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"slug": "goldpie-pizza-pop-up-richmond-weed-dispensary-east-bay-7-stars",
"title": "The East Bay’s Most Exciting New Pizza Pop-up Is at a Richmond Weed Dispensary",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the hierarchy of foods that pair perfectly with a hit of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/marijuana\">weed\u003c/a>, a cheesy, hot slice of pizza has to rank among the most iconic — right up there with other stoner faves like \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzRvMylDVi8\">White Castle\u003c/a>, ice cream and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It shouldn’t come as any surprise, then, that one of the Bay Area’s most promising new pizza pop-ups would be stationed in front of a Richmond cannabis shop. Every Sunday and Monday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/7starshhc_/\">7 Stars Holistic Healing Center\u003c/a> regulars line up at the little tented food stand right outside the dispensary to snag a piping-hot, oil-slicked pepperoni or whipped ricotta pizza. It’s some of the tastiest East Coast–style you can find in this stretch of the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The pop-up is called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goldpieig/\">Goldpie\u003c/a>, and it’s the brainchild of Scott Hataye, whose day job is as a “budtender” at 7 Stars. For the past seven years, though, he’s also dabbled in the pizza world, moonlighting as the doughmaker at Emeryville’s Rotten City Pizza, a New York–inspired pizza restaurant that closed last summer after an impressive 17-year run. (When I first moved to the East Bay in the late aughts, Rotten City was the closest thing I could find to a proper New York slice shop.)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I love that pizza and actually really, really miss it,” Hataye says of his time at the restaurant. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent.jpg\" alt=\"A food tent set up in front of a marijuana dispensary.\" class=\"wp-image-13990182\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Goldpie proprietor Scott Hataye’s day job is as a “budtender” at 7 Stars. (Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When Rotten City closed last June, he took it as a sign that maybe it was time for him to launch his own pizza business. There’s a bit of Rotten City Pizza in the bones of Hataye’s pies, mostly in terms of the dough, which he says is \u003cem>very \u003c/em>similar to Rotten City’s, made with a blend of Central Milling 00 flour and bread flour and cold-fermented for up to 72 hours. The biggest difference, Hataye says, is that he makes a denser, richer red sauce, by cooking down Bianco DiNapoli brand crushed tomatoes (Rotten City was a \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/rotten-city-pizzas-bicoastal-tendencies-1/\">raw sauce\u003c/a> pizzeria). And because he bakes the pizzas in portable Gozney mini pizza ovens, which get as hot as 1,000 degrees, they’re smaller and less floppy than your classic foldable New York pizza. They’re about 12 to 13 inches in diameter, the perfect size for one hungry pizza eater (or two slightly daintier ones). \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The finished product is a stylistic hybrid, Hataye says — sort of a cross between Neapolitan, New York, New Haven and Chicago-style tavern pizzas. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The important thing is that Goldpie’s pizza is legitimately tasty. The top of each pie is slicked with oil, and the crust is quite thin and crunchy-bottomed, with dark blistered spots verging on burnt toward the edges — in a really delicious way, if you’re a fan of that charred flavor, as I am. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-heaven.jpg\" alt=\"A whole pepperoni pizza inside a foil-lined cardboard pizza box.\" class=\"wp-image-13990183\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-heaven.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-heaven-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-heaven-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-heaven-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The “Heaven on Earth” features pesto, cupping pepperoni, hot honey and crsipy fried garlic. (Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I loved the “Heaven on Earth,” with its salty-sweet palette of pepperoni, pesto, hot honey and fried garlic. The sausage pie, meanwhile, was a more straightforward East Coast–style pizza — an ideal union of oozy cheese, zesty tomato sauce and a flavorful, crispy-chewy crust.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Other top sellers include the classic pepperoni and the “Brooklyn” (garlic, olive oil, whipped ricotta), which is Hataye’s take on a New York–style white pie. \u003ca href=\"https://www.7starshhc.com/blog/goldpie-pizza\">Whichever pizza you order\u003c/a>, make sure to ask for a little tub of the housemade candied jalapeños — a truly excellent pizza condiment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hataye says a few customers have asked whether he ever infuses marijuana into his food (he doesn’t), but in general, he doesn’t have any intention of veering toward gimmicky “pothead pizza.