Origen

Toldjya so.
Children who grow up around the hearth and with corn in their West Coast back yard along with being a fast mother husker of freshly picked SWEET WHITE CORN from Lancaster, PA cannot be wrong.
Waaah, waaaah, waaaaaaaaaaaah!

Sorry to hear Origen has closed.
Bummer — the food was good, and the cocktails even better.

R and I went here last night (7 – 17) for a light meal at the Bar before a movie. It was dark and clearly shut with a big ‘CLOSED’ sign on the door.
This location appears to be doomed. No matter what chef tries at this address, the endeavor fails. What a disappointment.

Definitely a great concept — farm to fork. We dined here on a Friday night. First impressions — the space had lots of aromas and could have used better ventilation. You can smell everything that is in the kitchen and the restaurant felt stuffy.
Décor was simple and rustic. Good food selection, service was decent a bit slow for the evening. Hubby had the chefs tasting menu (duck theme) and I ordered a strawberry salad and cheese pizza. I didn’t try hubby’s food, but he said it was okay, parts of it lacked some flavor. I enjoyed my strawberry salad — it was refreshing. The pizza was ordinary.
The place has a lot of potential. I hope it gets better so we can return for a more memorable experience.

I love coming here! Every time my husband and I come for a visit, the owners always stop by the table to say hello and that personal touch that really feels special to me.
Last week we stopped by for happy hour and just decided to hang out in the bar for eats, rather than move to the dining room. The special drink of the day was a cocktail made with fresh muddled cherries that was completely addictive! The bartenders on duty, Jason and Tobian, were friendly and engaging plus they gave us no grief when we asked if we could change the channel and watch the SF Giants game. Staci, the other bartender, was in house although not working. Even so, she spent time with us, chatting and sharing her love of Origen.
Our dinner was the perfect combination of bites and tastes that were exactly what we wanted for a relaxing casual meal. Using the freshest ingredients is what makes the dishes really shine. Combined with the personal attention of the staff, Origen is really a favorite of ours.
We’ve been coming here ever since it opened and each time, we’ve had a lovely experience. Sometimes the service gets a bit slow if they are slammed during peak dinner hours, but since the restaurant isn’t so explosively loud, you can actually spend the time talking to (and hearing!) your dinner companions and that’s a very good thing, in my mind.

Everything about this place was disappointing. The food was awful. We ordered the argula and kale salad to start. Both dishes had odd textures and flavors that did not go together. The «paella» was dry, lacked flavor, and barely had any seafood for the $ 19 price. The pizza was overdone and underwhelming.
Our waiter was inept. He didn’t know what some ingredients on the menu were. When we ordered our entrees he said «is that all you’re getting?».
The management was entirely unprofessional. The managers and waiters were eating at the bar in front of the customers.
There are way better places to go to in Berkeley. AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS!

I give Origen two stars on account of their good intentions, but my experience there bordered on bizarre. And not in a good way. We came in for a drink and a small bite during happy hour, around 5pm, and the place was dead empty. The bartender was young and poised to demonstrate the very worst cocktail creation I have ever experienced. The specifics are lost to the sands of time, but I think it was something like way too much lemon concentrate. The result was undrinkable, and I take responsibility for not sending it back. The bartender was super friendly, but obviously had no experience.
There was a chicken panini on the small bites menu, and we ordered that. He walked over to the nearby kitchen window and asked the cook to make it.
The cook said plainly that there wasn’t any chicken on tonight’s menu.
Yes there is, said the bartender.
No.
Yes, I’ll show you – see?
Well, we don’t have any.
That’s not true.
Well I’m not going to make it.
We’ll see what {someone} says about that.
Yes, let’s see what {someone} says about it.
My wife and I were looking at them and each other thinking, hmm-​kay… we should probably order something else.
No, no, no… it’s no problem. He’s going to make it.
No I’m not.
Wait til {someone} get here. He’ll tell you to make it.
We’ll see about that.
We were thinking about just paying for our drink and leaving when {someone} walked in. This person had the good sense to take the squabble out of the dining room. The next thing I saw, the cook was cursing under his breath and slamming stuff around the kitchen. The bartender was ebullient: your panini will be out shortly.
Do I even need to tell you how terrible this little panini was? Greasy, tough thigh meat pressed between two slices of oil-​soaked bread that wasn’t nearly crispy. We hardly touched it.
Listen, I love the Origen concept – LOVE it. I just think that they need some time to get their act together. We may try them again in a year or so.

