HOMESTEAD Homestead, a new restaurant under the helm of co-owners and husband-and-wife team Fred and Elizabeth Sassen, is scheduled to open Aug. 1 in the 1920s Julia Morgan building at 4029 Piedmont Ave. (between 40th and 41st streets) in Oakland. It takes over the old Zatis space. Sassen, formerly of Camino, will run the kitchen and he is planning an “upscale farm-to-table menu” prepared with seasonal, often locally sourced, organic ingredients. Think baked ricotta with peaches, coppa and grilled bread; shaved summer squash salad with fried padrones and goat cheese; and grilled shrimp, with spicy romano beans and garlicky cucumbers. Main dishes ($18 to $24) could include ratatouille with a poached farm egg, chiles and minted yogurt; salt baked turbot with roasted potato, torpedo onions and hollandaise; and chili rubbed slow cooked pork with creamed corn and cherry tomatoes. Dinner hours will be Tuesday through Saturday 5-10 p.m.
TAMBO New Peruvian restaurant Tambo threw its official grand opening party July 20 at 1414 Jefferson St. in Oakland, although it’s been quietly open since May. Executive chef Patricia Rios is whipping up authentic dishes like ceviche rolls (pictured left), tiraditos and Peruvian tapas accompanied by organic South American beers and wines. Seafood is a speciality. We look forward to your reports.
186 CAFE A sign in the window of the former Green Earth Café, which closed in April, indicates that a new business called 186 Café has applied for a change of ownership for the space at 2124 Center St. in downtown Berkeley. According to the notice, 186 Café has applied for licenses to sell both food and alcohol. The space was extensively remodeled to include a full kitchen — complete with two pizza ovens — by the owners of Green Earth Café, who opened their eatery in 2012, but they were forced to close for personal reasons.
OFF THE GRID The Southside Berkeley Off the Grid site will be relatively quiet for the rest of the summer, as the food trucks will be taking a month-long break from the area after Thursday, July 25. They will reopen at their spot at Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street at 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 26, when they will kick off the new season with live music. Once they return, loyal truck-goers can expect to find a rotating set of vendors there every Monday until 9 p.m. (Hat-tip: Alina)
BOX AND BELLS Remember Box and Bells, the new restaurant planned for the Somerset space on College Avenue in Rockridge by Michelin-starred Commis chef James Syhabout? It’s not likely to open any time soon, despite predictions about July, according to Syhabout who spoke to Diablo Dish. “I’ve given opening dates six times and I’ve been wrong six times, so I’m going to stop guessing. It’ll open when it opens,” he said. It probably doesn’t help that Syhabout has had other mini-crises to contend with recently. He had to close his popular Hawker Fare restaurant for a week after vandals set a fire that torched the electrical meters.
What else is going on…
URBAN WINE XPERIENCE: FREE TICKETS! The East Bay Vintners’ Alliance is hosting the 8th annual Urban Wine Xperience on Saturday July 27, 1-5 p.m., and Berkeleyside has two pairs of tickets (worth $45 each) to give away! If you would like to snag one pair, simply email nosh@berkeleyside.com with “Urban Wine Xperience tickets” in the subject line (by midnight tonight) and the first two emailers will win the tickets. [Ed: OK, the two pairs of tickets have been won. But we can point everyone else a discounted rate ($40). Simply use the promotional code “Cabernet”.] More than 15 urban wineries from the East Bay Vintners’ Alliance will be pouring handcrafted wines in partnership with more than 15 local eateries and food purveyors. Participating wineries include Dashe Cellars, Ehrenberg Cellars, Irish Monkey Cellars, JC Cellars, Mead Kitchen, Periscope Cellars, Stomping Girl Wines, and Urbano Cellars, among others. And participating food purveyors include Angela’s Bistro, Bellanico, Bocanova, Brown Sugar Kitchen, Bucci’s, Chop Bar, Fra’ Mani, Plum Restaurant, Wood Tavern, Zut, and many more. The event takes place at the Jack London Pavilion, 98 Broadway, Oakland. Advanced tickets cost $45; at the door $60. Visit Brown Paper Tickets to buy tickets.
PARKWAY THEATER KARMA CINEMA MONTH The New Parkway Theater is organizing “Karma Cinema Month” in August. You pay-what-you-wish for your movie ticket and 30% will flow to Bay Area nonprofits, including the Alameda County Community Food Bank. “Since we opened our doors in December, we have been consistently working with local nonprofits, and we look forward to broadening and deepening our work through Karma Cinema in August. We love that we can both help raise awareness and help raise funds for these nonprofits that are doing such critical work,“ said J Moses Ceaser, general manager at the New Parkway Theater. Visit the New Parkway website for details of screenings.
GLOBAL GRUB Speaking of helping the Alameda County Community Food Bank, for every new fan that the Global Grub Facebook page gains thru July 31, Global Grubb will donate a meal to the Alameda County Community Food Bank.
Recent Nosh stories (in case you missed them):
O Chamé to close after 23 years in Berkeley
Morell’s Bread to open a bakery in Berkeley
International food is focus of La Peňa’s new café
Got leftover lemonade? Make this summer cake
Eat the Street: Elmwood Café defines community
Bites is Nosh’s round-up of restaurant openings, happenings and closings in the East Bay. Some of these items will have first appeared in Berkeleyside’s Shop Talk column. Got a tip or scoop? Send it our way to nosh@berkeleyside.com.
