I sat down with Nosh editor Tovin Lapan and Nosh reporter Skylla Mumana to talk through three restaurants that recently opened in Oakland \u2014 and what each one tells us about the state of the city\u2019s dining scene right now.<\/p>\n
You can read about all three below, listen to the full conversation above, or find it on\u00a0Apple<\/a>,\u00a0YouTube<\/a>, or anywhere you get podcasts.<\/p>\n Bar Skula is a \u201cLuka\u2019s remix,\u201d and a bet on Oakland<\/p>\n Bar Skula just opened on Grand Avenue, not far from the Lake Merritt pergola, in the space that used to house Sidebar. It\u2019s from Maria Alderete and Rick Mitchell, the couple behind Luka\u2019s Taproom, the restaurant and bar often credited with helping catapult the revitalization of Uptown Oakland. They closed Luka\u2019s in January 2022 after they couldn\u2019t negotiate a new lease with their landlord.<\/p>\n Now they\u2019re back, calling the new spot a \u201cLuka\u2019s remix.\u201d A lot of the old crew is involved, including chef Wilson Mendez, Luka\u2019s very first employee, who stuck around for all 18 years it was open, and founding chef Jacob Alioto. Jared Hirsch, Sidebar\u2019s former bar manager, designed the cocktail menu, paying tribute to the space\u2019s most recent past as much as its Luka\u2019s-era history.<\/p>\n The menu is seafood-focused, drawing on Alderete and Mitchell\u2019s travels through Mexico, Central and South America, alongside vintage Luka\u2019s favorites like the burger and fries. Oakland muralist Pancho Pescador painted underwater scenes on the walls, inspired partly by an old Oaklandside story about the creatures that actually live in Lake Merritt.<\/a><\/p>\n Read the story: Azucena Rasilla\u2019s reporting on Bar Skula<\/a><\/p>\n Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s goop kitchen landed in the East Bay \u2014 and it\u2019s a little confused about where it is<\/p>\n Goop kitchen, the delivery-only food arm of Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s wellness brand, opened a ghost kitchen out of the Adeline Food Hall this month. There\u2019s just one wrinkle: it\u2019s branded \u201cBerkeley goop kitchen,\u201d even though the kitchen itself sits in Oakland.<\/p>\n Goop\u2019s co-founder and CEO told Nosh the branding follows where deliveries go, not where the kitchen sits, since most orders from this hub head to Berkeley addresses. Online, some people had other theories about why Oakland\u2019s name didn\u2019t make the cut.<\/p>\n As for the food, Nosh reporter Skylla Mumana found it just \u201cfine\u201d: a gummy gluten-free pizza, a chicken salad saved only by its vinaigrette, a brownie that could\u2019ve used more lusciousness, and a solid teriyaki bowl. It delivers on the health-conscious promise, but in a region full of fast-casual spots already doing fresh, ingredient-driven food well, it didn\u2019t do much to stand out beyond the celebrity name attached to it.<\/p>\n Read the story: Skylla Mumana\u2019s review of goop kitchen<\/a><\/p>\n Reem\u2019s finally comes home to Oakland as a worker-owned flagship<\/p>\n Reem Assil opened the original Reem\u2019s in Fruitvale back in 2017, modeled on the Arab corner bakeries she remembered from Damascus and Beirut. That location closed in 2021, and since then Reem\u2019s has operated in the Mission and at the San Francisco Ferry Building \u2014 but nothing more in Oakland, until now.<\/p>\n The new flagship, at 85 Webster Street in Jack London Square, had its grand opening in late June. It\u2019s the first Reem\u2019s built around a worker-ownership model, run by three worker-owners \u2014 Rebeca Cid del Prado, Diana Aguirre, and Angela Lima \u2014 who all came up through Reem\u2019s apprenticeship program, created during the pandemic with funding from the Emerson Collective. <\/p>\n Assil told Nosh it\u2019s \u201cbeen a hole in our heart\u201d not serving the Oakland community directly for five years.<\/p>\n The menu closely tracks the old Ferry Building offerings, with wraps, zaatar mini-pita, and muhammara dip, plus new dishes reflecting the new owners\u2019 backgrounds in Mexico and El Salvador.<\/p>\n Read the story: Madeline Taub\u2019s reporting on Reem\u2019s worker-owned flagship<\/a><\/p>\n Nosh\u2019s pop-up food festival returns July 18<\/p>\n Before letting Tovin and Skylla go, we previewed Pop Nosh, Nosh\u2019s third annual pop-up food festival, happening July 18 at Temescal Brewing, noon to 4 p.m. <\/p>\n This year\u2019s vendor lineup includes Aku\u2019s BBQ, Jade Lumpia Bar, Smash n\u2019 Stack Burger Shack, Pie on the Fly, and Aces Ice Cream, plus music from DJ Wiley Coyote and raffle prizes. It\u2019s free and family-friendly; RSVP below to let Nosh know you\u2019re coming.<\/p>\n Read more and RSVP: Tovin\u2019s preview of Pop Nosh 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Also discussed in this episode: <\/p>\n Oakland residents file hundreds of complaints each year about illegal fireworks<\/a><\/p>\n Betsy Lake confirmed as Oakland\u2019s interim city administrator<\/a><\/p>\n Can Oakland\u2019s stolen museum artifacts still be recovered?<\/a><\/p>\n