Had much higher expectations. Like the concept and wanted to try it out. It was not crowded when we arrived — 6:30 on Sunday night. The service and ambiance is good but the food was disappointing. I ordered the chopped salad and all it was is chopped up lettuce, cucumbers and radishes. The dressing did not have much flavor. They brought me the salad with beets and it was much better.
I also had the rice with shrimp. The rice was undercooked and hard. The menu when we went was nothing special. Would not return.

While the menu could use a little dumbing down for the average diner, the food was superb, and the service was excellent. I had one of the best cocktails of my life to start, Gin, egg whites, honey. Amazing. We had fish, duck, and beef. All perfect. The veggies were amazing, broccoli with garlic and almonds, potatoes with tons of smokey paprika. .. Delicious. The owner and the Chef came out to check on customers on the busy Friday night we went in. .. both very warm and gracious.
My only issue, and one that I probably should not have, is portion size seemed on the small side. Our 6 year old cleaned his plate and started in on mine!
Bottom line; Farm to fork as it should be. Please support this place and its cause.

Went back for lunch and had the vegetarian setup of gnocchi. Very large, yet delicate and pillowy, plus a flavorful layer of wild mushroom ragu-​like thing, I think with leeks.
Service okay, atmosphere okay.
Being honest I think this place is really worth the support. I will continue to go back and recommend that others do. But it’s just not as special as Locanda da Eva, which had it more together with food, cocktails, and service.
Still…nice selection of offerings. Definitely made with creativity and the right ideals.

Origen advertises itself as a «farm to fork» restaurant. I’m a big fan of supporting local businesses than the mega-​chains so that’s an extra credit point in my books. Since they partner themselves with the local agricultural establishments, their menus will change daily and certain types of food will be unavailable due to seasonal changes. Here’s a taste of what I’ve tried on Feb 20 with all caps for the local suppliers:
* langoustine paella cakes, HAPPY QUAIL FARMS padron pepper allioli
* flatbread points, melted DIRTY GIRL leeks, blue cheese
* tostaditos, PERUVIAN LANTERN scallop, CHURCHILL ORCHARD avocado & coconut ceviche
* FAR WEST FUNGI mushroom & RIVERDOG green garlic dumplings, caper brown
Does your mouth salivate just from reading the descriptions above? My mouth did just from typing! Today’s menu items I tried were more small bites /​finger foods which showcases the chef’s many talents. I’ll have to go again to try a more traditional entrée to give a full and complete review.

Nightmare!
Last I understood, restaurants were a service business. This place doesn’t know the first thing about service. My Valentine’s Day dinner was ruined.
I made a reservation one month in advance on Open Table and was looking forward to enjoying a pleasant meal at my neighborhood restaurant. I arrived in advance my reservation and waited patiently in the lobby. I was then escorted to a wobbly small table at the back of the restaurant and abandoned. I finally had to seek out the maitre d’ to ask to be reseated, which he graciously did. The waitress, who seemed to be clueless of everything, took our dinner order and then came back for the drink order. She then seemed to be lost, wandering the seating area and I finally had to inquire about the whereabouts of our drinks. She dashed to the bar to retrieve them.
No food arrived. After 20 minutes a ½ teaspoon sized pre meal «tease» of something arrived. The drinks were finished. The waitress was missing. An hour had passed. I got up from the table to search for the manager. She apologized that the kitchen was backlogged and said she’d go to find out the status of our meal. She did not return.
We decided that an hour into a 5 course tasting menu with no food was not a good sign for what was to come. We chose to leave. I informed the manager as we were leaving and I told her «we are very disappointed» to which she replied «I understand.»
I hear the food is good, but you have to be served food before you can find that out. We have good food at home. Dining out is the whole experience: atmosphere, food, and service.
Very unfortunate. This location has a continuous turnover of restaurants and even those with excellent service had trouble surviving here.

