When Jake Stolz first moved to Oakland in 2021, mushrooms were not on his radar. He’d moved across the country from Pittsburgh to work in the cannabis industry. But when he saw a friend at work growing their own mushrooms, his life took a different turn.
“Magically, mushrooms just kind of popped into my life,” he said.
Five years later, Stolz is celebrating the grand opening of Fungi Foods, his new Uptown Oakland restaurant dedicated to the humble, endlessly versatile mushroom. In the playful space, rainbow mushroom vases filled with wildflowers decorate the tables, and neon mushroom lights hang on the walls. Diners chomp into crispy fried maitake sandwiches and fried oyster mushroom-topped mashed potato bowls, all while golden afternoon light bathes the brick walls.
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The classic Cajun sandwich with fries at Fungi Foods in Oakland, Calif., on April 2, 2026.
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The dining area at Fungi Foods in Oakland, Calif., on April 2, 2026.
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Stolz started Fungi Farms, the mushroom farming leg of his business, out of his Alameda apartment in 2022. A grow tent took over his bedroom, and he began selling his mushrooms in the break room at work. His coworkers’ enthusiasm for them gave him a spore of inspiration: “Oh my gosh, I’m going to grow mushrooms and cook it into mushroom food and sell it at music festivals,” he recalled saying.
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He kept his full-time cannabis job while spending his evenings learning about, growing and harvesting mushrooms, as well as selling his goods at farmers markets in Oakland and Alameda during his weekends. When an opportunity at a farmers market came up that cut into his day job hours, he decided to quit: It was time to go all in on mushrooms.
As Fungi Farms expanded, Stolz outgrew his bedroom. He moved the operation into a vacant barn on a private property in Orinda, which he remodeled into grow rooms and a lab. Then, it was time to start working on the next part of his dream: cooking mushroom-centric food. Stolz had a background working in restaurants as a server and bartender, but he had never worked in a kitchen before. He’d also never cooked vegan food.
Mushroom decor hangs on the walls at Fungi Foods in Oakland, Calif., on April 2, 2026.
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The Caesar salad with romaine lettuce, house caesar, toasted breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and oyster mushroom “anchovies” at Fungi Foods in Oakland, Calif., on April 2, 2026.
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At first, he planned to launch Fungi Foods with a chef friend as his business partner — but the chef backed out at the last minute. Stolz called it a blessing in disguise.
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“That day that I got that message, I was at the farm,” Stolz said. “I had a helper there with me that day, and I looked at him and I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to go. I’ve got to go learn how to cook.’”
With the help of YouTube and a lot of trial and error, Stolz jump-started his “chef era,” as he called it. He knew he wanted to make vegan food because he “wanted to include everybody,” he said. But at the same time, he was aware of the stigma that the term “vegan” can carry.
“I knew with it being mushrooms and it being plant-based that I needed to do some things that felt familiar, so that people wouldn’t be totally scared away,” Stolz said.
The Lasagna, with mushroom ragu, and creamy béchamel lasagna served with toasted garlic bread at Fungi Foods in Oakland, California on April 2, 2026.
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Mushroom decor and card games are placed out on dining tables at Fungi Foods in Oakland, Calif., on April 2, 2026.
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He drew inspiration from his past as a “fast food junkie,” back before he went vegan. One of his favorite meals used to be the KFC Famous Bowl, a bowl of mashed potatoes topped with fried chicken and gravy. He set about making his own plant-based version: the KFV Bowl, or Kentucky Fried Vegan Bowl. A base of creamy mashed potatoes is topped with fried oyster mushrooms, Cajun-seasoned corn, mushroom gravy and Cajun ranch.
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From there, the rest of the comfort food menu came naturally: cornbread, mushroom chili, BBQ mushroom-loaded mac and cheese, and mushroom sandwiches. Everything is $18 or less and bursting with flavor, bearing no suggestion of the dull health food stereotype often associated with vegan food. A standout is the classic Cajun sandwich ($16): a towering pile of crispy fried maitake mushrooms doused in creamy Cajun ranch and accented with a sweet-spicy-tangy tangle of candied jalapenos, dill pickles and slaw on a pillowy brioche bun, coupled with a side of hand-cut fries.
