Athletic Club Oakland
Athletic Club Oakland Closes
Sports bar Athletic Club Oakland closed suddenly last week, ending a six-year run as one of the city’s preeminent sports bars. Co-owner Miles Palliser posted on Instagram last Sunday thanking customers for their support, calling it a “wonderful ride.”
“I’m sorry we couldn’t keep it going longer,” he said. “God knows we’ve tried.”
Known for its Oakland-centric boosterism in the heart of the city’s Uptown arts and entertainment district, the bar-restaurant had been struggling financially since the start of COVID. The fact that the city lost its last remaining major professional sports franchise when the Oakland Athletics left town was also a contributing factor. Palliser and business partner Ezra Berman also closed their sister sports bar, San Francisco Athletic Club, last summer, but had mounted a crowdfunding campaign aimed at refreshing the Oakland location’s food, drinks, and business model—Parche and Jaji chef-owner Paul Iglesias had previously committed to executing it.
Unfortunately, that plan never materialized and the Athletic Club closed for good a day after what turned out to be its last hurrah on February 6 on Super Bowl Sunday (it made Diablo’s recent list of the East Bay’s best spots to do just that). Palliser did offer a glimmer of hope by sharing that they were in talks with a potential new owner that would keep the venue alive as a sports bar. Sports fans will keep their fingers crossed.
And still another sports bar closed its doors for good last week—at least at its current location. Longtime watering hole Massés Sports Bar and Grill in Walnut Creek vacated its sprawling North Main Street location, where it offered a variety of activities like bocce, darts, pool, and shuffleboard to complement dozens of flat screens for sports viewing. Development plans for the site by the property’s landlord forced out the family business, but owners have pledged to reopen in another location.
Zachary’s, Mama’s Boy Get National Love
It’s not all doom and gloom in Oakland as two of the city’s pizza favorites got some national love. Influential (and controversial) sports and culture media personality Dave Portnoy was in town to watch his hometown New England Patriots play the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, hosted at Levi’s Stadium. As part of his coverage, the Barstool Sports president picked out several local pizzerias as subjects for his popular one-bite pizza reviews, in which he gives on-the-spot ratings for cheese pizzas based on one (or two) bites. While Portnoy focused mostly on San Francisco, he saved two of his top reviews for a couple of Oakland spots: Zachary’s Chicago Pizza and Mama’s Boy. Both received a score of 8.1 out of 10, quite high by Portnoy standards, and hopefully saw a bump in business as a result.
Slice House
Slice House Opens Saturday in Livermore
Zachary’s, by the way, just opened its sixth location in Livermore, where it will soon be joined by another popular pizza establishment with local ties. Fremont’s own pizza magnate Tony Gemignani is launching the latest location of his popular Slice House franchise at 1948 First Street downtown this Saturday, February 21. The world-champion pizzaiolo will be on hand for the opening, during which Slice House hats will be given away to the first 50 guests and a raffle held for the chance to win free pizza for a year.
“The East Bay is where it all started for me, so bringing Slice House to Livermore and expanding our footprint feels particularly special,” Gemignani said in a statement.
This will be the 32nd Slice House and be run by Ratika Tyagi, who heads multiple franchise locations across California. The Livermore store will be open for lunch and dinner, dine-in and takeout, seven days a week with indoor seating for 36 guests and an outdoor patio that can accommodate 18. The Livermore location will offer a typically Gemignani-style wide-ranging menu with New York-, Sicilian-, Grandma-, and Detroit-style pizzas by the slice or as whole pies, along with pasta, wings, salads, and beer and wine.
Taste Tri-Valley Restaurant Week Kicks Off Thursday
Looking to get a crash course on one of the East Bay’s most diverse and up-and-coming culinary scenes? Taste Tri-Valley Restaurant Week kicks off this Thursday at Dublin’s new upscale Indian destination Pippal, which is hosting an opening night dinner with courses by local chefs Munish Rana of Pippal, Francis X. Hogan of Crush’d Wine Bar and Kitchen and Sabio on Main, John Phung of Uncle Yu’s at the Vineyard, and Luis Blanco of Bravazo, all paired with wines from Livermore’s Wente Family Vineyards. (Get tickets here.) The following 10 days from February 20–March 1 will be filled with a series of “dining deals, exclusive menus, and can’t-miss foodie events” at participating Tri-Valley restaurants that include a Finale Cocktail Party at Hogan’s new elevated sports bar concept in Pleasanton, Pivot Craft Kitchen and Sports Bar, on February 27. Click here for all the details.
Duck Donuts Debuts in Walnut Creek
Popular East Coast chain Duck Donuts opened its first Bay Area shop in Walnut Creek last week at 2920 North Main Street near the Pleasant Hill/Contra Costa Centre BART station. Founded in North Carolina, Duck is known for its donuts that are fried to order and can be customized with various coatings, drizzles, and toppings. Coffee and espresso drinks, milkshakes, and donut-based ice cream and breakfast sandwiches are also on the menu, which now includes seasonal specials such as peanut butter chip, chocolate and strawberry cream, and Cupid’s Flip Flop.
Ohlone Fare on the Menu at Cal’s Lawrence Hall of Science
A new Ohlone-inspired menu is now live at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley. From Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino of Cafe Ohlone, ‘Ammatka Cafe offers a seasonal menu with family-friendly fare featuring ingredients commonly used by Indigenous people in the Bay Area. Unique dishes include a smoked duck and a Mt. Tam Triple Cream sandwich with house-made rose hip jam and greens, watercress pesto and ricotta cheese on sundried tomato wrap, chia seed flour and black walnut brownies, and an Ohlone salad with pine nuts, black walnuts, wet roasted hazelnuts, amaranth seeds, Easy Bay greens, blackberries, gooseberries, dried strawberries, and edible flowers with a grassy olive oil and elderflower white balsamic vinegar (standard grilled cheese and chicken bites are also available for picky eaters). ‘Ammatka Cafe is part of an overall Cal-wide ‘ottoy initiative with the purpose of celebrating and respecting Ohlone culture.
More Small Bites From Around the East Bay
Speaking of Paul Iglesias, the Parche chef-owner is doing a guest takeover this Thursday, February 19 of the kitchen at San Francisco’s Canela Bistro and Wine Bar, part of what will be a monthly series at the Spanish restaurant. Iglesias’s limited-time menu will last until February 22.
It looks like cult sandwich and salad chain Mendocino Farms is planning another East Bay location this fall, this one in the Willows Shopping center in Concord.
Alice Waters’s new Bar Panisse is slammed despite little press and a relatively low online profile.
Acclaimed cupcake chain Sprinkles surprised fans when it suddenly closed all its locations over the new year, but it looks like it’s reopened (under Sprinkles Northern California) two Bay Area locations in Palo Alto and San Ramon’s City Center Bishop Ranch (with another apparently on the way in Burlingame).
The owner of Tommy’s Barbecue Company in Hercules just opened Tommy’s Burger Co. in Richmond serving smashburgers made out of leftover trim from the brisket (and fries cooked in leftover beef tallow).
Beard Papa’s looks to have served its last cream puff in Concord’s Todos Santos Plaza.