Oakland pop-up lets loose with fun, late-night snacks

The East Bay’s lack of latenight dining destinations is one reason why Chisme is so refreshing.

Chisme is a new pop-up led by Manuel Bonilla. The chef’s impressive resume includes the recently closed Palmetto, Michelinstarred Commis and the nowshuttered Hawker Fare, whose original Oakland home went on to become Low Bar. Last month, the cocktail spot announced it was closing its kitchen and Chisme would be taking over indefinitely.

The return to the kitchen, where Bonilla cut his teeth years ago, is a symbolic homecoming. Only now, the food is his own.

As is the case with many chefs in the Bay Area, Bonilla’s fusion of cultures on the plate is personal and highly specific, sourced from his Filipino and Salvadoran heritage. His style is loose and fun but never misses a chance to impress, like the family member who steals the show on the dance floor.

With a kitchen that closes at midnight most nights, Chisme has virtually no competition in the East Bay when it comes to finding quality food past 10 p.m. Especially at such hard-to-beat prices — most dishes cost less than $15.

The menu doesn’t take itself too seriously. There are chicken nuggets ($13), which are plump and juicy. And there’s a Frito pie ($13), which exists in the liminal space between chilaquiles and nachos, only with fragile, crunchy corn chips curls. The plated dish displays a bit of elegance and a deep understanding of the nostalgia it carries, a Polaroid of a simpler time — one where a bag of chips filled with chili and cheese was a recipe for joy.

Salvi-inspired dishes like the smothered yuca ($13) display proficiency with guisados. On a creamy bed of refried black beans — a vital accompaniment in Salvadoran cooking — thick blocks of yuca are crowned with saucy, boldly spiced mushrooms and queso fresco.

Meanwhile, dishes like chubby sisig pupusa ($11) and lechon torta ($15) combine Bonilla’s two cultural colors. The chef uses the pupusa as a medium to bare a piece of his soul, filling it with shredded beef flavored with tamari, calamansi and Thai chiles. I enjoyed the declarative statement of the dish, but the torta stole my attention. In a roll goes golden cheese skirts, a smear of black beans and craggy Pinoy-style pork belly slices. Red pickled onions and an escabeche aioli — made from a mixture of pickled onions, carrots, cauliflower and peppers — slice through the richness.

On weekends, Chisme enters brunch mode, offering a phenomenal stack of pancakes ($11) with sides of spicy maple syrup and chocolate sauce. The beneficial use of blue corn masa gives the flapjacks the caress of warm cornbread. He developed an appreciation of the ingredient while working at contemporary Salvadoran restaurant Popoca in Oakland.

A sense of familiarity cuts through Chisme, which translates to gossip in Spanish. I like to imagine there’s a shared confidence in the air that encourages decompression after a long shift, as you sink into cold beverages with friends and tongues start to loosen. The only thing interrupting the gossip is salt and crunch.

Chisme

2300 Webster St., Oakland. 4 p.m.-midnight Monday-Friday; 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-midnight Saturday; 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.-11 p.m. Sunday. www.instagram.com/chismeoakland/

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle Low Bar co-owner Daniel Paez serves drinks in 2021. It recently stopped its in-house food menu in favor of its new pop-up.

Cesar Hernandez/The Chronicle The sisig pupusa is full of personality at Chisme, which recently took over the kitchen at Low Bar in Oakland.

Cesar Hernandez/The Chronicle Frito pie is one of the main attractions, a nod to nostalgic joy.

Cesar Hernandez/The Chronicle It’s worth checking out brunch at Chisme for the masa harina pancakes.