Specialty’s restaurants will be reborn as Ellamia cafes

Miss your turkey-cranberry sandwich or other Specialty’s menu item? In 2021, you’re sure to find new favorites at Ellamia.

Back in May, the restaurant chain known for its breakfast and lunch crowds shuttered all 50 restaurants nationwide as a result of the pandemic. Now, C3 or Creating Culinary Communities is revitalizing 22 former Specialty’s locations — including 10 in Northern California — with the introduction of EllaMia, a shared digital kitchen platform and cafe concept in partnership with Italian coffee maker Lavazza.

Ellamia, which currently has cafes in Dubai and London, will feature coffee drinks alongside breakfast and lunch menus. Chef Romain Fournel, formerly of the award-winning Jean Philippe Patisserie in Las Vegas and Patisserie Henriet in Paris, crafted the Ellamia menu items, which will include breakfast pastries, gourmet sandwiches, salads, macarons and specialty chocolates.

The Northern California Ellamia locations — Walnut Creek, San Jose, Milpitas, Santa Clara, Oakland, San Mateo, UC Berkeley, San Francisco, Sacramento and Rancho Cordova — are expected to start opening in February.

They’ll act as kitchens for C3’s seven other concepts and deliver to the surrounding community. The concept is similar to Doordash Kitchens, which opened its first four-inone Redwood City commissary kitchen last year.

Once C3 launches its meal delivery app, you’ll be able to get Ellamia gourmet doughnuts and lattes with items from Umami Burger, Krispy Rice, Sam’s Crispy Chicken and other ghost restaurants — all in the same order.

In a news release, Brad Reynolds, chief operating officer of C3, described the concept as “a true restaurant of the future.”

“Ellamia kitchens are each equipped to fluidly prepare foods from different C3 concepts to maximize efficiency of real estate and labor,” he said.

La Guerrera’s Kitchen reopens in Old Oakland

Those in the know call them the maíz warriors.

Now, mother-daughter duo Ofelia Barajas and Reyna Maldonado are back with a new location and larger kitchen to create Mexican cuisine from their native Guerrero.

The new La Guerrera’s Kitchen is now open for takeout at 468 Eighth St. in Old Oakland in the space formerly housing Tamarindo, a pioneering Mexican-owned Mexican restaurant. The menu features the duo’s famed barbacoa, tamales and green pozole, as well as holiday meal kits, like holiday tamales ($45 per dozen with salsa) and chicken mole rojo for two ($18). Once outdoor dining is allowed again, there are plans to open patio seating.

The original La Guerrera’s Kitchen first opened in Fruitvale in June 2019 and quickly became a local favorite. But,

when the pandemic hit in March, Maldonado and Barajas decided not to renew the lease on their year-old restaurant. They closed it in April and worked on a new plan.

Now with a larger kitchen in Old Oakland, the two plan to expand their menu with new items traditional to Guerrero, like tacos dorado con consomé, fried rolled crispy tacos (taquitos) and tamal vampiro, a tamale wrapped in a layer of grilled cheese.

Order online for pickup only from noon to 3 p.m. FridaySunday at 468 Eighth St., Oakland. Find more information at www.laguerreraskitchen.com.

ELLAMIA Ellamia cafes will feature sandwiches, salads and breakfast pastries, like these filled doughnuts.

RAY CHAVEZ — STAFF ARCHIVES Co-owners Reyna Maldonado and her mother, Ofelia Barajas, at the original La Guerrera’s Kitchen in Fruitvale, which closed in April. Their new location is in Old Oakland.