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I think they’re pretty satisfied with the pizzas as they are,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-table.jpg\" alt=\"A painting of a cartoon horse and dog propped up on an outdoor table.\" class=\"wp-image-13990184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-table.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-table-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-table-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-table-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">There’s a table set up next to the Goldpie tent where pizza eaters can “dine in” if they like. (Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the end, the best part of the experience is the fact that Hataye and Mike Bennally (a former Rotten City general manager who helps out on pop-up days) make every pizza to order right in front of you, tossing and stretching the dough, and then lovingly tending to each pie the entire time it’s in the oven. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That level of personal care has started to pay off. Slowly but surely, a nice little community has formed around Goldpie, as more and more customers who aren’t even affiliated with the dispensary now go out of their way to visit the pop-up. Some wind up staying to eat at the table that Hataye has set up outside, watching one of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DX5wmSOhE8r/\">’80s and ’90s cult classic movies\u003c/a> they have playing at all times.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eventually, Hataye says he would love to turn that community into a full-blown restaurant, though for now he’s mostly focused on just getting the word out about the pop-up. But he and Bennally have already talked about the prospect of opening a brick-and-mortar pizzeria of their own — maybe in Pinole — some time in the next year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would love to be able to do that,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goldpieig/\">\u003cem>Goldpie\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> pops up outside 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center, at 3219 Pierce St. in Richmond (across the street from the 99 Ranch Market plaza) on Sundays and Mondays, 11:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. They currently sell \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.7starshhc.com/blog/goldpie-pizza\">\u003cem>whole pizzas only\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, for $15–$20 a pie. Customers can call or text 510-529-5007 if they want to place their orders ahead of time.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the hierarchy of foods that pair perfectly with a hit of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/marijuana\">weed\u003c/a>, a cheesy, hot slice of pizza has to rank among the most iconic — right up there with other stoner faves like \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzRvMylDVi8\">White Castle\u003c/a>, ice cream and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It shouldn’t come as any surprise, then, that one of the Bay Area’s most promising new pizza pop-ups would be stationed in front of a Richmond cannabis shop. Every Sunday and Monday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/7starshhc_/\">7 Stars Holistic Healing Center\u003c/a> regulars line up at the little tented food stand right outside the dispensary to snag a piping-hot, oil-slicked pepperoni or whipped ricotta pizza. It’s some of the tastiest East Coast–style you can find in this stretch of the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The pop-up is called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goldpieig/\">Goldpie\u003c/a>, and it’s the brainchild of Scott Hataye, whose day job is as a “budtender” at 7 Stars. For the past seven years, though, he’s also dabbled in the pizza world, moonlighting as the doughmaker at Emeryville’s Rotten City Pizza, a New York–inspired pizza restaurant that closed last summer after an impressive 17-year run. (When I first moved to the East Bay in the late aughts, Rotten City was the closest thing I could find to a proper New York slice shop.)\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent.jpg\" alt=\"A food tent set up in front of a marijuana dispensary.\" class=\"wp-image-13990182\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Goldpie proprietor Scott Hataye’s day job is as a “budtender” at 7 Stars.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>When Rotten City closed last June, he took it as a sign that maybe it was time for him to launch his own pizza business. There’s a bit of Rotten City Pizza in the bones of Hataye’s pies, mostly in terms of the dough, which he says is \u003cem>very \u003c/em>similar to Rotten City’s, made with a blend of Central Milling 00 flour and bread flour and cold-fermented for up to 72 hours. The biggest difference, Hataye says, is that he makes a denser, richer red sauce, by cooking down Bianco DiNapoli brand crushed tomatoes (Rotten City was a \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/rotten-city-pizzas-bicoastal-tendencies-1/\">raw sauce\u003c/a> pizzeria). And because he bakes the pizzas in portable Gozney mini pizza ovens, which get as hot as 1,000 degrees, they’re smaller and less floppy than your classic foldable New York pizza. They’re about 12 to 13 inches in diameter, the perfect size for one hungry pizza eater (or two slightly daintier ones). \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The finished product is a stylistic hybrid, Hataye says — sort of a cross between Neapolitan, New York, New Haven and Chicago-style tavern pizzas. