"It is a difficult matter to argue with the belly since it has no ears." — Cato the Elder

Caffe 817 was a beloved Old Oakland spot before Emily and Scott Goldenberg came in several months ago. 

I’ll never forget my first sight of Vice Chocolates’ farmer’s market booth: black and purple, more dark carnival than dark chocolate.

Now here at I-Li Chang Brice’s workshop in a corner brick building near Jack London Square, the chocolate takes on a more innocent air. That is until I-Li says, “Taste the skeleton,” her tattooed arm holding out a bag of dark brown bones.

Tucked away on the east side of Lake Merritt is a little shop that you wish you had stumbled upon on accident. It’s one of those gems you find and then can’t believe everyone you like isn’t hanging out there all the time.

Nobody would mistake 64th & San Pablo in the Golden Gate neighborhood of Oakland for 51st and Telegraph in Temescal, but there's no question that in the past 18 months, things have truly improved.