EMERYVILLE SOUL FOOD SPOT ENJOYS NFL SPOTLIGHT.
In an Oakland soul food scene anchored by the likes of Brown Sugar Kitchen, Miss Ollie’s, Lois the Pie Queen, Zella’s Soulful Kitchen and countless diminutive mom-andpop shops, Scend’s, on the Emeryville/Oakland border, might be the most talked about as of late.
Attribute the notoriety to Oakland’s own Marshawn Lynch.
It’s no secret Beast Mode is a man of many roles nowadays. Oakland ambassador. Newly acquired Raider. Wilderness survival expert (kind of ). World traveler. Benevolent community organizer. Now it looks like he can add restauranteur to the list.
In then next few months, Lynch will take over Scend’s as the restaurant’s 80-year-old owner, Cassie Nickelson, eases into retirement.
The liquor license for the restaurant has yet to change hands, so Lynch is not yet an official owner. The 3,611-squarefoot property is being marketed for $1.425 million by commercial real estate firm NAI. Scoop reached out to Lynch’s publicrelations representative, who confirmed the running back’s involvement with the sale but said he would not be providing details.
For the uninitiated, Scend’s is a casual soul food/Southern food spot with a kitchen known for doling out crispy fried catfish, fresh oysters and prawns as easily as it does red beans and rice and fried chicken.
So how did Lynch get involved with the project?
Nickelson’s relationship with Lynch goes back about two decades to when she was running a catering business out of her apartment in Oakland. Lynch lived nearby and would buy her 75-cent hamburgers and 25-cent fries.
When the deal comes to fruition, it’ll be his first public foray into the Bay Area restaurant world, but not his first into the realm of all things food. Last year, the running back launched his own line of namesake candy bars called Beast Mode. (The chocolate bars come in three flavors: s’mores, peanut butter and chocolate-mint cookie.)
Word right now is the menu will stay pretty much the same at Scend’s, based around chicken wings, seafood (fried catfish, tilapia, oysters, prawns) and sandwiches. Undoubtedly there will be some cosmetic changes to the space to reflect Lynch’s presence, but Nickelson said she isn’t sure what exactly those might entail.
Lynch’s choice to reportedly take the place over once Nickelson steps down just highlights the superstar’s commitment to investing in the East Bay, specifically Oakland — because, remember, as he said in a Twitter post addressing his decision to come out of retirement for the Raiders, “I’m really from Oakland doe like really really really from from Oakland ...”
Welcome to the Bay Area restaurant world, Beast Mode. Jackson Square shuffle: Three days after Bocadillos ended its 13-year run, word came that Nico, the critically acclaimed modern bistro out of Presidio Heights, would relocate to its place in Jackson Square.
Nico will open by January 2018 with the same staff, same concept and a brand-new lunch service. The restaurant’s current Sacramento Street space will close Aug. 26.
“We’ve spent probably the last year or so mulling over the move. We just love that Jackson Square neighborhood,” says Andrea Delaroque, who coowns the restaurant with her husband, Nicolas.
Lunch at the new Nico will be a three-course affair along with a la carte options.
Opportunities to fill other locations in Jackson Square popped up for the husbandand-wife duo over the last year, but none seemed to be a fit. And while the Presidio Heights crowd supported the bistro’s dinner service over the years, Andrea and Nicolas felt the neighborhood couldn’t sustain a lunch service.
“With the realities of doing business as a restaurant in San Francisco, and to maintain the integrity of what we do and maintain the staff we have, we have to alter our business model, and that requires lunch service,” she said. “Nico is just philosophically against raising the prices really high.”
As for why Nico is closing in August, five months before its planned debut in Jackson Square, Andrea said the restaurant’s crew needed a break. The vacation is actually going to cost Nico its Michelin star since the guidebook will be published while the the restaurant is closed.
“Our team works so hard. It’s an opportunity to give them some time to take a minute and recharge,” Delaroque says. Montclair newcomer: Rob Lam (Butterfly) and Marcus Garcia (former Fleur de Lys wine director) opened Perle (2058 Mountain Blvd.) wine bar and restaurant this week in Montclair Village.
Perle will zero in on wine, with between 300 and 350 bottles. The food, which comes via Lam, is primarily French/Mediterranean.
Perle will be Lam’s first major foray back in the Bay Area food scene since closing Butterfly on the Embarcadero about seven months ago. To prepare for the venture, Lam staged at various kitchens in San Francisco to hone his techniques in French and Mediterranean fare while finding ways to incorporate his own style, according to Garcia.
The concept, led by the pair of veterans in the San Francisco food scene, is reminiscent of a few 2017 ventures happening across the Bay Bridge. Cultivar in the Marina opened with deep wine reserves and a seafoodcentric menu, the FiDi’s City Counter luncheonette has a notable wine bar component, and even Foreign Cinema has grand plans of the same ilk.
So how exactly did Perle skip across the bay and land in Montclair?
“(Montclair) is starting to get a little spark,” Garcia said. “People want something in their own neighborhood that they can go to and feel comfortable in.”
The other component is convenience. Garcia and Lam both live in the East Bay (Garcia closer to Walnut Creek and Lam actually in Montclair). They’re familiar with the area’s food scene and, based on collective experiences, think Perle will have a receptive audience in Montclair.
“It’s just something relaxed in a neighborhood spot where people can come and get good food and good wine,” Garcia said. “That’s it. It’s something that anyone would want.”