We’ve been experiencing Chef Daniel and Pastry Chef Tracy’s food since their restaurant, Nibblers, in Pleasant Hill, which is now The Fig Tree.
So tonight we ventured over to Berkeley to experience the new place.
We knew it was going to be great, just because that has always been our experience in tasting all their creations in the past.
So we tried an old favorite, the flash fried crispy spinach, which I could eat every day! And we tried lots of new things: the scallop salad, a wonderful cheese plate, and an orange bread pudding, just to name a few. It’s so fun to order a number of small plates and experience so many exquisite flavors.
Had a couple of new cocktails too! It’s all good and definitely a neighborhood gem!!!

Went for a birthday dinner and ended up leaving without finishing anything we were brought and going to a different restaurant for food and drinks.
GOOD: Beautiful venue, great selection at the bar, really creative drinks
BAD: The food was terrible. The «crispy skin» on the charcuterie platter was soaked in oil and totally disgusting. The soup with crab tasted like half & half with some crab thrown in — no flavor, luke warm, and impossible to eat. I ordered the haggis and it was a big, cold, hard ball of meat. It was supposed to be made from veal shoulder so I expected it to be more tender. Runny, wet, warm mushed up veggies of some sort were served with it. My friend ordered the Shepherds pie, took two bites and pushed it away. The (Italian) birthday boy ordered gnocchi and tried to push them down but just couldn’t. They were cold, gummy and flavorless. I promised to take him to Wood Tavern where they make really great gnocchi to make up for it.
UGLY: Our waiter did not know what he was doing. He didn’t listen to us, we had to repeat our request multiple times, we ordered a pizza and he never brought it. When he came to our table, saw none of our entrees had been eaten and we were asking for the check, he didn’t even think to ask us if we liked our meal or if there was something wrong.
I believe that chef’s /​owners work their tails off to make their business a success. I also believe that this chef has a great ideas for his menu. However, his wait staff is incompetent and his sous chefs are sinking his business. When we were at the bar before being seated, we could hear him quizzing the staff on the food, asking the sous chefs over and over if this or that ingredient was in the food, and yelling for food runners with no reply. I really suggest the chef find some people who know what they’re doing and can help him execute on his vision before it’s too late. I hope he reads this and knows this comes from my heart because I really want him to succeed.

Add a half-​star, maybe – but not up to 3. This farm-​to-​table iteration of the old Casa de Eva space (going back many years) has done some nice work on décor, with good colors, marble, and very appropriately organic looking bamboo tables, left naked. The place was bustling, and acoustically pleasant – loud enough to not have to pay attention to the next tables, but not so loud we couldn’t converse.
Décor-​wise, there was one anomaly: the wall behind our table was just plain naked, except for one empty picture hanger. Other walls were nicely appointed, with drawings of vegetables and fruits, simple but nice. The style of the printed-​daily menu was inelegant, the information crowded in an odd way.
Our charcuterie plate brought a large pile of plain, character-​less baguette toasts, and a modest random jumble of charcuterie. Bubbly brandade, jamon Serrano, a couple teaspoons of cracklings that benefited greatly from a sprinkling of salt, a spare few shreds of pork belly were surprisingly fat-​free, and once salted, very tasty, and three mercifully tiny squares of overly-​strong, grainy duck liver pâté. Good strong mustard, and some very caramelized marmalade helped.
The lobster and cheese purses were fine – three, soft, plump, a bit unctuous, sufficiently flavored with lobster. They sat on stewed apples, an odd combo – good apples, just not my favorite accompaniment to lobster. Also, their purse dough was very, very soft; only when you bit into the top bit, nicely crimped together by a chive, did you get any bite at all to the dough.
Two under-​cooked half artichokes came hot, stuffed with a tablespoon of excellent crab; too bad they weren’t done enough to scrape more meat from the leaves.
Duck breast was the best dish, but the worst presentation. A small breast half, sliced and arrayed next to a big but tasty blob of smashed braised sunchoke, surrounded by a moat of orange sauce. I had worried the flavors would clash, but they went together well. I’d nominate this as some of the best sunchoke (aka Jerusalem Artichoke) I’ve had, and the duck was a nice, medium-​rare, and juicy. It needed a crisp bit of skin to set it off, and a plate that didn’t bring brown on beige food to the table unadorned.
Service was OK, but the busboy simply took the used flatware off our plates and put it on the table when he cleared from the first courses (we got new plates only for the duck). Kind of a cheapie restaurant move, not befitting the vibe of this place at all.
We split a decent sorbet dessert, –and a bottle of wine that was nicely priced. Hopefully they keep working on things, and improve as they mature.

