Friday, May 17, 2013
Fire Shuts Down Genny's BBQ
Luke Tsai — Fri, May 17, 2013 at 4:50 PM
Sad news out of East Oakland, via Chowhound: Genny’s BBQ (6637 Bancroft Ave.), reviewed favorably in The Express just two weeks ago, has been shut down due to a kitchen fire.
Chef Virginia Roberson, a first-time business owner, told me the fire took place last Friday morning. A chimney flue attached to one of the restaurant’s smokers caught on fire while she was in the kitchen cooking. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but in order to extinguish the blaze, the fire department ended up putting a hole in the roof.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Mid-Week Menu: Commissar, Bourbon and Beef, and Chop Bar’s First Pig Roast of the Season
Luke Tsai — Wed, May 15, 2013 at 11:00 AM
Welcome to the Mid-Week Menu, our weekly roundup of East Bay food news.
1) Inside Scoop reports that Berkeley’s zoning board has approved plans for a multi-use complex in the former Cody’s Books space (2454-64 Telegraph Ave.) called Mad Monk Center for Anachronistic Media. The project is the brainchild of Rasputin Music founder Ken Sarachan, and will include a performance space; a store selling books, records, and tapes; a flower shop; and a full-service restaurant known as Commissar, which will serve mostly-vegetarian “upscale peasant’s and worker’s food.” According to Inside Scoop, the restaurant component will be run by Craig Becker of Berkeley’s Caffe Mediterraneum and Scott Cameron of Oakland’s Guest Chef.
Berkeleyside Nosh has more of Sarachan’s comments from the zoning board meeting, including this gem of a quote: “We’re not gonna have gangster rappers. We might have rappers more like Tupac, who have poetry, who speak to educate people, but … it’s not gonna be a dance club with DJs and bou bou bou bou stuff. That gives me a headache.”
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Reclaiming the 99-Cent Menu at Lena’s Soul Food Cafe
Luke Tsai — Tue, May 14, 2013 at 11:00 AM
In this post-Fast Food Nation, post-Super Size Me world, the very idea of the Dollar Menu is anathema in certain circles. Good food takes time and costs money, the thinking goes, and it seems criminal for corporate bigwigs to fatten their pocketbooks by selling highly processed, sugar-laden junk to the young and the poor.
But what if the dollar menu — or 99-cent menu, in this case — featured food that was actually homemade, served at a small, family-owned business?
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Mid-Week Menu: Merritt Bakery Shut Down by Fire, Bites Off Broadway Returns, and Nick’s Pizza Is Serving Free Pizza TONIGHT
Luke Tsai — Wed, May 8, 2013 at 4:00 PM
Welcome to the Mid-Week Menu, our weekly roundup of East Bay food news.
1) Sad news early this morning in Oakland’s Grand Lake neighborhood: The Mercury News reports Merritt Bakery and Restaurant (203 E. 18th St.) was severely damaged by a kitchen fire that broke out early this morning. No word yet on the exact cause of the fire and when the six-decade-old restaurant — popular among locals for its fried chicken, in particular — might reopen. In the Mercury News story, Battalion Fire Chief Coy Justice estimates that even in a best case scenario, the restaurant will be closed for several months.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Paella Pop-up Lands (Semi-Permanently) in Alameda
News Luke Tsai — Tue, May 7, 2013 at 8:00 AM
What the Fork previously noted the recent death of Soleil Banguid, beloved chef of Soleil’s African Cuisine, which for too short a time served some of the tastiest West African dishes around at the unlikeliest location — a bluegrass and country western bar in Alameda called The Frog and Fiddle (1544 Webster St.). Now comes word on the bar’s new plans for its kitchen program: Paul Skrentny, the paella-centric caterer and longtime standby at Oakland’s Guest Chef — having logged seven two-week pop-up stints — has taken over indefinitely.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Cooking Channel’s Pizza Cuz Gives Props to East Bay Pizzerias
Luke Tsai — Mon, May 6, 2013 at 4:15 PM
In a surprising wrinkle to the longstanding, often heated feud between East Coast and West Coast pizza snobs, two New York City pizza chefs recently visited Temescal stalwart Pizzaiolo (5008 Telegraph Ave., Oakland) to shoot the first episode of Pizza Cuz, a new program on the Cooking Channel, and came away from the experience with … nothing but love for their Bay Area pizza brethren.
Quipped Francis Garcia, one of the show’s pizza-slinging co-stars, “I really did leave my heart in San Francisco.” Cue rimshot. But when What the Fork caught up with Garcia and Sal Basille (Garcia’s cousin and co-star) for a recent phone interview, it was clear that the pair’s Bay Area pizza love was sincere.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Mid-Week Menu: Chez Panisse Aims for June 10 Reopening, Ike’s Expands to Walnut Creek, and Alameda Gets a Lithuanian Restaurant
Luke Tsai — Wed, May 1, 2013 at 7:00 AM
Welcome to the Mid-Week Menu, our weekly roundup of East Bay food news.
1) I don’t want to be the boy who cried wolf when it comes to the ever-imminent return of the East Bay’s perennial Sichuan favorite, China Village (1335 Solano Ave.) — closed for over a year now after a kitchen blaze put the restaurant out of commission. Nevertheless, I’d be remiss if I didn’t pass along this latest update: According to a report from Chowhound poster Melanie Wong, the restaurant is finally on the verge of reopening, with only PG&E to wait on. The new ETA is the beginning of May, and diners who are mindful of the provenance and quality of ingredients will be happy to note that organic chicken dishes will be available on the specials board.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Fruitvale Gets an Urban Farm Store
Luke Tsai — Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 1:15 PM
When Birgitt Evans first started gardening thirty years ago, she had to purchase nearly everything — the seeds, the fertilizer, and equipment — from a mail-order catalog. You would think that things would be much easier now, in a day and age when a magazine called Modern Farmer is the most talked-about new publication and when entire schools are dedicated to the art and science of urban homesteading (including one based right here in the East Bay).
To a certain extent, they are. But according to Evans, an Alameda County Master Gardener, urban farmers in the Bay Area still have to go to six or seven different stores to get everything they need — and they still end up having to mail-order a few specialized items. So Evans and fellow DIY enthusiast (and chicken- and beekeeping expert) Yolanda Burrell decided to do something about it. Their new urban farm store, Pollinate (2727 Fruitvale Ave.), is designed to be a one-stop-shop for gardeners and animal husbandry practitioners of all different skill levels. Located in Oakland’s Fruitvale district, Pollinate launched in late March, but this weekend will be the store’s official grand opening.
Uptown Oakland’s Marrow: An Early Look
Luke Tsai — Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 12:30 PM
Last week, Jon Kosorek of Jon’s Street Eats, one of the OGs of the Bay Area gourmet food truck scene, launched a new brick-and-mortar lunch spot in Uptown Oakland. Marrow (325 19th St.) will focus on whole-animal cookery (what Kosorek calls “classic food the way it was supposed to be”), with Kosorek and his team breaking down and cooking their way through one responsibly sourced animal at a time.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Mid-Week Menu: Trueburger Expands, Vegi Food to Close, Barkada Pops Up
Luke Tsai — Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 7:00 AM
Welcome to the Mid-Week Menu, our weekly roundup of East Bay food news.
1) On the heels of last week’s news about Blue Bottle’s new Oakland cafe, Berkeleyside Nosh reports that the Uptown burger spot Trueburger is opening a new restaurant at 4101 Broadway — just a couple of blocks away from the Blue Bottle. According to Trueburger’s Facebook page, the new location — a former carpet store — will open toward the end of the year.