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The important thing is that Goldpie’s pizza is legitimately tasty. The top of each pie is slicked with oil, and the crust is quite thin and crunchy-bottomed, with dark blistered spots verging on burnt toward the edges — in a really delicious way, if you’re a fan of that charred flavor, as I am. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>I loved the “Heaven on Earth,” with its salty-sweet palette of pepperoni, pesto, hot honey and fried garlic. The sausage pie, meanwhile, was a more straightforward East Coast–style pizza — an ideal union of oozy cheese, zesty tomato sauce and a flavorful, crispy-chewy crust.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Other top sellers include the classic pepperoni and the “Brooklyn” (garlic, olive oil, whipped ricotta), which is Hataye’s take on a New York–style white pie. \u003ca href=\"https://www.7starshhc.com/blog/goldpie-pizza\">Whichever pizza you order\u003c/a>, make sure to ask for a little tub of the housemade candied jalapeños — a truly excellent pizza condiment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Other top sellers include the classic pepperoni and the “Brooklyn” (garlic, olive oil, whipped ricotta), which is Hataye’s take on a New York–style white pie. \u003ca href=\"https://www.7starshhc.com/blog/goldpie-pizza\">Whichever pizza you order\u003c/a>, make sure to ask for a little tub of the housemade candied jalapeños — a truly excellent pizza condiment.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Hataye says a few customers have asked whether he ever infuses marijuana into his food (he doesn’t), but in general, he doesn’t have any intention of veering toward gimmicky “pothead pizza.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I think they’re pretty satisfied with the pizzas as they are,” he says.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the end, the best part of the experience is the fact that Hataye and Mike Bennally (a former Rotten City general manager who helps out on pop-up days) make every pizza to order right in front of you, tossing and stretching the dough, and then lovingly tending to each pie the entire time it’s in the oven. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That level of personal care has started to pay off. Slowly but surely, a nice little community has formed around Goldpie, as more and more customers who aren’t even affiliated with the dispensary now go out of their way to visit the pop-up. Some wind up staying to eat at the table that Hataye has set up outside, watching one of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DX5wmSOhE8r/\">’80s and ’90s cult classic movies\u003c/a> they have playing at all times.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Eventually, Hataye says he would love to turn that community into a full-blown restaurant, though for now he’s mostly focused on just getting the word out about the pop-up. But he and Bennally have already talked about the prospect of opening a brick-and-mortar pizzeria of their own — maybe in Pinole — some time in the next year.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Eventually, Hataye says he would love to turn that community into a full-blown restaurant, though for now he’s mostly focused on just getting the word out about the pop-up. But he and Bennally have already talked about the prospect of opening a brick-and-mortar pizzeria of their own — maybe in Pinole — some time in the next year.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goldpieig/\">\u003cem>Goldpie\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> pops up outside 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center, at 3219 Pierce St. in Richmond (across the street from the 99 Ranch Market plaza) on Sundays and Mondays, 11:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. They currently sell \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.7starshhc.com/blog/goldpie-pizza\">\u003cem>whole pizzas only\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, for $15–$20 a pie. Customers can call or text 510-529-5007 if they want to place their orders ahead of time.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goldpieig/\">\u003cem>Goldpie\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> pops up outside 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center, at 3219 Pierce St. in Richmond (across the street from the 99 Ranch Market plaza) on Sundays and Mondays, 11:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. They currently sell \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.7starshhc.com/blog/goldpie-pizza\">\u003cem>whole pizzas only\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, for $15–$20 a pie. Customers can call or text 510-529-5007 if they want to place their orders ahead of time.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Goldpie pops up Sundays and Mondays at the 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center.",
