Gather Restaurant Hosts Giveback Dinner to Benefit Bay Area Book Festival

Eat, Drink, Read and Write is the theme when Gather Restaurant in Berkeley presents their first ever Community Giveback Dinner on Tuesday, April 24 to benefit the Bay Area Book Festival. Recently named among the “World’s Best 15 Farm to Table Restaurants” by American Express Essentials, the restaurant will accept reservations in the main dining from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. and will accommodate walk-ins on its heated patio and in the bar.

Gather is offering a seasonal 4-course prix fixe menu with multiple options for $60.00 per person and will donate 10% of all food and drink sales to the Foundation for the Future of Literature & Literacy which produces the popular book festival being held in Berkeley on April 28-29. Diners can meet with the people who make the festival happen, along with undoubtedly a few authors. Reservations are strongly suggested and can be made online on the Reserve page at www.gatherrestaurant.com or by calling (510) 809-0400.

“While our recently launched Cocktails for Change program concentrates on charitable ventures that work on a national scale, our Giveback Dinners are intended to more intimately connect patrons with locally based non-profits that impact our immediate community,” explained Gather’s founder Eric Fenster. “We plan to produce several of these dinners a year and in addition to donating a portion of the evening’s proceeds, will have literature and stakeholders integrated into the evening to help raise awareness of what these inspiring organizations do.”

The Book Festival menu is conceived as a celebration of Spring with a choice of Castelvetrano Olives or Breaking Bread for two which are perfect snacks to accompany a craft cocktail such as the aptly named “By the Book” gin based drink ( aka “The Secret Cocktail”) taken from a classic recipe book . Starters include Full Belly Asparagus with avocado, mandarin, pine nut, kumquat and sauce grosel; Lamb Merguez with braised garbanzo, spinach, and lemon; and Little Gems Salad with creamy herb dressing and potato and Green Garlic Soup. Main dishes will present Chef Anthony Lee’s best in the form of Roasted Chicken with morel, charred cabbage, farro, walnut, and red miso; Chickpea Fritters with squash, smoked carrot hummus, roots, and harissa; vegetarian Hand Cut Fettuccini; and a flavorful Rockfish Stew with mussels, Dungeness crab, saffron, fennel, and potato.

Endings have something for everyone with a choice of Olive Oil Cake with house vanilla ice cream, vegan and gluten free Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream or a Branca Fernet for those who prefer a traditional digestif to a sweet. The $60.00 cost is not inclusive of tax or tip and individual ingredients may vary based upon last minute seasonal availability.

About Gather:
Gather is located at 2200 Oxford Street, between Kittredge and Addison Streets, in Berkeley, California across from the UC Campus West Gate and within walking distance of Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley Rep, the Aurora Theatre and other popular performance venues. Located one block from the downtown BART station and with a parking garage accessible via Kittredge Street, the restaurant serves dinner from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and to 10:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Weekday lunch is available from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 pm weekdays; and brunch is served both on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The telephone number is (510) 809-0400.

Outdoor patio seating, takeout and delivery are all available. For more information, online reservations, online takeout ordering and upcoming special events, visit www.gatherrestaurant.com or follow Gather on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at #gatherberkeley.

About the Bay Area Book Festival
The Festival kicked off in 2015 with the mission to create a free, inclusive, world-class literary event in the Bay Area. Since then, the Festival has welcomed more than 800 authors and is approaching 100,000 attendees The two-day event complete with literary sessions presents top authors along with hundreds of literary exhibitors, events for kids, writing contests and a series of films on literature. It will transform downtown Berkeley into a literary utopia on April 28-29. Learn more at www.baybookfest.org.