In April 2024, Stolz debuted Fungi Foods at Pleasant Hill’s Rodgers Ranch Heritage Center. He started selling his mushroom cuisine at farmers markets and pop-ups across the Bay Area, eventually landing coveted spots at the Berkeley Bowl and the Grand Lake Farmers Market in Oakland. The latter was especially successful, with Oaklanders taking a particular liking to his mushroom-based food.
“That market really just sparked so much energy in me,” he said. “We were so well received.”
Owner Jake Stolz poses with a dish at Fungi Foods in Oakland, Calif., on April 2, 2026.
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The KFV (Kentucky Fried Vegan) with fried oyster mushrooms, cajun ranch, mashed potatoes and cornbread at Fungi Foods in Oakland, Calif., on April 2, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
Last July, his dream of selling mushroom food at a music festival even came true when he vended at the Northern Nights Music Festival in Mendocino County. And, as of late March, he’s softly opened Fungi Foods’ brick-and-mortar on Oakland’s 25th Street between Telegraph Avenue and Broadway. The grand opening is on April 9.
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The restaurant is inside a commissary kitchen called Platform 43 that Fungi Foods shares with other businesses — currently, just one other eatery that operates in the mornings called Town Biscuits. It has a full dining room in front, which Stolz has decked out in mushroom-centric decor (although sharing the space means they have to take it all down at the end of each service).
He hopes diners will sit down and stay a while, and he’s even placed card games at each table to encourage connection. New additions to the menu include a mushroom lasagna and Caesar salad with mushroom “anchovies,” with most dishes made from the oyster, lion’s mane, chestnut and shiitake mushrooms that he and his crew grow themselves. Customers can also buy bags of mushroom jerky to take home or their very own mushroom grow kit.
Mushroom grow kits are available for purchase at Fungi Foods in Oakland, Calif., on April 2, 2026.
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The Cajun BBQ, mushroom-loaded mac and cheese at Fungi Foods in Oakland, Calif., on April 2, 2026.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
Stolz recognizes that it’s not the easiest time to open a plant-based restaurant. Last week, 31-year-old Oakland vegan restaurant Millennium announced its impending closure, and the Bay Area-founded vegetarian fast food chain Amy’s Kitchen recently closed its final restaurant at San Francisco International Airport. The tide has turned against veganism in the broader culture: Eleven Madison Park famously added meat back to its menu last year after going vegan for four years, and in a local echo, vegan burger restaurant Malibu’s Burgers in Oakland recently expanded its menu offerings to include meat to combat “slowed business, rising costs, and a broader decline in interest in vegan dining,” it wrote in a January announcement.
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Stolz sees two major challenges to running a plant-based restaurant: one, that vegan ingredients are often more expensive, and two, appealing to non-vegans (most regular restaurants now offer vegan options, so why bother taking a group of people with mixed diets to a dedicated vegan spot?). Fungi Foods combats high ingredient costs by growing most of the core ingredients itself, and it appeals to non-vegans with both its branding — avoiding the word “vegan” when possible — and food offerings.
“If you know somebody who’s not a vegan and they go and eat regular beef burgers, the likelihood of them going to a vegan burger spot is pretty slim,” Stolz said. “But if they were to, say, see an oyster mushroom sandwich, I think they’d be more inclined to try that than they would a ‘vegan’ burger.”
The exterior of Fungi Foods on 25th Street in Oakland, Calif., on April 2, 2026.
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Stolz is a devoted advocate of the health and environmental benefits of a plant-based diet. But ultimately, he’s just really passionate about mushrooms and wants other people to love them as much as he does. They’ve become somewhat of a lucky charm for him.
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As we wrapped up our phone interview, Stolz noticed a sole mushroom sprouting out of the flower bed next to him.
“There’s a mushroom right next to me,” he said, his voice filling with excitement. “That’s a good sign.”
Fungi Foods, 434 25th St., Oakland. Open Thursday through Sunday, 5-8:30 p.m., closed Monday through Wednesday.
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