Oaktown Crawl: Oaktown Crawl #19 - Empty Bowls (5/29/14)

What do you do when you call a crawl, and nobody shows up?

Well, in the case of me, and in the case of today, you hop into your car directly after work (after stopping briefly at home to brush your teeth and attempt, unsuccessfully, to meet a potential window contractor, who was either late or never showed, I may never know) and then head south on 880 until you near the airport, where you take a turn west, let them valet park your car, and head instead for soup and bread, and a whole lot more.

Yep, it finally happened. After 18 crawls where people (ranging from 1 to 12, in addition to me) were able to join together in a crawl - this 19th one turned out to be an exception - a solo crawl which I enjoyed by myself - or rather, with more than 499 other souls. I wish you could have been there, but even with your absence (all of your absences!!!), I had a lovely evening. You'll find the details below, but the bottom-line was that the food was good (but was not the thing), the music live and lively (but not the thing), and the people nice (but not the thing). The thing was the kids, the ones not there tonight, the ones who sometimes go to bed hungry, the ones who live right here in our own backyard, the ones who we, tonight, in our own little way, helped fill their bowls and fill their bellies. For that I am grateful.

ALL PROCEEDS BENEFITED THE ALAMEDA COUNTY COMMUNITY FOOD BANK!!!

Menu:

Soup, split pea, corn chowder, and chicken tortilla - donated by SF Soup Company
Bread, fresh, donated by Semifreddi
Ice Cream, chocolate, strawberry, and toasted almond - donated by Fenton's
Wine, Water, Lemonade, maybe more

Ambiance:

Converted warehouse, set with more than 50 10-person round tables, bright green tablecloths, bright yellow napkins, multi-colored bowls (more below), Chihuly-balloons (their term), concrete floors, donation-barrel backdrop
Live ukulele music
Emcee, speakers, awards
Long tables of interesting, sometimes gorgeous pottery for silent auction (there were a few that I was tempted to bid on, but didn't, although others were definitely going for it!)
Wine and bidding for a bit, then they called you up table-by-table, then speeches, then dessert, music throughout, with some dancing at the end as I was headed out the door
The bowls (which we got to KEEP) were painted by school-children and were ADORABLE!!!

Price:

$25 donation per person (family deals available), $10 of which is tax-deductible
$2 - valet tip (optional)
$20 cash donation (optional) to their fresh veggie/fruit program (as a nutrition major, former clinical dietitian, and current veggie-holic, this was too good to pass up), all donations from tonight's event were donated - in exchange, I got a light-up apple pin!

So, what did I think? It wouldn't be an Oaktown Crawl without the review cards:

Food and Drink - 3.5 (everything was tasty, my favorite SF Soup Co soup was there in the vegan, dairy-free split pea soup, it was hot, the bread was fresh, you were welcome to go back for seconds on food, drink, and dessert - in a perfect world, there would have been a dairy-free dessert, although I must say that I took 2 LactAids and absolutely thoroughly enjoyed my toasted almond ice cream!)
Ambiance - 3 (loved the warehouse-converted-to-party-room look, but as in almost every single establishment our little crawl group has visited, it was TOO DARN LOUD!!!)
Service - 4 (everything was very organized, people were helpful, we walked through stations to get our soup of choice, clearly labeled with ingredient lists, they brought bread to our table and continually refreshed it, and then served dessert to our tables)
Overall - 5 (yeah, I know, the math doesn't add up, but... well, you had to be there, and you weren't, so there!) ;-)

I always say that in order for me to like a movie, it has to grab me from the inside out. It doesn't necessarily have to make me cry, but it doesn't hurt. Tonight, somehow, a few works spoken by one of the speakers reached out from across the virtual chaos of soup, bread, music, talking adults, and dancing kids, and touched the very inner of my insides. I didn't cry, but I wouldn't be lying if I told you that there were tears in my eyes. It felt very strange, in a way, to be sitting there in a huge room amongst many strangers, in a jovial atmosphere, and be touched so deeply, and so simply, but it happened. You all know that I like food, both cooking and eating. You probably know that I am a strong proponent of Oakland. You may or may not know how much I like kids. But all three together, and it's a good night.

I will be interested to know if you would like to do this again next year, do our own Empty Bowls at one of our houses (they make it easy), or just stick with our more traditional crawls...

It was for a good cause, I had a good time, and a good chuckle.

Until our next crawl...

Be sure to watch the 2 videos if you can! (at the end of the photos)

All my love, Susan

[as is my new standard, in my personal life, this blog is unedited, not spell-checked, and not proofread for content or accuracy - this is SO contradictory to my innate nature, but is a conscious change which I am embracing]