Lalime's is located in the Westbrae neighborhood of Berkeley on Gilman Street and is open for dinner seven days a week. We are offering selections from our a la carte menu as well as special dinners during May and June. Please note that the a la carte menu is subject to change.

  • Fonda Solana, 1501 Solano Ave., Albany (510) 559-9006.
    Fonda is open for lunch at 11:30 am everyday
  • Jimmy Bean's, 1290 Sixth Street @ Gilman, Berkeley.
    Jimmy Bean’s now serves dinner! Open nightly
  • Sea Salt, 2512 San Pablo Avenue (at Dwight Way), (510) 883-1720.
    Sea Salt has been serving a Saturday and Sunday Brunch
    From 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
    Join us in our backyard garden, it’s beautiful
  • T-Rex BBQ, 10th and Gilman, Berkeley (510) 527- 0099
    At T-Rex we have been serving Brunch for quite sometime now
    Saturdays and Sundays
    From 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Expanded private dining facilities

We are now proud to offer a wide range of private dining areas and banquet facilities for parties ranging in size from 10 to 100 people. From T-Rex and Fonda's casual styles to the more elegant settings of Sea Salt and Lalime's, we can work with you to create the perfect atmosphere for your event while providing the food and service you already know and love. Let us make your event a success!

For further inquiries or to book an event please contact
Beirut Beik at 510-559-7023 x12 (office)
510-813-1060 (mobile)

Haig Reminisces…Cooking School & the Restaurant Business

I went to the California Culinary Academy in the late seventies when it was still on Fremont Street. I graduated on April 25, 1980. That was twenty-eight years ago! The other day, by chance, I bumped into a classmate that I hadn’t seen since graduation.

We sat down and chatted for a while. She smoked, I had a cup of coffee, and we reminisced. She had spent 12 years at Stars (Jeremiah Towers’ exceptional restaurant of the 80s), then had done miscellaneous stints at some other reputable restaurants. For the last nine years, she’s been the catering chef at one of our friend’s catering and restaurant operation in San Francisco. After I graduated from the Culinary Academy, I became the chef at my friend, Khajag’s, restaurant, the Orient Express where One Market Restaurant now sits. For a short stint I was chef at Narsai’s in Kensington, then my wife Cindy and I opened Lalime’s in 1985. We’ve been doing that for the last twenty-three years. I stopped smoking, but haven’t given up coffee yet. It’s amazing how things change over the course of twenty-eight years.

I shouldn’t really be looking back. I usually look ahead, while hopefully learning from the past. Always, I will be appreciative of Khajag Sarkissian and Narsai David as my mentors.

So what is it that makes it all fun after all these years? Now we have, not one, but five very different restaurants to oversee. I get up in the morning and head over to T-Rex. Our chef Miles Kline is always there with a smile. Most of the cooks in the kitchen take turns making breakfast at T-Rex for the morning crew; it’s too tempting to pass, so I always end up having a small bite with a good cup of espresso. We have a new bar crew at T-Rex now, headed by Megan, so I check in with her. I rustle over the previous night’s tips with Adam, our very patient and hardworking manager at T-Rex, and leave because there are too many people in that tiny office.

Next, I move on to our office at Fifth Street, where the two Cindys are found. They always have too many things on their agenda. It’s too nerve wracking, so I say a quick hello and rush quickly to the adjacent room where the pastry kitchen is, hoping for a croissant left behind. The pastry chefs are busy with their pastry production for the restaurants, as well as croissants for Caffe Trieste. The pastry kitchen is loved by all who pass through it, because there’s always something fun to taste.

Often it’s on to Sea Salt for a meeting with our Dining Room Manager, Soterios; our chef, the devoted and diligent Anthony Paone or our landlord and friend, Hal Brandel. It’s always cheerful at Sea Salt; I think it’s the light that fills the space and the garden. Since we added the adjacent room, Soterios and Anthony seem to be living at Sea Salt. The Sea Salt team got us to our third star in the Chronicle. Our staff is glowing and we are really proud of them!

Meetings are always interrupted by emergency phone calls. So, I cut it short and go off to Fonda, where there’s a trash pick up issue or one of the fryers is down and needs our man, Tod, to the rescue. August Churchill, our beloved Fonda chef, will be there fretting over everything. Michael Hutchings, will be checking in about dining room and bar issues with Matt, our bar manager. We are also proud of the Fonda staff for making the top 100 in the Chronicle!

Next there’s a call from Kuby at Lalime’s; about an issue with the computer. Before calling the emergency repair person, we try the magic ‘fix it’ recipe for all computer problems; reboot the computer. Presto, it works. Our dedicated Lalime’s chef, Steve Jaramillo lets me know the sample chickens from Soul Food Farms have arrived and we need wines to pair with the special dinners. Steve just returned from the farmers market with some goodies. Ari Wagner, our Dining Room Manager, reminds us one of our servers, Alex is moving Back East, we will miss her. Any good resumes from the other managers?

As the day goes on, I taste the new batch of T-Rex smoked baby back ribs, they have a little bit more smoke on them. Max, Jimmy Bean’s manager, calls. The big glass pane is broken, because someone decided that throwing a golf ball at the window while driving by was fun. Oh! And by the way, the ice machine is down. It’s changing of the guards at Jimmy Bean’s, the morning crew headed by our longtime chef, Moises Curiel, is leaving and Ken Okino and the crew are coming on.

By now it’s about 5:30 in the evening the T-Rexers are in the latter part of their Happy Hour. I need to go in and just remind them of a few things, pick up a little bit. I know everyone is tired, but let’s keep it going, we have another six hours. It’s not always this much fun, but if, once in a while, I can end up at Lalime’s with Stacy, bartender extraordinaire, making me a Fernet (on the rocks with muddled orange), the best in the Bay Area, then it’s all worth it.

After twenty-three years, Cindy & I thank you all for being our patrons and friends.

Haig Krikorian

Short movies about Lalimes (Quicktime Windows Media) , Fonda (Quicktime Windows Media) and Jimmy Bean's (Quicktime Windows Media)

San Francisco Chronicle review of Lalime's by Michael Bauer

"Restaurants in the Berkeley Area" review of Lalime's Restaurant by Lucille Poskanzer

Citysearch.com reviews