Only a quick drive from the East Bay or a 22 minute ferry ride from SF (on which, mind you, there’s booze), this island community has long offered a slower pace of life than its rambunctious neighbors Oakland and San Francisco. However, the tiny town of Alameda has seen an explosion of activity in recent years that’s turned it into a Bay Area dining and drinking destination in its own right.
The sunny island offers a surprisingly diverse range of cuisine for a land mass measuring only six-by-one square miles, from Hong Kong-style dim sum to Japanese classics to some of the best German food in the Bay. Pair that with an ever-growing number of distilleries, breweries, and wineries, and it’s no wonder people have caught on to what was once known as the Bay Area’s best kept secret. Make it a day in the East Bay at one of these 38 essential restaurants.
Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; the latest data about the delta variant indicates that it may pose a low-to-moderate risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial transmission. The latest CDC guidance is here; find a COVID-19 vaccination site here.
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