Oakland, America’s Next Great Dining Town

When James Syhabout bid adieu to his chef de cuisine post at
four-star Manresa in Los Gatos last year, Bay Area foodies held their
collective breath to find out just where this young haute-shot would
launch his first restaurant. When the answer came, it was a surprise
not only to them, but to some of Syhabout’s friends and colleagues as
well: Oakland.

Syhabout was resolute in choosing what some sneered was San
Francisco’s grittier, more urban, culinary stepchild. Even if he had
all the resources in the world, he said he still would have picked
Oakland. After all, it’s been his hometown since he emigrated from
Thailand 27 years ago. “People thought I was taking a risk,” he said
about opening Commis restaurant on Piedmont Avenue three months ago.
“But you never know until you give it a try. I just thought if you
build it, people will come.”

And have they. Not only to Syhabout’s establishment, but to legions
of others that have opened their doors in the remarkable restaurant
renaissance of the past few years. A host of talented chefs have
transformed Oakland into what’s now arguably one of the country’s most
vibrant dining destinations.

Consider the restaurants that have opened in just the past year or
so. Grand Avenue is now home to Sidebar; Grand Tavern; and the
acclaimed Camino, by Chez Panisse alum Russell Moore. Just down the
road at Broadway you’ll find Picán, a branch of San Francisco’s
Ozumo, the new Mimosa Champagne Lounge, and a soon-to-open second
location of Temescal’s hip Bakesale Betty.

Just blocks from there in Uptown, stomachs already are growling in
anticipation of the new restaurant planned by Sarah Kirnon, late of San
Francisco’s beloved Front Porch, whose Hibiscus restaurant will take
inspiration from her native Barbados. One block from that, construction
is underway on a new concept from Charlie Hallowell, the owner of
Oakland’s ever-crowded Pizzaiolo. And the Temescal neighborhood of
Hallowell’s first restaurant is also home to the low-key wine bar Marc
49; Barlata by Chef Daniel Olivella of San Francisco’s B44; and Burma
Superstar, which already has locales in San Francisco and Alameda.

Over at Lake Merritt, the century-old boat house was recently
revamped into the Lake Chalet Seafood Bar & Grill by the same
owners of San Francisco’s Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant and
Park Chalet Garden Restaurant.

And the once-dowdy Jack London Square district has been infused with
new life by the reborn Miss Pearl’s Jam House, the newly opened Chop
Bar, and the stylish Bocanova. More is set to come when Tanya Holland
of West Oakland’s Brown Sugar Kitchen opens a new Creole-inspired
bistro. And in January, revered San Francisco Chef Daniel Patterson
will unveil Bracina. The casual, seasonal restaurant, serving the likes
of hardwood grilled duck with grapes and grappa, and gnocchi with
smoked mussels and pancetta, will be headed by his business partner,
Chef Lauren Kiino, formerly of San Francisco’s Delfina.

Even the sleepy Glenview district has gotten in on the act, with
Bellanico, from the owners of San Francisco’s Aperto; a planned new
offshoot of À Côté, whose construction is currently
underway; and Marzano, which just opened a sister restaurant on College
Avenue in Rockridge. Meanwhile, Piedmont Avenue welcomed not only
Commis but Adesso, from the nearby owners of Dopo.

“Oakland is the Brooklyn of the Bay Area,” says noted restaurant
consultant Clark Wolf, who splits his time between the Bay Area and New
York. “When the economy went through the floor and people wanted to
have good, solid, no-big-deal meals, Oakland was a natural. It’s a
logical place where great people lived in good spaces at believable
prices.”

In fact, it might even be more attractive than Brooklyn, especially
when it comes to downtown, with its profusion of architecturally
distinct buildings. Of the 160 new businesses that have opened downtown
in the past six years, 65 of them have been restaurants, according to
Oakland’s Community and Economic Development Agency. During that same
time frame, the downtown vacancy rate, once a dire 25 percent, has
dropped to less than 5 percent.

Brian Kendall, a project manager for that agency, says he hasn’t
been this busy in a decade. Every week, he’s been leading walking tours
of available properties to interested San Francisco restaurateurs.
Recently, he even gave two tours to nightclub-restaurant developers
from Manhattan who flew in just to scope out the area. “Interest just
keeps ramping up,” Kendall aid. “There aren’t that many spaces left.
I’m down to ‘Brian’s Top 15’ great spots left in downtown.”

What’s fueling this culinary boom?

Most notably, it’s cheaper to open a restaurant in Oakland than in
other urban parts of the Bay Area. Rents per square foot in San
Francisco for restaurant spaces are about two to four times that of
Oakland, Kendall said. Add to that the cost of labor and a liquor
license, both of which are more expensive in San Francisco. Indeed,
restaurateurs estimate that they have saved 20 to 30 percent in
operating costs by choosing Oakland over San Francisco.

