{"id":493675,"date":"2026-10-12T16:28:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T16:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/493675\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T16:28:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T16:28:23","slug":"two-snail-bar-veterans-are-opening-a-mexican-wine-bar-in-the-richmond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/493675\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Snail Bar veterans are opening a Mexican wine bar in the Richmond"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carlos Camacho and Steven Bravo of Taller Pepe. | Source: Courtesy Phil Kim for Taller Pepe<\/p>\n

A Mexican wine bar is coming to Central Richmond. Taller Pepe, which translates to Pepe\u2019s Workshop, is a project from two of the top brass at Oakland\u2019s Snail Bar: chef de cuisine Steven Bravo and GM and beverage director Carlos Camacho, both of whom are Mexican American. Pepe, the duo explain, was Gomez\u2019s great-grandfather\u2019s name and Camacho\u2019s dad\u2019s nickname. They see the wine bar as a way to advance the city\u2019s progressive Mexican food scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cFood is, ultimately, identity,\u201d Gomez says. \u201cWe cook California cuisine with a really heavy Mexican backbone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taller Pepe will take over 2229 Clement St., currently home to Red Tavern, a 15-year-old Russian restaurant. (Owner Diana Shpak says Red Tavern isn\u2019t done just yet; a new location could be on the horizon.) Gomez and Camacho expect to close on the property Oct. 27 and open their bar in the spring, after a renovation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They plan to cook approachable, accessible California food with Mexican flair, like mole dashi or a quesadilla topped with locally made Queens kimchi (opens in new tab)<\/a>, creme fraiche, and Boursin. While Bravo was running his eponymous pop-up, he prepared carne asada- and bacon-wrapped hot dogs topped with avocado aioli. They plan to serve a reduced food menu Tuesday through Thursday, with full dinner service Friday through Monday.<\/p>\n

\"TwoThe Mexican wine bar is expected to open in 2027. | Source: Courtesy Taller Pepe<\/p>\n

On the drinks front, Camacho will bring the globe-trotting sensibilities he\u2019s honed at Snail Bar. His selections can run the gamut from Rhones-Alpes Romain des Grottes to bottles from Oakland\u2019s Offshore Wines. He and Bravo are both inspired by Bar Chenin in Detroit, as well as the Paris Mexican wine bar Tarantula and Berkeley\u2019s Bar Panisse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gomez moved to the Bay Area in 2021 after a stint at Hock + Hoof in Los Angeles, where he worked with French Laundry alums who changed his perspective about the industry. He realized restaurants could be something he dedicated his life to, not just a job. During the pandemic, he started farming in Santa Rosa, picking peppers. Then he saw an Instagram post about Snail Bar, which put the Michelin Guide-listed wine bar (opens in new tab)<\/a> on his radar. He started as garde manger before working his way to chef de cuisine. Camacho, meanwhile, spent five years managing Brentwood\u2019s Imperiale Beer Project and working as an independent wine consultant before landing at Snail Bar, where the two bonded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They joined forces on a New Year\u2019s dinner pop-up at Ordinaire \u2014 where Gomez cooked birria soup dumplings and lamb heart skewers with salsa harissa and a winter citrus labneh \u2014 and it sold out. It was then that they began to believe Taller Pepe could have legs. They\u2019re excited to be a part of the Bay Area\u2019s flourishing modern Mexican dining scene, which, in addition to Snail Bar, includes Maria Isabel and Chicano Nuevo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even know what Michelin was until I was like 32,\u201d Gomez says. \u201cWe just want to keep pushing things forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taller PepeDate and timeOpening April 2027<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos Camacho and Steven Bravo of Taller Pepe. | Source: Courtesy Phil Kim for Taller Pepe A Mexican…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[35067,22661,143,145,144,8456,3945],"class_list":["post-493675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-eat-here","tag-mexican-food","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-restaurant-openings","tag-wine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}