Welcome to the Mid-Week Menu, our roundup of East Bay food news.
1) LocoL (2214 Broadway), the “revolutionary fast food” restaurant whose Uptown Oakland location is the subject of this week’s dining review, made another big announcement on Instagram: It looks like chef-owners Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson will be opening a small coffee shop in West Oakland, at the corner of Market and 35th streets — the old Tomm’s Bar-B-Q spot, I believe. Details are scarce at this point, but Choi’s Instagram post mentions savory pastries.
[jump] 2) Some news on the tiny 325 19th Street spot in Uptown Oakland most recently occupied by Buma’s Pizzeria: Inside Scoop reports that it reopened a couple months ago as a new branch of Burma Bear, the San Francisco-based pop-up-turned-brick-and-mortar-restaurant, which specializes in pairing “California-style” barbecue (e.g. smoked baby back ribs) with Burmese comfort food.
3) Bay Area Bites offers a first look at Agave Uptown (2135 Franklin St., Oakland), a new Oaxacan-focused Mexican restaurant on the first floor of the Kapor Center for Social Impact. The restaurant’s owners run a taqueria and another Oaxacan restaurant — the original Agave — up in Healdsburg.
Meanwhile, Pal’s Take Away — which parted ways with Firebrand a few weeks ago — will have its first pop-up on Saturday, July 16, noon–4 p.m., at Bartavelle (1603 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley). Initially, proprietor Jeff Mason had said that the pop-up would have a hot dog theme, but he said he’s still tweaking those recipes. This time around the menu will feature a more typical selection of Pal’s sandwiches.
5) One more piece of Uptown news: Izzy’s Steak & Chop House (59 Grand Ave.) is now open for business in the former Casa Cubana spot.
6) Finally, ICYMI, Mama’s Royal Cafe is for sale.
Got tips or suggestions? Email me at Luke (dot) Tsai (at) EastBayExpress (dot) com. Otherwise, keep in touch by following me on Twitter @theluketsai, or simply by posting a comment. I’ll read ‘em all.