Syhabout agrees. With only 31 seats and eight employees at his
Commis, he says it would have been impossible to succeed with such a
tiny, fine-dining restaurant in price-prohibitive San Francisco.

Oakland also has the advantage of having an experienced labor pool,
Syhabout adds. So many restaurant waitstaff already live in the East
Bay and commute to restaurant jobs in San Francisco. Like him, many new
East Bay restaurateurs and chefs now live in Oakland, too, drawn by the
more affordable housing prices.

Some of Oakland’s success may also be the result of two programs
established by the city’s redevelopment agency. The first, begun a
decade ago, allows businesses throughout the city to recoup half the
costs of facade improvements such as outdoor seating and awnings. The
second program, begun six years ago, gives tenants $10 per square foot
to spiff up their properties. The program proved so successful downtown
that it has since been extended to other redevelopment areas in West,
East, and North Oakland.

But beyond economics, Oakland has other attractions that have proved
a lure. Among them, restaurateurs say, are the city’s incredible
diversity, thriving arts community, and old-fashioned sense of civic
pride.

Even though Patterson — who runs San Francisco’s mesmerizing
Coi and rustic Il Cane Rosso — was not looking to open a third
restaurant, he grew smitten with Oakland because his wife, an attorney,
works downtown. “The city is underserved,” he said. “There are a lot of
sophisticated diners there. I liked the idea of being able to
contribute to the development of an area, rather than just moving into
an already established one. We hope the restaurant helps revitalize the
area and becomes a real part of the community.”

Executive Chef Rick Hackett and his wife, Meredith Melville, the
owners of Bocanova in Jack London Square, lived in the East Bay for 25
years before moving to San Francisco to take over Enrico’s in North
Beach. After leaving that venerable landmark, the couple missed
Oakland’s warmer weather so much that they moved back four years ago,
buying a house near Lake Merritt.

They considered Berkeley to open their Pan-American restaurant that
serves up the likes of Yucatan seafood stew and strip steak with zesty
chimichurri sauce. But they finally decided on Jack London Square after
becoming captivated by the soaring, waterfront space. So much so that
they poured about $2 million into the construction of the
restaurant.

“The East Bay is so rich in what San Francisco used to have,”
Melville said. “There’s just not necessarily the same kind of raw
artistic energy and creativity, and variety in San Francisco
anymore.”

Still, Oakland can be a hard sell to some diners hesitant to cross
the bridge from San Francisco or drive in from the well-to-do ‘burbs of
Lafayette and Moraga. Deserved or not, there’s still the stereotype
that you take your life into your own hands when you roll into Oaktown.
Kevin Best, the co-owner of B Restaurant in Oakland and San Francisco,
and Boxed Foods Company in San Francisco, knows that perception all too
well. In fact, he once harbored it himself. Five years ago, when
developers approached him about opening his restaurant on 9th Street at
Washington Street in Old Oakland, he initially refused.

“I bought into the old stereotypes of Oakland,” Best said. “But when
I saw the area, I was just amazed at how it felt like a small town. I
got such a warm feeling from talking to people here. It’s like everyone
had a goal to make it work in Oakland. It becomes infectious, and you
want to be a part of it.”

Not only did he and his wife move from San Francisco to Oakland
three years ago, but he’s now partnering with the owners of Oakland’s
Tamarindo and Air Lounge to open a 5,000 square-foot art bar and lounge
in mid-October. Era, at Grand and Broadway in the Uptown district, will
serve bar snacks and cocktails, feature live music, and spotlight art
from the West Coast.

To calm diners’ perceived concerns about walking through what might
be unfamiliar Oakland streets, Uptown’s Picán and neighboring
Ozumo restaurants went so far as to jointly offer subsidized $5 valet
parking.

New Orleans-native Michael LeBlanc, who has lived for the past
eleven years in Oakland, his wife’s hometown, grows amused when he
thinks about the reactions he’s had from diners who have driven in from
other parts of the Bay Area to try his restaurant, Picán.

“So many people come here from San Francisco and Marin, and say,
‘Wow, this really doesn’t feel like Oakland!'” said LeBlanc, who was
the first African-American corporate officer at Polaroid before
becoming a restaurateur. “You wink and smile, and hope that maybe in a
year they won’t say that. I think the conglomeration of restaurants now
here is reshaping the attitudes about Oakland.”

The thriving restaurant scene has definitely made people take
notice. But will Oakland ever usurp San Francisco as the top dining
destination in the Bay Area?

LeBlanc concedes probably not, simply because San Francisco is such
a tourism magnet. That’s just fine by him, though. He believes Oakland
is forging its own distinctive identity that’s just right for the
times.

“If you’re a little bit hipper, if you’ve got more soulfulness to
you, Oakland has a little bit more flavor to offer,” LeBlanc says. “We
are like a coupe versus San Francisco’s sedan. And right now, people
just seem to want to drive that coupe or convertible more.”