Navi Kitchen, Blue Bottle, Wingman, more

Openings, closings

PREETI MISTRY TO OPEN EMERYVILLE RESTAURANT Called Navi Kitchen, it will be Mistry’s second East Bay restaurant, and it will take the place of short-lived Basic Café at 5000 Adeline. Like her first, Temescal’s Juhu Beach Club, Navi Kitchen’s menu will emphasize market-driven Indian cuisine. Inside Scoop reports, however, that Navi Kitchen will be slightly more casual, with all-day counter service, a chai and coffee bar, and plenty of outdoor seating. On the food side, Mistry will serve a daily curry and rice tiffin, Indian twists on Neapolitan-style pizzas, masala-brined rotisserie chicken, and Straus soft-serve ice cream and milkshakes — basically, Indian twists on some American classics. The East Bay Express spoke with Mistry, who gave a few more details on her pizza. Unlike other Indian pizzas at places like Namaste Pizza, the crust will be thin, rather than puffy, and the toppings will be “subtle,” rather than over-the-top. Mistry also told EBX that Navi Kitchen will also have a spice bar offering freshly ground spice blends like garam masala and chai. Navi Kitchen will be designed by Mistry’s wife and business partner Ann Nadeau, who also created the colorful, fun decor at Juhu Beach Club. Mistry hopes to open the restaurant in spring 2017. Navi Kitchen will be at 5000 Adeline St. (near 47th Street), Emeryville.

BLUE BOTTLE BERKELEY OPENS TOMORROW, FOR REAL THIS TIME While it was originally scheduled to open Sept. 23, Blue Bottle’s downtown Berkeley location has stayed papered up for the last couple of weeks. It will now officially open tomorrow, starting at 7 a.m. and if the soft opening Thursday is any indication, it’s going to be very popular (true: they were serving free coffee!). Blue Bottle Berkeley is the coffee company’s third location in the East Bay, and first for Berkeley. It is also the first of the company’s cafés to feature a full Modbar system, which means that much of the coffee and espresso-making machinery is located beneath the counter. Blue Bottle is particularly excited about this feature: “It means that the baristas don’t have to peer around glorious stainless steel machinery to say hello and guests can see their drinks as they’re being prepared,” according to a statement from the company. In addition to a full lineup of coffee beverages, Blue Bottle Berkeley is serving a rotating selection of food and pastries from the company’s culinary program. Blue Bottle Coffee will be at 2011 Shattuck Ave. (at University Avenue), Berkeley. Connect with the coffee company on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

WINGMAN, FROM BOWL’D OWNERS, TO COLLEGE AVENUE Hot on the heels of its new Bowl’d BBQ and Bopshop locations, Bowl’d owners Jessica Oh and Chi Moon are getting into the KFC restaurant game. A new restaurant, called Wingman, is headed to Rockridge, at 5295 College Ave., currently the home of Christopher’s Burger. Oh told Nosh that Wingman will focus on chimaek, a.k.a. chicken and maekju (Korean for beer), served together. “The popularity of chimaek is growing and it’s a playful aspect of modern Korean food [that] we wanted to explore,” said Oh in an email. No further details on Wingman’s menu are currently available, but we expect to see the full lineup of Bowl’d’s fried chicken sauces, plus both Korean macrobrews and American craft beers to drink. Christopher’s Burger has been an neighborhood favorite, serving twists on American classics, like lamb burgers, pesto and oven-dried tomato burgers, and vegetarian chili burgers. No word yet on a closing date for Christopher’s. Wingman will be at 5295 College Ave. (at Clifton Street), Oakland.

SWEET BELLY, FROM BELLY OWNERS, SELLING DONUT-TOPPED SOFT SERVE That’s right — you now can get a soft serve sundae topped with mini donuts. You can even add caramel popcorn or cereal to the mix. Sweet Belly, the dessert emporium behind these concoctions, had a soft opening back in August, but closed for a few weeks to make improvements before reopening this month. It is the newest project from the owners of Belly, a casual Korean-Mexican restaurant in Uptown. Like the original, Sweet Belly’s flavors hint at Asian-fusion, with matcha showing up in the ice cream, donut glaze and horchata. From the looks of Yelp reviews, these are also the most popular items. Drinks, such as Bundaberg sodas, are also available. Sweet Belly is at 435 19th St. (at Broadway), Oakland. Connect with the restaurant on Facebook and Twitter.