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"title": "A New Pizza Pop-up at an East Bay Weed Dispensary Takes Off | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the hierarchy of foods that pair perfectly with a hit of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/marijuana\">weed\u003c/a>, a cheesy, hot slice of pizza has to rank among the most iconic — right up there with other stoner faves like \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzRvMylDVi8\">White Castle\u003c/a>, ice cream and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It shouldn’t come as any surprise, then, that one of the Bay Area’s most promising new pizza pop-ups would be stationed in front of a Richmond cannabis shop. Every Sunday and Monday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/7starshhc_/\">7 Stars Holistic Healing Center\u003c/a> regulars line up at the little tented food stand right outside the dispensary to snag a piping-hot, oil-slicked pepperoni or whipped ricotta pizza. It’s some of the tastiest East Coast–style you can find in this stretch of the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The pop-up is called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goldpieig/\">Goldpie\u003c/a>, and it’s the brainchild of Scott Hataye, whose day job is as a “budtender” at 7 Stars. For the past seven years, though, he’s also dabbled in the pizza world, moonlighting as the doughmaker at Emeryville’s Rotten City Pizza, a New York–inspired pizza restaurant that closed last summer after an impressive 17-year run. (When I first moved to the East Bay in the late aughts, Rotten City was the closest thing I could find to a proper New York slice shop.)\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I love that pizza and actually really, really miss it,” Hataye says of his time at the restaurant. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent.jpg\" alt=\"A food tent set up in front of a marijuana dispensary.\" class=\"wp-image-13990182\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-tent-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Goldpie proprietor Scott Hataye’s day job is as a “budtender” at 7 Stars. (Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When Rotten City closed last June, he took it as a sign that maybe it was time for him to launch his own pizza business. There’s a bit of Rotten City Pizza in the bones of Hataye’s pies, mostly in terms of the dough, which he says is \u003cem>very \u003c/em>similar to Rotten City’s, made with a blend of Central Milling 00 flour and bread flour and cold-fermented for up to 72 hours. The biggest difference, Hataye says, is that he makes a denser, richer red sauce, by cooking down Bianco DiNapoli brand crushed tomatoes (Rotten City was a \u003ca href=\"https://eastbayexpress.com/rotten-city-pizzas-bicoastal-tendencies-1/\">raw sauce\u003c/a> pizzeria). And because he bakes the pizzas in portable Gozney mini pizza ovens, which get as hot as 1,000 degrees, they’re smaller and less floppy than your classic foldable New York pizza. They’re about 12 to 13 inches in diameter, the perfect size for one hungry pizza eater (or two slightly daintier ones). \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The finished product is a stylistic hybrid, Hataye says — sort of a cross between Neapolitan, New York, New Haven and Chicago-style tavern pizzas. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The important thing is that Goldpie’s pizza is legitimately tasty. The top of each pie is slicked with oil, and the crust is quite thin and crunchy-bottomed, with dark blistered spots verging on burnt toward the edges — in a really delicious way, if you’re a fan of that charred flavor, as I am. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-heaven.jpg\" alt=\"A whole pepperoni pizza inside a foil-lined cardboard pizza box.\" class=\"wp-image-13990183\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-heaven.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-heaven-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-heaven-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-heaven-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The “Heaven on Earth” features pesto, cupping pepperoni, hot honey and crsipy fried garlic. (Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>I loved the “Heaven on Earth,” with its salty-sweet palette of pepperoni, pesto, hot honey and fried garlic. The sausage pie, meanwhile, was a more straightforward East Coast–style pizza — an ideal union of oozy cheese, zesty tomato sauce and a flavorful, crispy-chewy crust.