LA Style Street Food Served Up Tall at 310 Eatery
In the days of the pandemic, Kensington Eats featured a new restaurant every few weeks, crowd-sourcing a large community order in an effort to generate revenue for local restaurants by picking up and delivering restaurant-quality meals to participating families.
When Kensington Eats started up in 2020, Yelp! had just named 310 Eatery #55 in the Top 100 Best Places to Eat in America! I couldn’t have been more thrilled for them because they serve up one of my favorite burgers in the area. However, once we quickly learned the trials and tribulations of take-out and delivery, the unfortunate truth was that delivery logistics would have hindered and not helped in this case. Part of the 310 Eatery experience is attempting to sink your teeth into one of its towering burgers, which is held together with a 6-inch toothpick and often accompanied by fries, fresh off the fryer, topped with melted cheese and bacon jam. Thanks to our previous experiences of transporting food up and down the windy roads of Kensington, we were confident that what we would have delivered wouldn’t have done 310 Eatery justice, so we never had the opportunity to work with them.
Fast forward to a couple of years after the pandemic when Yelp! once again acknowledged 310 Eatery. This time earning a new accolade in a different category - ranked #33 in the Top 100 Best Brunch Spots in California for 2022.
This was the reminder I needed to pay a visit to 310 Eatery and it fell on a day that I had promised my son a burger after band practice one damp afternoon. Coming out of the rain, we were promptly greeted by Gill, 310’s warm and patriarchal host.
Tiffany and Erin, the masterminds of this Los Angeles-inspired restaurant, have been serving Asian-influenced, street-style comfort food since 2014. Their "Krazy Delish" Breakfast/Brunch on weekends features winners like their Temescal Sunrise French Toast with buttermilk brined and breaded fried chicken covered in country gravy or their aptly named Chocolate Monster Pancakes.
While there are many options to choose from, I ordered the 405 Traffic Jam. Often called the best burger in the East Bay, it’s named after a busy Los Angeles freeway (like the 310), but it’s one traffic jam you’ll want! It starts with a short rib and bacon patty that’s then layered with a breaded portobello mushroom and crispy onions for that crunchy texture. Jalapenos and 310’s signature “Kalbi Aioli” provide a little heat and some dipped pastrami to round it all out. There doesn’t seem to be anything missing, however, if Gill asks if you’d like a fried egg on it - don’t think about it, just say “yes” because it’s a perfect compliment to the artisan brioche bun. This is where you might understand the need for a 6-inch toothpick to keep all that goodness together.
With such an elaborate burger, it would have been wise to order plain fries…or a salad. However, a large picture of their Bacon Jam Fries framed directly and most definitely strategically behind our table convinced me that a plate of fries topped with kettle-cooked bacon, sweet grilled onions, and melted mozzarella was worth the “research.” Because who isn’t a sucker for fries that need to be eaten with a fork? Crispy, savory, sweet, and satisfying - it brought the burger and fries experience, as my son put it, “to another level.”
If you’re not craving a burger, 310 Eatery offers plenty of options like the Tokyo Po' Boy Soft Shell Crab Sandwich or the Cross-Town Bowl which features Puck fried rice, a temescal fried chicken cutlet, and 310's original curry jam. In other words, there are plenty of reasons to come back for another visit.
310 Eatery
747 San Pablo Ave
Albany, CA 94706
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