We went to Origen for our through the tunnel experience from the east bay. It was worth the drive and we will be visiting again. We had reservations and sat in the back room. The atmosphere was warm and inviting.
We all picked favorites and shared from the menu — brussel sprouts, fried potatoes, flat steak and lamb, all amazing. Don’t leave without trying the Blondie — wow!
The staff was wonderful and all together made for a lovely evening.

Origen is off to a delicious start, giving the farm-​to-​fork trend a refreshing twist, with lots of Basque/​Southern European inspiration on the menu. Being the indecisive grazer that I am, large menus of small plates make me a very happy diner, so Origen’s daunting menu of «nibbles» like flash fried spinach, shirmp cakes with Padron aioli, and buttermilk fried Monterey calamari, was pretty much a dream come true (and those are just the starters!)
After chatting with chef Daniel, I learned that he hits a different farmers market every day, to create the ever-​changing menu. So, you’ll see tons of references to local purveyors and farmers on the menu, which is pretty cool when you consider how much effort is required to make all this gourmet locavore action happen.
Before I launch into the gastronomic recap, let me set the scene for you. Origen feels instantly warm and welcoming, with lots of rich autumnal colors setting the tone. We dined on a Tuesday and it felt very mellow, which is perhaps why the service was so remarkably attentive? Anyway, we were well taken care of, every dish brought out at just the right time, with just the right utencil to accompany.
There are two dining rooms: one a more casual area with a bar, and a separate room with classy, comfy booth seating. If you’re headed here for date night, the booths are what you want. We were only a party of two and they happily sat us in our own spacious booth, where we proceeded to fill the entire table with a smattering of decadent plates, because honestly… the menu is just that enticing.
Imagine this: thick wedges of seasoned papas bravas with a creamy aioli (thickened with bread instead of egg yolks!), and spicy tomato conserva to start ($ 7). Then, roasted chanterelle, gruyère, applewood bacon and heirloom cippolini wood-​fired pizza ($ 15.5 — a meal in itself, but we’re still just warming up). A hearty salad of arugula, roasted delicata squash, sheep feta and almonds ($ 8.5)…just to whet the appetite!
We were quite pleased with just the starters — all generous portions that could easily fill a normal girly belly, but we were committed to our entrees, and ready to indulge with abandon…
My pal had the hand-​rolled gnocchi with berkshire pork ragu and house-​made mascarpone ($ 14.5). It was out-​of-​this-​world ahhhhmazing. She was quite enamored with it, but I got a few good bites to report back with this: pure, potatoey heaven on a fork; fluffy and light, with a rich meat sauce and creamy balance of the mascarpone. Avoid plate envy and get this one all for yourself! It’s unreal.
I had a much-​less thrilling entrée: the wood oven tombo tuna with moughrabe couscous, tomatoes and chiles ($ 13.5 — are you sensing the spicy, Spanish theme yet? Love it.) Unfortunately, I found this dish to be on the dull side, though if you wanted something very light and healthy this would be a great option. The tuna was cooked perfectly, the accoutrements just needed a little pizazz.
I must mention that along the way, we were sipping some very impressive wines, as they have a fantastic by-​the-​glass selection with some truly unique varietals like Aligote, Garganella, and Picpoul. Don’t ask me what they are, but hey… always fun to have your comfort zone stretched a bit.
Aside from adventurous wine options, they’ve got some snazzy cocktails, along with some exotic apertifs and their own infusions like Zarco tequila with Pleasant Hill mulberries. Oh yes, this locavore diet is working for me!
Dessert cannot go unmentioned: the chocolate pavé. This was basically a dainty slice of silky dark chocolate truffle, made lighter by the cloud-​like anglais and emboldened by espresso nibs. Whoa. Divinity.
I’m most definitely a fan of Origen, and now that I’m acquainted with a good chunk of the menu, I’m ready to go back for an encore! Bet you want to join me, don’t you?

