It’s Friday night, my twin daughters’ birthday, and I just lost my job running sales at undeniably the coolest software developer platform company on the planet. We’re out at Millennium, in Rockridge, one of the top vegan restaurants in the Bay Area. Of course I’d like a cocktail before dinner.
As we sat down, we were each presented with a sheaf of papers consisting of the menu, today’s prix fixe, a cocktail & wine list, and a card listing all spirits behind the bar. Each drink’s essential liquor was an xyz-infused something. An unfamiliar yet natural match. Like pecan-infused bourbon. Dill-infused gin.
Considering what I’ve been through this week, I’ve landed in heaven.
Almost.
Twenty minutes later, we made the acquaintance of our server. Before I go on, I’ll tell you now that Millennium has become so much more than its progenitor at the corner of Geary and Jones in The City. That was one of my favorite restaurants. They moved to Rockridge in Oakland in 2015, and many of the staff came along in the move. The new location is more casual yet feels up-market.
But at this moment, I sit here. Drier than a presbyterian at a pancake breakfast. Feeling even more chalky having walked past young families at the Golden Squirrel and Beer Baron. It’s 71 degrees at 7:30, and as we went by, everyone was in the patio. Expectant dads drank beers as their wives sipped sparkling water and pulled at leashes to keep ardent puppies from mounting their neighbors’ ankles. If your Tinder date goes really well, you’ll find yourselves in Rockridge a few years later.
We’re halfway through appetizers–cornmeal-fried squash blossoms, plum and nectarine gazpacho, and peach/avocado and cucumber salad–and yet, I could recite the alphabet backwards, while balanced on one leg. Shit, I could recite UTF-8 while doing the Eagle Pose. Where’s my drink?
In Chicago’s North Side, there’s a restaurant–El Jardin–that serves spectacularly strong margaritas. I’ve eaten there at least three times, and yet I have no recollection of the quality of the food, or even what I ate. I have to look at photos on Yelp to recall anything about the restaurant. This evening, in my heightened state of awareness, I take in Millenium’s smart-vegan vibe, the amazing food, the nuanced way that the peaches, cucumber and onion lounge in a cradle of avocado, the very inviting patio in the back where your dog may join you for dinner. I’m also keenly aware that I am thirsty.
Eventually, our server reappeared and we flagged her down for assistance in finding our drinks. Even after the dill-infused gin cocktail with cynar, hand-hewn orange bitters and delicately drizzled lemon zest came and went, and the plate of bbq maitake mushrooms cleared, my state of consciousness only became more blissful.
Millenium
5912 College Avenue
Oakland
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