Member-only story
Sideboard Is the Restaurant Your Hipster Grandmother Would Start
It’s got vagabond energy… mixed with rocking chair realness
When you sit down to eat in a restaurant, you expect a certain level of uniformity — hopefully not in the food, but certainly in the décor. In most cases, each table is pretty much like every other. Maybe the restaurant has invested in pricey Riedel glassware (and is trusting you not to drop it), or maybe they assert their fanciness by giving you a large number of tiny spoons to accompany your various courses. You’re unlikely, though, to get a 1980s-era ceramic dinner plate, while your dining companion gets an ornate piece of fine china.
That is unless you’re eating at Sideboard: The funky East Bay restaurant, which now has locations in Lafayette and Danville, that revels in texture, kitsch, and non-uniformity. When visiting Sideboard, you stand in line, order from a printed menu or several chalkboards with vibrant, hand-written lists of menu items, and then take a number and find a seat.
