I've often heard about, but never made it to, the famous parking lot events held in the small parking lot of a Berkeley food triumvirate: Cafe Fanny, Acme Bread, and Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant. The most well known of these events is the Oyster Bliss celebration that takes place in the Spring. This past April marked the 16th Annual Oyster Bliss event. Other annual parking lot events are Provence Day and Beaujolais Nouveau Day.
At Cafe Fanny the other day, I noticed a sign announcing a new event -- one featuring the salumi of Paul Bertolli's Fra' Mani. From the sign, and in Bertolli's words,
"I've been waiting for just the right opportunity to celebrate Fra' Mani in the local community where it was born just a little over a year ago. As luck would have it, we found our home a stone's throw away from our friends at Kermit Lynch, where I never fail to find the right wine match for my salumi. I am proud to share the work of our first year with our neighbors and friends in what has become Berkeley's only center for seasonal outdoor Bacchanalia -- Kermit's front yard."