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| Bakesale Betty |
Where can you get the best-fried chicken sandwich in Oakland?
Located in 5098 Telegraph Ave of Oakland’s Temescal neighbor
hood, Bakesale Betty is on the corner of Telegraph Avenue and 51st
street. Hours are from 11:30-2 PM depending on when they sell out their famous
chicken fried sandwich. With no shop sign or any publicity, anyone can walk or
drive right by without noticing the shop. I remember my first time; it took me
3 rounds around the store to actually figure out that I had passed by it all
along. Just to give you an idea of what I mean, right below is a picture of the
shop.
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| Front of the Store |
Owners, Alision Barakat and her
husband Michael Camp opened the shop in 2005. After quitting as a line cook at
Chez Panisse, Bakesale Betty launched in 2002 as a bakery stand in Danville
famer’s market. This is also the place where she met her husband. Together they
managed the bakery stand for 1o years eventually opening the shop
together in 2005.
Huffington Post proclaimed Bakesale Betty of having the
fifth best chicken sandwich in the United States. With that said, many people
from around the world come just to try their famous chicken sandwich.
Therefore, it should not come as a surprise if there is always a
line from outside the door to the end of the street everyday. I have been in
line myself many times but I assure you that the queue goes by very quickly and
is definitely worth the wait. Last summer while I was in line, Alision, who was
wearing the famous blue wig, passed out samples of lemonade and cookies to the
customers.
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| Barakat in Her Blue Wig |
It was also during her bakery stand when she started wearing the
renowned blue wig, which is now the store’s signature logo. Barakat stated, “I wanted to get dressed up go
around the market and sell baked goods. I wasn’t thinking of it as a marketing
tool or something people would remember.”
Keeping it simple, there are only four items on the menu. The legendary
fried chicken sandwich ($8.20), egg salad ($6.84), lemon ice ($2.75), and
cookies ($1.25). However, there are actually more baked goods than cookies that
are being sold. There are also strawberry short cakes, banana bread, scones,
brownies, and lemon bars. If I have to pick my
favorite, it would have to be the strawberry short cakes, its genuinely delicious!
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| Menu |
I could devour the fried chicken sandwich in seconds if it
weren’t for it being so big. The fried chicken is stuffed in an Acme torpedo
roll with a great amount of coleslaw topped with jalapenos. Every time I get my
hands on this sandwich, it does not disappoint. The chicken is crispy yet soft
and juicy in the inside while the jalapeno plus coleslaw adds a little spicy
kick to every bite. After half an sandwich, I am content so after a whole
sandwich, I am always in some sort of a food coma.
I cannot wait till you get to try Bakesale Betty and tell me
what you think about their famous fried chicken sandwich! Or if you find any of
the other deserts beside strawberry shortcake that is amazing and think I would
like, please leave me a comment!
I never heard of this place. If you didn't point it out, I probably would have passed it. Thanks for the heads up. That fried chicken sandwich sounds good.
ReplyDeletekinda off topic but have you see that one meme, its like simba asking mufasa and mufasa is like everything that the light touches is the bay and simba asks what about the dark place? and mufasa says thats oakland, never go to oakland. idk i thought it was pretty funny
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