New food vendors bring home cooking to Emeryville food hall

When I first moved to the Bay Area, I, admittedly, didn’t even know that Emeryville was its own city. Wedged between Berkeley and Oakland, bordering the San Francisco Bay, it’s one of the region’s smallest cities, a place that’s often defined by the giants around it and commonly overshadowed as a result. Who would’ve thought that this municipality, with a population just under 14,000 (fewer than the number of riders who pass through Embarcadero Station on an average weekday) would have a food hall that punches well above its weight?

5959 Shellmound St., Emeryville

Open Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Founded in the late 1980s, the Emeryville Public Market offers almost 20 fast-casual stalls, with options like Peruvian street food, house-made BBQ, Korean-Japanese fusion, among others. Phaedra Morris, general manager of the Public Market, strongly feels that the international, fast-casual food hall is no less than a community hub. Between weekly brainstormer trivia, Wine Wednesdays, live music and drag queen bingo, Morris feels that its long-standing presence has deepened its roots in Emeryville.

“I’ve had people who have been coming here for 20 years come up to me and tell me stories about how things were, and what they love about things now,” Morris said. “It’s a place where you might be by yourself, but there might be someone else on the other side of the table. I’ve seen people start chatting over a pint or over a fish and chip, or game. [The Public Market] is built for that kind of communal dining sharing experience.”

Recently, two new vendors have joined the market’s ranks: Alma y Sazon and Demiya.

Demiya

Specializing in ‘yoshuku’ or Western-inspired Japanese cuisine, Demiya’s newest spot in the market will be its fifth East Bay location. When owner Demi Ebara first came to the U.S from Japan, she was surprised to learn that many Americans had a skewed perception of what Japanese people eat on a daily basis, and sought to change that perspective and highlight

Demiya serves Japanes cuisine with Western influences. Credit: Hardy Wilson courtesy of Emeryville Public Market

“When I came to the U.S. and told people I was from Japan, they often said, ‘I love sushi’ or ‘I love ramen.’ But in Japan, families usually cook other dishes at home, while sushi and ramen are more for eating out,” Ebara explained. “I wanted to share what real Japanese home cooking is like.”

Although Ebara’s favorite dish from Demiya is the Mentaiko Cream Udon, chewy udon noodles topped with a creamy sauce made from spicy, salted cod roe, I instead went for the restaurant’s popular Tonkatsu Curry Rice. The $16 dish starts off with a base layer of rich, umami-filled Japanese curry, topped with white rice, and topped off with a generous amount of crispy, panko crusted pork. Demiya offers a variety of spice levels, side substitutions and additional toppings meant to elevate any dish, such as eggplant, kinoko, takoyaki, soft tofu and even a Dashi omelet. Overall, it’s a hearty plate of Japanese comfort food.

Alma Y Sazon

A family-run business, Alma y Sazon is bringing a piece of Michoacán, Mexico to the Bay Area and giving it a vegan twist. At Alma y Sazon, Paola Lagunas, along with her co-owners, husband Xavier Herrera and sister Fernanda Lagunas, first launched the food business as a part of the San Francisco business incubator program, La Cocina. Alma y Sazon pays homage to Michoacan cuisine, pairing Lagunas’ family recipes with locally sourced ingredients, trading out carnitas and al pastor for marinated tofu and oyster mushrooms.

Alma y Sazon got its start in the La Cocina business incubator program. Credit: Hardy Wilson courtesy of Emeryville Public Market

“Alma y Sazon directly translates to ‘Soul and Seasoning’ however, it is so much more than that,” Paola Lagunas said. “Alma is both my Mothers and my Grandmothers name. These women taught me about the ingredients, chiles, herbs & spices, that make up the backbone of traditional Mexican cuisine. The traditional recipes featured in Alma y Sazon such as the rajas, the sopesitos, the pozole, and even the tinga start with their generational recipes that have been innovated upon by my husband and I to be vegan. ‘Sazon’ is the flavor, the love, the passion, the little bit of each of us that go into making the recipes what they are today.”

Alma y Sazon is focused on dishes from the Mexican state of Michoacán. Credit: Hardy Wilson courtesy of Emeryville Public Market

I tried Lagunas’ $8 “De Mar” Taco, a single, blue corn tortilla filled with crisp purple cabbage slaw and zesty chipotle sauce. But the real standout? Laguna’s golden tempura oyster mushrooms posing as the ‘fish’ in the dish. The crispy exterior of the mushroom delivered a satisfying crunch that captured the texture of a classic fish taco. Truly, I did not miss the meat.

“I have a special place in my heart for the al pastor, a 48-hour marinated tofu and jackfruit blend taco served street style with salsa verde & pineapple,” Paola said. “I worked really hard on that recipe and I’m really proud of it! I do feel very similar about so many of the dishes as well, the hibiscus flower ‘asada’ on the tostada is also a favorite, but it’s hard, every week I’m enjoying something else on the menu and remembering how much I love it; there’s a lot of love on the menu.”

With two new additions and more to come, the Emeryville Public Market proves that a city only 2.25 square miles long, can have big flavor.

New food vendors bring home cooking to Emeryville food hall

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