What To Do This Weekend: 7/22–7/24

For some reason, I didn't really find that much going on this weekend. Saturday I'll be in the city all day for a friend's birthday and D's show, so maybe it's my fault for abandoning the 'burbs. In any case, I've included some opening and closing news, as well as reviews, so you're not left at home twiddling your thumbs. And guess what?!? CHICKEN AND WAFFLES IS HERE! Also, if any of you care, blogger is once again being a real bitch and inserting code into this randomly, so if some formatting is off, I'm on it digging into the HTML to stop the cray cray.

Friday, July 22:

Concert in Blackhawk: While you can’t bring in outside alcohol, they will let you grab drinks from local restaurants and enjoy the music. This week’s band is Petty Theft, a Tom Petty tribute band. I remember these concerts being weirdly crowded and awkward, but that was during my teen years and being able to drink makes everything better. Free, 7–8:30pm.

Blackhawk Plaza, Danville

Website

Saturday, July 23:

photo from eastbayloop.com

East Bay Food Fight: Live chef battles, cooking demos, and bites from 40 restaurants and alcohol providers, including Pizzaiolo, A Cote, Fenton’s, Flora. Look for pours from Linden Street Brewery, Drake’s, Ale Industries, and Rock Wall Wine Company. It’s looking like the event is sold out, so try and snag tickets on Craiglist, or maybe scalpers? Do scalpers do food events? I hope so, because that would be hilarious. “Yo, you need tickets to the foodie fest?” 4:30–7:30pm. 

Jack London Square, Oakland

Website

Openings:

Fig Tree (Pleasant Hill) 

Seth MacFarlane opens a kitty sanctuary (okay, so maybe not totally pertinent to this blog, but kitty cats!!) 

Gather’s open for brunch (Berkeley):

Remedy, inside the Berkeley Museum (Berkeley):

Creek Monkey Tap House (Martinez)

Closing:

Organic produce stand at Swan’s Market (Oakland). Early hours and lack of other grocery goods the culprits?


Local Reviews:

John Birdsall gets serious about the tater tots over at Phil’s Sliders [EBX WTF] 

Bauer’s impressed by Hawker Fare [SF Gate]

Ethan Kanat tackles SF’s gastro pubs [Bold Italic]