MEAT BELCAMPO Belcampo Meat Co. will open its new Oakland flagship location this weekend. As Nosh first reported last May, although Belcampo is already headquartered in Oakland, this will be its first retail space in the East Bay. The new butcher shop and farm-to-table restaurant will be the company’s biggest restaurant yet, with seating for 230 guests, including a prime outdoor area on the waterfront and a private dining room. Belcampo Jack London Square will be open for brunch, lunch and dinner.
Like its other restaurants, Belcampo will serve organic and grass-fed meat that’s sustainably raised on its farm, located near Mt. Shasta. Chef Brett Halfpap, who previously worked at the company’s Santa Monica restaurant, will head the kitchen at the new JLS location, which will offer Belcampo signature dishes like its 100 Day Dry Aged Burger. The restaurant’s bar menu will focus on craft cocktails that have been curated by Josh Goldman of Soigné Group. As for the butcher shop, aside from custom cuts of meat to take home, it will host demonstrations and offer a selection of specialty grocery items.
Carnivores will want to head over to Jack London Square on July 1, when Belcampo celebrates its grand opening from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with free bites, craft cocktails, wine, live music and a whole lamb butcher demonstration. Reservations will be available starting July 2. Restaurant hours will be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Fri; 10 a.m.-11 p.m., Sat; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Butcher Shop hours will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Belcampo Jack London Square, 55 Webster Square (near Embarcadero West), Oakland
LOOKS SHARP We stopped by Clove & Hoof last week and asked about what was going on with The Fountain, the old-time ice cream spot the North Oakland butcher shop-restaurant had planned to open in the space next door. Well, it turns out those plans were scrapped and instead, an Oakland outpost of San Francisco’s specialty culinary knife store, Bernal Cutlery, will open in its place. Bernal Cutlery owner Josh Donald confirmed with Nosh that he will be opening a shop in the Clove & Hoof building, and said that there will even be an entrance to the shop through the restaurant. Bernal Cutlery specializes in high-end new, vintage and rare knives, along with whetstone knife sharpening services using traditional Japanese techniques. Earlier this month, Chronicle Books released Sharp: The Definitive Introduce to Knives, Sharpening, and Cutting Techniques, with Recipes from Great Chefs, a book Donald co-wrote with Molly Gore with photographs by Molly Decoudreaux. Donald started Bernal Cutlery in 2005, offering knife sharpening out of his apartment in Bernal Heights and eventually moved his operation into a communal incubator marketplace in the area before opening his own shop in the Mission District. The Oakland Bernal Cutlery will be his first East Bay location, which he told Nosh “will carry a very similar range of knives, stones and supplies as our SF shop.” He hopes to soft open this weekend, on Sunday at the latest. Hours for the shop will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday to Tuesday. Bernal Cutlery will be at 308 40th St. (near Broadway), Oakland
COMMUNITY COFFEE Shared coffee roasting facility, Bay Area CoRoasters, aka CoRo, just opened its own coffee shop in West Berkeley. CoRo Coffee Room softly opened last Friday to friends and family, and to the public on Monday, in the space next door to the roasting facility, where independent roasters lease space by the hour to make and process coffee products.
Visitors to this new modern-light filled café on Fifth Street will find a menu of single-origin coffees and blends from four rotating CoRo members, served in a variety of formats — Fetco, or drip (Fetco refers to the brand of the coffee equipment); pour over Chemex; cold brew and standard espresso drinks like lattes and mochas. On opening day, CoRo Coffee Room was serving brews from Nomadic, Land and Water, Soul Work and Rebellion. For non-coffee refreshments, CoRo offers Blue Willow teas, chai, matcha lattes, TCHO hot chocolate, iced tea, fresh orange juice and lemonade, and a spritzer. And for food, the café offers a curated menu of toasts and oatmeal that it makes in-house, as well as some outsourced eats, like quiche and pastries from the Midwife and the Baker. The café will also host cuppings, trainings and other educational events for both members and the public. Another cool feature is the interior window that looks into the roasting facilities, for those who care to get a behind-the-scenes view of what they’re drinking. Hours are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday (except this Friday, June 29, when they will be closed for work on the gas meter). CoRo Coffee Room, 2324 Fifth St. (between Bancroft and Channing), Berkeley
OAKLAND’S ROSE WILL CLOSE The oldest Mexican restaurant in Oakland, Mexicali Rose (701 Clay St.), will serve its last meals this week. The restaurant, which opened in 1927, posted a sign that read: “After serving the Bay Area for 91 years, it is time to retire Mexicali Rose. We will be closing on June 29, 2018. We will like to thank our loyal customers for keeping us in business for four (4) generations. You will be missed.” Mexicali Rose is the last remaining restaurant that was part of the formerly Latino neighborhood. Mexicali Rose’s remaining hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. through Friday. A Berkeleyside tipster walking by the restaurant yesterday took the photo above of a long line of customers eager to get one final taste at the historic institution.
