Bar Cesar Information

César presents a unique combination of Spanish food, a French name, American restaurateurs, and a global, award-winning selection of wines and spirits. Founded in 1998 by three Chez Panisse alumni - Richard Mazzera, Dennis Lapuyade, and Stephen Singer - César is essentially a Mediterranean-style bar/restaurant that serves a delicious and diverse selection of Spanish tapas, or small plates. Our original location on Shattuck Avenue sits in the heart of what has affectionately become known as the "Gourmet Ghetto" in North Berkeley, right next door to Chez Panisse, the restaurant generally recognized as the genesis of what has come to be known as California cuisine. César combines its freshly made tapas with a large and thoughtful selection of fine wines, beers and spirits. We also serve a wide range of cocktails made by our expert bartenders, as well as wines-by-the-glass and sample "flights" from our list of spirits, sherries and other aperitifs, and dessert wines. César has been included in the San Francisco Chronicle's "Best 100 Restaurants of the Bay Area" every year since we opened, in addition to garnering a list of international awards and recognition. César features the kind of sleek, modern, but unpretentious architecture one would find in a tapas bar in Barcelona, juxtaposed with a large, rustic wood communal table made from recycled planks that sits in the middle of the dining room. The communal table, or la mesa, can also be reserved for private paella dinners for groups of 12 to 15 people. Our tapas menu is culled from the vast repertoire of classic Spanish recipes, made with a combination of authentic Spanish ingredients and the bounty of the San Francisco Bay Area, often revised and re-imagined by Chef Maggie Pond, her sous chefs Mil Apostol and Germain Andrade, and her kitchen crew. Maggie has traveled throughout Spain and continues to go back each year to scour the markets for new ingredients, and to eat and cook in the finest tapas bars in Barcelona, Madrid, and San Sebastin. She brings back ...