Jupiter (Berkeley, CA)

JUPITER (Berkeley, CA) – I’m still surprised it took me this long to eat at Jupiter! It’s in downtown Berkeley with ample space to get together with friends in and outdoors. I came with a few of my college roommates for lunch to catch up. We’re a little more spread out over Northern California, so I don’t get to see them as often as I would like to!

When you get inside, the decor is not what I would expect at all. It has a art deco kind of vibe with the art decorating the wall and I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not, but a lot of the waiters were dressed up in steampunk fashion. But they’re all really cool and friendly – our waiter tried to photobomb our photo (and almost succeeded!).

So, we had to start with garlic bread, because duh, it’s garlic bread. Jupiter’s garlic bread uses focaccia with olive oil, melted mozzarella, and herbs served with two heads of whole roasted garlic. Cheesy garlic bread is one of the greatest things ever, tbh. We were all trying to be polite with each other so we wouldn’t inhale the bread too quickly! Since having this garlic bread, I’ve been rubbing garlic cloves on my bread too – it really adds extra flavor compared to that buttery spread that comes with the kind you buy at the grocery store.

I love potatoes on my pizza after having it a couple of years ago, so when I saw the Xanthia on their menu, I knew I just had to order it. (And yes, each pizza has a space related name). The Xanthia has thinly-sliced potatoes, bacon (though I substituted it with chicken – which they were more than happy to do!), garlic, mozzarella, ricotta cheese, red chili flakes on an olive oil crust. I don’t think I need to go into detail how good it tastes: bread, cheese, and potatoes – you already know.

One of my friends ordered the Triton: Housemade pork fennel sausage, sweet yellow onions, fresh basil, mozzarella, and marinara.

My other friend ordered the Galileo, which had artichokes, spinach, mushrooms, garlic, diced tomatoes, fontina and aged asiago on an olive oil crust.

I didn’t end up trying their pizzas since I was really into my own pie and that bomb garlic bread. I would definitely recommend Jupiter for big groups and dinners, it’s a fun place!