1) Oakland is now home to what is probably the Bay Area’s most well-known vegan fine-dining destination: Inside Scoop reports that Millennium Restaurant will softly open for dinner service this Thursday, June 4 in its new Rockridge location at 5912 College Avenue — the former Box & Bells spot. The restaurant was a fixture in San Francisco since 1994, but its founders recently lost their lease at the Hotel California. As the Chronicle’s Jonathan Kauffman notes, high-end vegan (aka “plant-based”) cooking has changed a lot since the Nineties, and it will be interesting to see how chef Eric Tucker’s food evolves in the restaurant’s new East Bay digs.
[jump] 2) Journalist and filmmaker James Boo has a new documentary out about Jodie’s Restaurant, the beloved and much-lamented greasy spoon, which shut down last year after prolonged difficulties with the health department. The film, “Nothing With Something: Death of a Diner,” takes its title after one of the tiny Albany institution’s many punnily-named breakfast specials. No word yet on Bay Area screenings of the film, but you can watch the trailer below — I got a little choked up by the end. Long live Jodie’s. May Jodie’s rise again.
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3) In other, happier breakfast news: Tablehopper reports that Sequoia Diner (3719 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland) is officially open as of this past weekend. The restaurant aims to apply the Bay Area food scene’s time-worn local/sustainable/seasonal cooking principles to breakfast foods.
4) Inside Scoop reports that Chowhaus (6118 Medau Pl., Oakland), the most high-profile restaurant to open in the Montclair neighborhood in recent memory, is open for business and serving breakfast, lunch, and — as of tomorrow — dinner.
5) Kobani (1901 University Ave.), a kebab restaurant with Kurdish roots, is now open in Berkeley, Berkeleyside Nosh reports.
6) If free ice cream is your thing, and you aren’t averse to long lines, here’s a relevant
7) Newberry Market, Uptown Oakland’s forthcoming grocery store, announced that it has hired Shawn Walker-Smith — of the Oakland-based popup/wholesale business Tart Bakery — to head up its bakery and cafe. If you’re a fan of the scones sold at Oakland’s Arbor Cafe, among other places, this is good news!
8) 18 Reasons, the Mission district food-education nonprofit, is hosting a brunch in Oakland on Sunday, June 7, to raise money for its Cooking Matters program, which offers free cooking classes to low-income Bay Area families — including East Bay participants, who attend sessions in Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and Hayward. The $20 brunch will take place 11 a.m.–1 p.m. at Oakland’s Humanist Hall (390 27th St.).
9) A16 Rockridge (5356 College Ave.) is running a special $35 prix-fixe menu this week to celebrate its second anniversary. The menu features dishes from the restaurant’s early days.
10) Finally, ICYMI, West Oakland’s City Slicker Farms is now a landowner.
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.