TIDBITS: FREEZING POINT, POKE KOMA, HOOKED ON POKE, ONO HAWAIIAN BBQ In Oakland, a Thai rolled ice cream shop, Freezing Point Creamery, has opened. Watching the employees make its signature rolled ice cream is, according to the East Bay Express, “like a cross between making a griddle-chopped cheesesteak (or Japanese teppanyaki) and Cold Stone Creamery.” Freezing Point also offers unique scooped ice cream flavors — at the moment, durian and avocado. In other news, Alameda’s is about to get two poke restaurant, right around the the block from each other. Poke Koma, at 1354 Park St., opened in September, and Hooked on Poke is headed to 2353 Santa Clara Ave. later this year. Poke Koma offers both build-your-own bowls as well as restaurant-designed signature dishes. We assume Hooked on Poke has a similar concept. Also in Alameda, Ono Hawaiian BBQ has opened. The southern California-based chain has a few other Bay Area locations, all serving grilled and fried meats alongside macaroni salad, rice and vegetables. A Fruitvale location (at 2990 E. Ninth St., Oakland) is also coming soon. Freezing Point Creamery is at 349 7th St. (at Webster Street), Oakland. Poke Koma is at 1354 Park St. (at Central Avenue), Alameda. Connect with the restaurant on Facebook and Instagram. Hooked on Poke will be at 2353 Santa Clara Ave. (at Park Street), Alameda. Ono Hawaiian BBQ is at 2630 Fifth St. (at Singleton Avenue), Alameda. Connect with the restaurant on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Dinners and events

OMCA DIAS DE LOS MUERTOS CELEBRATION The Oakland Museum of California is holding its 22nd annual Dias de los Muertos celebration this Sunday from 12-4:30 p.m. In addition to music performances from local hip-hop musicians and Mexican mariachi bands, altar installations by community organizations like Radical Monarchs and La Clínica’s Youth Brigade, and handmade arts and crafts vendors, there will be close to a dozen food trucks from Off the Grid and live Mesoamerican arts and cooking demos, including one on tortilla making. Learn more about the event here.

HOG’S APOTHECARY 3RD ANNIVERSARY PIG ROAST Temescal’s Hog’s Apothecary is celebrating its third year on 40th Street with an open-fire roasted pig and three special beers on tap on Sunday. Berryessa Brewing will offer a cask-conditioned peach session saison; Henhouse is sending Tiny Tiles, a pale ale dry-hopped with Mosaic hops; and Temescal Brewing will bring over its new Day Trip blonde ale. A classic country and blues DJ set will be played live by Cactus Pete. You can make advance purchases of tickets for the pig roast and a 12-ounce pour of all three beers here, but tickets are not required for entry. Hog’s Apothecary is at 375 40th St. (at Opal Street), Oakland. Connect with the restaurant on Facebook and Twitter.

B-SIDE BBQ RETURNS… FOR ONE DAY B-Side BBQ fans rejoice! Tanya Holland is bringing back some of her beloved smoked ribs and brisket for an evening-long pop-up at B-Side’s former location (3303 San Pablo Ave.) in West Oakland. Holland will be teaming up with Jeff Rosen and Blue Heron Catering for the event, which also includes live music, and wine and beer from Urban Legend, Rock Wall and Drake’s. Side dishes include macaroni and cheese, collard greens (a favorite of this reporter), Texas toast, pickles and apple bundt cake. On Facebook, Holland has been deliberately vague about the future of the barbecue restaurant; here at Nosh, we hope that this pop-up signals some kind of return. Advance tickets ($35) are available here. Connect with B-Side BBQ on Facebook.

What else is going on…

ROSENBLUM CELLARS SOLD TO BRONCO WINES Oakland’s Rosenblum Cellars has a new owner, Bronco Wines. While the sale was undergoing negotiations earlier this summer, according to an unnamed source, it is now finalized, and Rosenblum Cellars’ full listing of wines is now available through the Bronco website. An ABC license indicating the new owners is now active. The venerable Zinfandel producer was founded in Oakland by Kent Rosenblum in 1978, and later moved to the Alameda Naval Air Station. In 2008, Rosenblum sold the winery to Diago Chateau & Estate wines for $108 million. Two years later, Diago shut down its Alameda facility and moved production to Napa, as part of a cost-cutting measure. A new tasting room opened in Jack London Square in 2014. While little is known about the deal with Bronco, which maintains a massive portfolio of wine brands including Charles Shaw, Nosh has heard that the company wants to make Rosenblum Cellars more “community oriented.” To that end, it has brought back Kent Rosenblum to be the chief winemaker for its 2016 vintage, according to Oakland Magazine. The Oakland tasting room also underwent a few changes at the beginning of the month, and reopened Oct. 5. Kent Rosenblum remains the CEO of Alameda’s Rock Wall Winery, where is daughter, Shauna Rosenblum, is the winemaker. The Rosenblum Cellars tasting room is at 10 Clay St. (at Water Street), Oakland. Connect with the winery on Facebook.