BUTCHER’S SON UPDATE Fans of Berkeley’s The Butcher’s Son will be glad to hear this news: Last Friday, the vegan butcher shop and deli took to Instagram to announce that it will be closed on July 3 and 4, before reopening at its new digs on July 5. As Nosh first reported in April, owner Peter Fikaris took over the large space across the street from its current location (1941 A University Ave.), which was formerly occupied by cheese shop-restaurant, Maker’s Common, which closed in March. The new building boasts a bigger kitchen, as well as a retail space, where Fikaris will sell a selection of meats and cheese, grab n’ go items, take n’ bake items and vegan products from local businesses. And, most importantly, there’s more tables for diners, including more indoor seating and an outdoor garden area. The Butcher’s Son will be at 1954 University Ave. (between MLK and Milvia), Berkeley
CANNED WINES AT BERKELEY TRADER JOE’S Berkeley Trader Joe’s shoppers may have noticed that cans of Simpler Wines and Underwood were unavailable on store shelves until a few days ago. We were notified about their absence from Berkeleyside reader Sadie Gill, who emailed us with some concerning news: the Trader Joe’s in Berkeley could no longer sell wine in a can. According to Gill, a TJs “staff member claimed that the city barred them from carrying canned wine anymore.” Of course, Nosh had to look into it.
Nosh reached out to representatives at the Berkeley store (1885 University Ave.), Trader Joe’s corporate and the city of Berkeley to find out the reason for this madness. At first, Trader Joe’s confirmed that they were no longer selling canned wine in Berkeley due to a city ordinance, but could give us no further details. But Berkeley spokesman Matthai Chakko said he had no knowledge of an email from the city to Trader Joe‘s nor of any local ordinance that would prohibit canned wine sales. Eventually, Nosh pestered Trader Joe’s corporate again, and was able to reach Tim Martin, Regional VP, who promised to look into it further. Three days later, Martin responded that the corporate office had misinterpreted Berkeley’s conditional use permit, and due to Nosh bringing it to the store’s attention, the Berkeley TJs would once again be able to sell the pop-top wines. Phew!
A NOBLE PURSUIT Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond is about to get a new waterfront diner that’s hoping to become a destination spot. Nobilis Restaurant will take over the space last occupied by Galley Café, a longtime haunt for local fishermen that was once featured in a John Wayne, Lauren Bacall flick from 1955 called Blood Alley. But I digress… Nobilis will offer seasonal, locally and sustainably sourced fare for weekend brunch and lunch. Chef Todd Corboy, who spent the last several years as executive chef at San Francisco’s 20 Spot, will head the kitchen at this self-proclaimed “finer diner,” where he’ll put out refined comfort food like crispy fried oysters, North Coast Clam Chowder, a fried chicken sandwich, and of course the staple all diners must serve — a burger, which the restaurant describes as “perfectly smashed and seared” and served in a housemade potato bun.
Nobilis Restaurant invites the public to its grand opening bash, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., July 7, where guests can check out the newly renovated space, sample the menu and hang out on the waterfront deck. Once open, Nobilis will be open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Nobilis Restaurant at Point San Pablo Harbor, 1900 Stenmark Dr., Richmond
