Toast to a new brewery in Albany
Do you hear the collective clink? It’s the sound of Albany residents making a toast. They finally have a brewery on Solano Avenue.
Redding-based Wildcard Brewing Co. has opened a bright new tasting room on the main drag in downtown Albany. This is the third taproom for Wildcard but the first in the East Bay. Owners Jeff and Jenny Hansen have been distributing beers in and around the East Bay for over a year and are familiar with our preference for suds.
The location, at the corner of Kains Avenue, features 10 rotating taps of craft ales, from a Vienna lager to an oatmeal porter. Wildcard brews on a 15-barrel system and puts out numerous styles each month, including plenty of IPAs, from double and West Coast to juicy. The tasting room offers pints, sampler flights, growlers and packaged beers to go. There’s no food but the Hansens encourage guests to bring in outside food.
They will host a grand opening on Friday with live music, finger foods, custom glasses, discount pints and specialty ales. The taproom is located at 1122 Solano Ave., Albany. Current hours are 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. For more information, go to wildcardbrewingco. com.
Homestead’s 5th annual Dungeness crab feast
Love crab but don’t want to cook on the days before Thanksgiving? This dinner is so up your alley.
Now in its fifth year, Homestead Restaurant’s prix fixe feast takes place Nov. 20 and 21 in Oakland and features everything you crave for such a supper, including an heirloom chicory salad with Shinko pear, pomegranate and Boont Corners aged goat cheese; charred broccolini; spiced delicata squash; and, of course, grilled Dungeness crab with fried butterball potatoes.
For dessert, you can expect persimmon cake with roasted huckleberries, pistachios and yogurt whipped cream. The dinner costs $68 with a halfportion price of $34, and a supplemental half-crab offered for an additional $18 (perfect for the kiddos). All prices include service but not taxes, and the restaurant’s regular menu will not be served those nights.
And if you need a pie for Thanksgiving, you can place a prepaid order for holiday pies with pickup on Nov. 21. Choose from an 11-inch fresh pumpkin and maple pie ($30) or an 11-inch brown butter pecan pie ($50) made with a pound and a half of pecans.
Homestead is located at 4029 Piedmont Ave. in Oakland. Reservations can be made via homesteadoakland.com or by calling the restaurant at 510-420-6962.
Thai-style chicken chains merge and expand
When you can’t beat each other, you might as well join forces. That’s the thinking be-