Road Trip! Gather in Berkeley

I went to visit my parents in the Bay Area last week, and we drove to Berkeley for lunch at Gather, near the University of California campus. I'd heard good things about Gather over the years, and I'm always happy to visit a restaurant that has lots of vegan items and marks them clearly on the menu.


We shared a small dish of curried walnuts to start. There was enough curry to add interest to the walnuts without overwhelming them.

I had a cup of the very hearty and quite tasty hominy and bean soup, made with a toasted chili broth and topped with pepita pesto and shredded cabbage.

I ordered spicy tomato pizza for my main course, with Kalamata olives, cashew purée, chili oil, and herbs. It was good, especially the crust, but a word of warning: when they say it's spicy, they're not kidding!

Although there was a vegan chocolate oatmeal cookie on the dessert menu, we decided to walk to Cinnaholic, about a block away, for vegan cinnamon rolls instead. Great choice!


Gather is located at 2200 Oxford Street in Berkeley, and their phone number is 510-809-0400. Their website address is http://www.gatherrestaurant.com/, and their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/GatherRestaurant/. The restaurant is open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.; for brunch Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; and for dinner Sunday through Thursday from 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.