
[jump] Stay Gold Deli (2635 San Pablo Ave.) sits in the spot formerly occupied by a barbecue joint called Shuga Hill, which closed in 2012. Softly open for about a week, the business was conceived as a cross between a East Coast-style Italian deli, a coffee shop, and an old-fashioned country store.

Stay Gold’s initial menu evokes New York’s Little Italy — with a meatball sub and a classic Italian cold-cut sandwich among the early best-sellers. But the business also has roots in New Orleans: Lane is a Bay Area native who first honed her cooking chops at a New Orleans sausage parlor called Barracho. Another co-owner, Jason Herbers, is the former proprietor of the punk rock dive bar Eli’s Mile High Club, which for a brief period of time was home to a New Orleans-style Cajun po’boy shop. Michael Dright, the third partner in the business, grew up in West Oakland.

The business’s long-term plans are even more ambitious. According to Herbers, once the restaurant gets its beer and wine license, he wants to set up a little beer garden. Eventually, he wants to do “Pintxo Nights” as well, which means Stay Gold will likely be the first place in West Oakland to ever serve Basque-style bar snacks.
All of this might sound awfully upscale for this particular stretch of West Oakland, which doesn’t have much in the way of restaurant options. But Lane said she’s conscious of wanting to keep the prices affordable for folks in the neighborhood. For instance, most of the sandwiches on the menu are in the $8–$9 range.
As for the name? Readers of a certain generation will probably recall the refrain from The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton’s classic tale of wrong-side-of-the-tracks teenage angst: “Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.”
“Oh, it’s a good name,” Lane said.