Behind the Scenes of a Cookbook Photo Shoot + Every Delicious Morsel We Ate in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco

Have you ever wondered what it’s like on the set of a cookbook photo shoot? I had no idea before this past March, when I spent 10 days with my mother in Oakland for the Bread Toast Crumbs shoot. I wrote about the whole process — finding a photographer, creating the mood board and shot list, the day-to-day events at the studio in Emeryville — over on Food52: How My Cookbook Photo Shoot was Nothing Like My Food Blogging.

I’ve included a few more photos from the shoot below plus a few snaps of all of the delicious meals my mother, brother (who lives in Oakland), and I ate during our visit, the highlights including Pizzaiolo, Ramen Shop, Ippuku, and The Mill in San Francisco.

A few props:

That’s Eva Kolenko (in the stripes), the photographer, with her sister, Natasha Kolenko, the prop stylist, assessing the wares:

The Sara Remington Studio in Emeryville:

Background surfaces:

Eva at work:

Jeffrey Larsen, the food stylist, at work:

Eva with Stephanie Huntwork, the art director from Clarkson Potter:

Oatmeal-maple bread:

At the tail end of the trip, Ben and his parents, my heroes, arrived with the kiddies, including Tig, who did not sleep a wink from Albany to Newark to San Francisco. Oiy. On the last day of the shoot, these little hands and faces made their way into a few of the photos. I can’t wait for you to see Bread Toast Crumbs!! 

On to the eats… When I arrived, I rode Bart to Oakland’s MacArthur station, which was walking distance from both my Airbnb and Cholita Linda, where I ordered two tacos, one fish and one carnitas, plus an agua fresca. Yum.

During the rest of the week, with guidance from Instagramers and friends, we made our way to various spots, including:

Ippuko in Berkeley, where we drank way too much sake and ate plate after plate of yakitori:

Ramen Shop — so good!

Pizzaiolo, my favorite spot of the whole visit, not only for dinner (pizza, bread, meatballs (!!), salad, affogato), but also for breakfast (morning buns and coffee…needed more time here!):

Morning Bun at Pizzaiolo:

Around the corner from Pizzaiolo is The CRO Café, where I had an excellent latte:

During the one day off of the 10-day shoot, my mom and I made our way into San Francisco, where we had breakfast at The Mill, Josey Baker Bread and Four Barrel Coffee’s joint venture:

I’m still dreaming about the oat porridge bread with butter and maple syrup:

We then made our way to the Presidio’s Off the Grid Picnic where we ate Powder — think: ice cream meets shaved ice. It’s so light and refreshing. We sampled the black sesame and horchata — loved both!

Beauty’s Bagels:

We even made it to Chez Panisse, the upstairs part, where I snuck a photo of my water glass:

When Ben arrived with the kids and his parents, we moved to a different Airbnb in the Oakland Hills.

One night we ordered Pizzaiolo to go:

And just before leaving, we snapped one family pic, before beginning the odyssey home, which we were all so happy to get to.