Fruitvale restaurants celebrate Dia de los Muertos
For 25 years, the annual Día de los Muertos festival in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood has drawn thousands of families with its Latin American music, games, art and altars that pay homage to loved ones who have died.
Food has always played a big role in the fall festival, too. And while most of the activities will pivot online this year due to the pandemic, you can still get your favorite tacos and sweet pan de muerto in person.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the event and support Fruitvale restaurants along the International Boulevard corridor, organizer The Unity Council, in partnership with Visit Oakland, has planned Fruitvale Restaurant Week, today through Nov. 1, offering special $15 menus of food that can be enjoyed to go or outdoors at
restaurants that have patio seating.
They are also highlighting neighborhood bakeries that make the sweet yeast bread, or pan de muerto, which represents an offering made to departed loved ones.
All menus are $15 and feature specials, like three quesabirrias with consomme and one agua fresca or soda (Parra’s). The nine participating restaurants in Fruitvale are Los Cocos, Cafe Platano, Rinconcito Chapin, Parra’s, Taqueria 16 de septiembre, Emil’s Burgers, Nieves Cinco de Mayo Burgers, Taqueria Reynoso and Obelisco. The five panaderias that will sell pan de muerto are Bakery El Sol, Peña’s Bakery (Foothill), Panaderia Sevilla, Los Mexicanos and Pasteleria La Favorita.
For more information on Fruitvale Restaurant Week and the Día de los Muertos Festival, go to diaoakland.com.
Three Seasons’ John Le opens District 7 Kitchen in San Jose
Fans of Vietnamese cuisine know executive chef John Le from his upscale Three Seasons restaurants in Palo Alto, San Francisco and Walnut Creek.
Now he’s back with a contemporary panAsian venture, District 7 Kitchen, located in San Jose’s District 7, the heart of the region’s Vietnamese American community.
Le’s menu expands upon the innovative dishes that first made their debut at his San Francisco restaurant 20 years ago. “I wanted to honor that history by connecting the two ventures with the cuisine I created during that period,” he says.
Among his specialties here are roasted sea bass, hoisin lamb chops and garlic noodles with grilled prawns. Before undertaking this new venture Le helped launch the Los Gatos restaurant North.
DETAILS >> Lunch is served six days a week, Tuesday-sunday, and dinner from ThursdaySunday at 979 Story Road, San Jose.
Zareen expands her restaurant group to Redwood City
Zareen, her spicy samosas and fragrant chai are now in Redwood City.
The Indian-pakistani fast-casual restaurant with the popular tikka masala wraps, paratha rolls, samosas, desi burgers — and complimentary cups of masala chai — has opened in a renovated downtown space.
This Zareen’s is the third restaurant for chef-entrepreneur Zareen Khan. She launched her restaurant in 2014 in Mountain View after careers in the corporate world and in catering, then expanded to Palo Alto a couple of years later.
Bestsellers include Memoni chicken samosas, made from “a secret recipe known only to 35 Memoni grandmothers worldwide,” the website says, including one in Khan’s family. These spicy appetizers also meet halal standards.
For October, the Redwood City location is open limited hours: 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday-thursday (closed Monday), and 5 to 10 p.m. Friday-saturday.
DETAILS >> 2039 Broadway, Redwood City; the other restaurants are at 1477 Plymouth Drive, Mountain View, and 365 S. California Ave., Palo Alto. www.zareensrestaurant.com
Plucked Chicken & Beer opens in downtown Livermore
Plucked Chicken & Beer, from the folks behind Sauced BBQ, has opened in Livermore.
It’s the third location for the counter-service eatery that owners Barrett Gomes and Brenden Scanlan launched in San Ramon in 2018 and then expanded to Pleasanton in 2019.
Plucked joins the flagship Sauced BBQ on Livermore’s First Street — but it’s located at the other end of the downtown strip, in the former Cloud 9 Pizza space.
Plucked offers several versions of fried chicken sandwiches — many with a little heat — on brioche buns. The Rooster tops the chicken with sharp cheddar, applewoodsmoked bacon, a cage-free over-easy egg and house pepper jelly. Others include a Sticky Chicky Asian-style sandwich, the Buff Chick with blue cheese queso and buffalo sauce and a Naughty Nash riff on Nashville chicken. New to the menu is the Flaming Mo, a chicken sandwich topped with ghost pepper cheese, pickled jalapeño and sweet heat slaw.
DETAILS >> Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at 2062 First St., Livermore. www.pluckedchickenandbeer.com