Millennium
Millennium Restaurant Closing
A pioneering vegan restaurant in Oakland is closing after a 30-plus-year run. Millennium, known for its sit-down fine-dining approach to vegan cuisine in an upscale Rockridge setting, will serve its last cornmeal-crusted maitake mushrooms and smoky soy-glazed tempeh on May 16. Co-owner Alison Bagby made the announcement last week in an Instagram video, citing slowing business since the pandemic, particularly over the last year, as making the restaurant financially unsustainable. It’s the latest high-profile vegan restaurant to shut down in the Bay Area in recent years. Oakland’s critically acclaimed Lion Dance Café and San Francisco’s fine-dining vegan Italian concept Baia both closed in 2024, while more casual concepts Malibu Burgers and Casa Borinqueña have shuttered locations in the East Bay.
Millennium first opened to much fanfare in San Francisco in 1994; Bagby later took over operations and, along with co-owner and executive chef Eric Tucker, moved the restaurant to Oakland in 2015. Bagby added that they hoped to reopen Millennium in a smaller format after the College Avenue location sunsets in mid-May.
One sweet bit of news in the vegan food world: Cinnaholic, the popular maker of vegan cinnamon buns, has returned to the city where it got its start. Now boasting 85 franchises across the country, the brand was founded in Berkeley in 2010, though it closed its original Oxford Street location in 2023. Last Friday, franchise owners Shannon and Kevin Slocum opened a new outpost at 2505 Hearst Ave., across the street from the Cal campus.
Rendering of Danville Brewing Co. in Pleasanton.
Courtesy of the city of Pleasanton
Danville Brewing Co. Pulls Out of Pleasanton Expansion
Danville Brewing Co. has stepped away from its expansion to Pleasanton. We reported last year that the popular brewery’s plans for a 10,000-square-foot microbrewery and tasting room in an industrial section of Pleasanton near the corner of Stanley Boulevard and Bernal Avenue had been greenlit by city officials. Alas, owner Marcus Maita recently confirmed he is pulling the plug on the project, due to increased construction costs and broader struggles in the craft beer market.
César Rides Again in North Berkeley
On the heels of the recent debut of Bar Panisse on North Shattuck comes news that the Berkeley institution it replaced is making a triumphant comeback. The team behind César, the popular Spanish tapas spot pushed out of its longtime home in 2022 in favor of Bar Panisse, has signed a lease to open a new restaurant nearby on Gilman Avenue. Taking over the recently shuttered Three.one Four Pizzeria (which was previously home to another Berkeley institution, Lalime’s), Mesón will offer a familiar concept, featuring a full bar and a menu centered around Spanish small and medium plates. Former general manager Cameron McVeigh is spearheading the project and told Berkeleyside that the new restaurant will serve holdover favorites from César—such as patatas bravas and gambas a la plancha—along with updated and new dishes. The Mesón team will include several former employees from the Shattuck Avenue location, among them the head chef (and former César sous chef) Juan Gomez. There is also a high-profile face among the new ownership group: Michael Lewis, the noted nonfiction author and North Berkeley resident who was a vocal participant in the 2022 neighborhood protests over César’s displacement. Mesón is expected to debut as early as this summer.
Burdell
Clay Williams
East Bay Restaurants in the Chronicle’s Top 100 List
The San Francisco Chronicle has released the final 50 entries in its annual list of the Top 100 restaurants in the Bay Area, with several East Bay dining destinations included in final tally. Chief among them is Burdell, Geoff Davis’s upscale soul food restaurant in Oakland’s Temescal district, which claimed the No. 1 spot in 2025 and ranked third this year. Oakland is well represented, with eight additional restaurants in the Top 50: Sun Moon Studio (No. 5), Popoca (No. 6), Soba Ichi (No. 13), Joodooboo (No. 14), Tacos Oscar (No. 19), Mägo (No. 22), Bombera (No. 24), and OK’s Deli (No. 30). Rose Pizzeria (No. 27) and Tanzie’s (No. 46) in Berkeley and Alameda’s Fikscue Craft Barbecue (No. 41) round out the Top 50 in the East Bay.
More Small Bites From Around the East Bay
Nudi Blue, from the owners of acclaimed Thai brunch destination Tanzie’s in Berkeley, just launched at 2049 San Pablo Ave. The follow-up concept will offer high tea service during the day, with dinner service centered on seafood and raw bar offerings expected in the coming months.
J’s Pho and Café is now open at the Orchard’s shopping center in Walnut Creek, taking over the former Plucked Chicken and Beer location.
Matsu, a “charcoal fire yakitori” concept, will fill the former Crepes Ooh La La space next to Toyosu on Locust Street in downtown Walnut Creek.
Finalists for this year’s James Beard Awards have been announced and Sarah Cooper and Alan Hsu of Oakland’s Sun Moon Studio are the only East Bay–based operators to advance from the semifinal round. They’re nominated in the Best Chef: California category.