Blake’s Closes
:(
I am a bit bummed that I couldn’t be there to see it one last time before it closed.
When I think Blake’s, I first think of their garlic fries… they really had some of the best garlic fries I have ever, EVER tasted. I tended to frequent their Chinese Chicken Salad with a side of garlic fries throughout my undergraduate education.
My second thought also revolves around the fries, which I discovered during the 2006 National Association of College and University Residence Hall (NACURH) Annual Conference that was hosted at UC Berkeley. As part of the committee that organized the conference, we were given “Blake’s Bucks” certificates as our meal stipends. I believe we got a lot of them as part of a deal with Blake’s. Every day several designated “food people” would take our orders, pick them up in the big carts that students use to move in and out of the dorms, and then proceed to find everyone to give them their meals. It was quite a process, especially when many of us were scattered throughout all the dorms surrounding campus. Garlic fries garlic fries garlic fries.
We never really went out to Blake’s in the evenings though – I think the scene wasn’t quite ours. But it was the first place that I went “out” during my freshman year. Our RA’s took our floors out the first week of school… :)
Regardless, it will be be strange to not see Blake’s when I go back to visit Berkeley. There was a certain charm to that place that helped Telegraph Avenue attain it’s signature character…
Blake’s you will be missed!!