After 56 years, Berkeley’s Albatross Pub is closing
Berkeley’s oldest bar is closing. After 56 years, the Albatross Pub — which was founded in 1964, as the free speech movement was getting off the ground at the nearby university — will be forced to shut its doors by Nov. 30, the owners have announced.
“A convergence of money running thin, no foreseeable re- opening date due to the ongoing pandemic, and new rent demands from our landlord, have simply given us no way to move forward,” they wrote on their Facebook page.
There won’t be a last call per se because the San Pablo Avenue pub has been closed since COVID-19 restrictions went into effect in midMarch. According to Berkeleyside, owner Andrew Mcgee contemplated serving food in order to reopen the bar but decided that the lack of an outdoor space would make survival chances slim.
Customers expressed their sorrow over the news on social media.
During the bar’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2014, an Albatross regular, Rebeka Newbold, described the vibe. “You have an intelligent crowd. UC Berkeley students come in who have gotten me off on philosophical conversations,” she told the Bay Area News Group. “Then you have your Average Joe coming in. It’s a big mix.”
The art-filled bar was known for years for its array of games and its neighborhood clientele. Aside from
a long list of social and board games kept behind the bar, the pub had several lanes for darts and a pool table.
Mcgee offered some hope that the Bird might have a future in the postpandemic era.
“We have made plans to move everything possible from within the Pub to storage in the hopes of finding a new home somewhere. We’re also anticipating having send off party somewhere socially responsible in the near future,” he wrote. “We hope we can have a new beginning somewhere sometime in the future. Until then, cheers for now.”
DETAILS >> 1822 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley; www.facebook.com/albatrosspubberkeley
Mountain Mike’s Pizza expands with four new locations
The Mountain Mike’s pizza group — which boasts more than 220 restaurants in California — now has one more in the Bay Area. And three others on the way.
The newest has opened in Campbell on South Bascom Avenue at Camden Avenue, giving that South Bay City two Mountain Mike’s. Coming soon are new locations in Hayward on Industrial Boulevard, Richmond on Meeker Avenue and Vallejo on Solano Avenue.
Mountain Mike’s, founded in Palo Alto in 1978, uses dough made from scratch in-house (gluten-free is available). Besides pizzas bearing names like Everest, Mckinley and Pike’s Peak, the restaurant offers original, barbecue and spicy hot boneless and bone-in chicken wings, garlic sticks and jalapeño poppers.
The new Campbell eatery is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-thursday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday-saturday for takeout and delivery. When indoor dining returns to Santa Clara County this location will offer socially distanced tables in a 2,340-square-foot space, plus a nostalgic map of Campbell.
DETAILS >> 3155 S. Bascom Ave., Campbell; 408- 412-8950; www.mountain mikespizza.com
Winner Winner Hot Chicken ramps up at Hillsdale mall
Two Peninsula chefs have teamed up to bring elevated fast- casual food to San Mateo’s Hillsdale Shopping Center, a mall they’ve been frequenting for years.
Chef-partners Jeremy Cheng and Randy Magpantay, both graduates of the California Culinary Academy, have finally held a proper grand opening for their Winner Winner Hot Chicken — an eatery that they launched in March but then had to scale back because of the pandemic. They pivoted to feeding first responders and offering limited takeout.
Full menu highlights now include Nashville style hot chicken, made with air- chilled, antibiotic-free chicken (available by the piece, as tenders, in salads); a vegan Barry’s Bowl inspired by Barry’s Bootcamp; a rotating menu of desserts made in-house; plus Bay Area beers and California wines.
“We take our heat levels seriously,” the chefs say on the website. There’s medium, spicy and extra spicy, or “hot as cluck,” as they call it. There’s also a classic version, with no heat.
Cheng’s culinary experience includes Town in San Carlos, Milagros in Redwood City and Nola in Palo Alto; Magpantay has cooked for Chef Fitness and William Jay Catering, both based in San Mateo, and King’s Sandwich Co. in South San Francisco.
Winner Winner, located in the mall’s dining terrace, is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday-saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
DETAILS >> 84 Hillsdale Shopping Center, San Mateo; www.winnerchicken.net
Palo Alto Vietnamese restaurant Tam Tam says ‘farewell for now’
Sisters Tammy Huynh and Tanya Huynh Hartley announced they are not renewing the lease for their Tam Tam restaurant in downtown Palo Alto.
“Farewell for now” reads the note on their website. “We are grateful to our staff and guests who have supported us during these past 14 months. It was an honor to share the story of Vietnam and its food with you.”
Nov. 15 was the last day of service at 140 University Ave., but they say they are looking for a new space to relocate the eatery. The pair opened Tam Tam in September 2019 as a casual spinoff of their upscale restaurant, Tamarine, located at the other end of University Avenue.
Tammy, the executive chef, had focused the Tam Tam menu on regional Vietnamese dishes, with a few twists. Tamarine, in business for 18 years, specializes in Asian fusion.
“While we look for a new home please visit us at Tamarine Restaurant & Gallery, where a few Tam Tam favorites will be available soon,” they wrote.