying, I never go to Oakland. I really, really want to make more of an effort to get out there and enjoy the sunshine, but I'm like a lost puppy when I get there and just have no idea where to go. So, I make it out there about once a year (yikes) and it's usually for their Eat Real Fest at Jack London Square. Well, I'm happy to say I made it out early this year (cue claps and cheers) for none other than Oakland Restaurant Week. I asked my savvy Easy Bay friends where I should go and everyone said Hopscotch was well worth the hype. After taking a gander at their menu and seeing Kimchee Fried Rice and Shoyu Eggs with Pork Belly, I was sold. So, I put on my Oakland sweatshirt (which is probably the most ironic thing I own by the way - 1. because I bought it at UO, of all places and 2. I live in the most non-hip neighborhood in SF) and made a trip of it. 

The funny thing is, neither of us got anything off of the Restaurant Week menu. We went to Hopscotch with every intention of grabbing a sweet deal off their slightly discounted menu, but no dice. I had my eyes on those shoyu eggs and nothing could make me change my mind. In retrospect, I do wish I would have gotten something else. The Kimchee Fried Rice was delicious, but not anything special. My family makes a Filipino fried rice dish for breakfast (Sinangag) and it is much better - hands down. The fried rice was soft and sort of soggy - in my mind I imagined it'd be crispy with kimchee bits, but it appeared as though they cooked the rice with the kimchee, which made the rice softer.

The biggest disappointment was the shoyu eggs. I love eggs. I order extra eggs in my ramen bowls, eggs on burgers, and I opt for eggs over pancakes for breakfast almost 9 out of 10 times. So, as you can imagine, my expectations were pretty high. The eggs were ridiculously salty, and I ended up just picking at my food all morning. The saving grace was the pork belly extra (which brought my dish to $18 mind you).

We also ordered the Wasabi Bloody Mary - wasn't my favorite either. The wasabi was an interesting choice and I completely respect the asian fusion twist, but I struggled to gulp down my $10 drink. Luckily, the donuts were delicious. It's hard to mess up donuts, so I'm really glad they didn't. They were soft, warm and comforting, but not enough to make up for my meal. I'm giving Hopscotch three stacks because I did have a bite of my friend's fried chicken and it was bloody delicious.

Now that I own an Oakland sweatshirt, I obviously have to visit the sunny city more than once a year. So, what say you East Bay friends - anyone know where I should go to make up for my flub brunch? 10 extra points if you can guide me in the direction of a bomb dot com ribs place, please and thank you.