My husband and I stumbled upon this restaurant since we were in the neighborhood. We were attracted to the idea of sustainable food from farm to fork. We learned a valuable lesson that night: do not try the tasting menu at a new and unknown restaurant. We were quite disappointed. Most dishes lacked any flavor; it didn’t pop at all or was seasoned heavily with salt. The only notable dish had to be the duck with the pomegranate sauce; duck was cooked perfectly, not too chewy.
I would not return to this restaurant.
On a positive note, our waiter was kind and answered all our questions. But I agree with other reviewers, the wait to get the food took too long.

The ‘origin’ for great food, drinks, hunky bartenders and overall fantastic place for a small scale birthday celebration!
Only complaint:
NO JAMESON?! *GASP* But they made up for it by pointing me in another Irish direction.

This new restaurant is definitely worth checking out. It has an interesting-​looking menu with each dish’s sources in ALL CAPS. For example, if you order a hamburger, it’s a MARIN SUN chuck burger, SCARBOROUGH greens, pink onions, gruyère, ACME roll. At the moment, it’s a WORK IN PROGRESS; the staff doesn’t expect the restaurant to be hitting its stride for another couple of weeks. Here are some FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
The décor is sort of ho-​hum. It’s not as if you walk in and say «wow, great place, another Nopa or Pizzaiolo.» They didn’t spend $$$ on a fancy decorator or on plush surfaces. For Berkeley, maybe that’s just 100% fine.
The menu is quite varied; it looks as if there’ll be something for everyone. Most of the prices seem reasonable (i.e., cheaper than a lot of what you see, even in Downtown Berkeley). They might rise a little bit over time, but they’re in line with those of The Fig Tree in Pleasant Hill, which is a sister restaurant to Origen.
The staff AIMS TO PLEASE and hopes to make everyone feel at home.
The WINE PRICES are also very reasonable. There are also a couple of draft beers, like the black lager from Linden Street in Oakland. You can see that the wine list was put together by people who care about what they drink. It wasn’t just slapped together from a distributor’s catalog of specials.
The food? Well, it’s a work in progress, what can I say? We ordered two appetizers and a pizza. The buttermilk fried monterey calamari with HEIRLOOM torpedo onion and late summer fruit sambal tasted strange to me: the batter seemed to have made with some kind of weird flour that’s GOOD FOR YOU, and the red dipping sauce (summer fruit sambal) was kind of meh. The salad that we got as a starter, with COUNTY LINE little gems, was quite good. Our pizza, with LUCERO butternut squash, gorgonzola, pignoli and red onion, was OK, but it didn’t hold a candle to pizzas that one can get at pizzaiolo, marzano, the Chez Panisse café, etc. Oh well, I fear that this review would be a 2-​star review if it were based on food alone, but there are lots of reasons to round up: (1) relatively low prices, (2) the promise of better things to come, (3) the great attitude of the founders and the people they hired. Let’s see how things play out. I plan to return and hope that you stop in to evaluate this NEW PLACE.