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Other top sellers include the classic pepperoni and the “Brooklyn” (garlic, olive oil, whipped ricotta), which is Hataye’s take on a New York–style white pie. \u003ca href=\"https://www.7starshhc.com/blog/goldpie-pizza\">Whichever pizza you order\u003c/a>, make sure to ask for a little tub of the housemade candied jalapeños — a truly excellent pizza condiment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hataye says a few customers have asked whether he ever infuses marijuana into his food (he doesn’t), but in general, he doesn’t have any intention of veering toward gimmicky “pothead pizza.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I think they’re pretty satisfied with the pizzas as they are,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-table.jpg\" alt=\"A painting of a cartoon horse and dog propped up on an outdoor table.\" class=\"wp-image-13990184\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-table.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-table-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-table-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/goldpie-table-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">There’s a table set up next to the Goldpie tent where pizza eaters can “dine in” if they like. (Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the end, the best part of the experience is the fact that Hataye and Mike Bennally (a former Rotten City general manager who helps out on pop-up days) make every pizza to order right in front of you, tossing and stretching the dough, and then lovingly tending to each pie the entire time it’s in the oven. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That level of personal care has started to pay off. Slowly but surely, a nice little community has formed around Goldpie, as more and more customers who aren’t even affiliated with the dispensary now go out of their way to visit the pop-up. Some wind up staying to eat at the table that Hataye has set up outside, watching one of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DX5wmSOhE8r/\">’80s and ’90s cult classic movies\u003c/a> they have playing at all times.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Eventually, Hataye says he would love to turn that community into a full-blown restaurant, though for now he’s mostly focused on just getting the word out about the pop-up. But he and Bennally have already talked about the prospect of opening a brick-and-mortar pizzeria of their own — maybe in Pinole — some time in the next year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would love to be able to do that,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/goldpieig/\">\u003cem>Goldpie\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> pops up outside 7 Stars Holistic Healing Center, at 3219 Pierce St. in Richmond (across the street from the 99 Ranch Market plaza) on Sundays and Mondays, 11:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. They currently sell \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.7starshhc.com/blog/goldpie-pizza\">\u003cem>whole pizzas only\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, for $15–$20 a pie. Customers can call or text 510-529-5007 if they want to place their orders ahead of time.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As the 17th annual \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/\">SF Beer Week\u003c/a> kicks off this weekend, there are a few things you should know, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/beerandsoul/\">Sayre Piotrkowski\u003c/a>, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://bayareabrewers.org/\">Bay Area Brewers Guild\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s over 200 events at 176 different venues from Monterey to Windsor,” he tells me during a recent call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For instance, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/degrees-plato\">Degrees Plato\u003c/a> in Oakland is serving beer with their taco Tuesday special, and \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/trumer\">Trumer Brewery in Berkeley\u003c/a> is offering brunch and a brew with Oakland Ballers baseball team members. Other evenings, you can enjoy a story night or a trivia competition, attend a pet adoption drive or a vinyl record show. There are “tap takeovers” at Michelin Star-rated restaurants, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/visit-santa-rosa\">a 5k marathon in Santa Rosa\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/del-cielo-livermore/20260225-speed-dating\">a speed dating event at Del Cielo Brewing Co. in Livermore\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986945\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986945\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137.jpg\" alt=\"A bald white man sits at a wooden table while drinking a glass of beer.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sayre Piotrkowski, executive director of the Bay Area Brewers Guild, enjoys a cold brew. \u003ccite>(Portraits To The People)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“One night you’re dropping some real money and drinking \u003ca href=\"https://fairislebrewing.com/\">Fair Isle beer\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.theanchovybar.com/\">The Anchovy Bar\u003c/a> in the City,” says Piotrkowski. “And then, maybe another night, you’re watching \u003ca href=\"https://ticketscandy.com/e/beerweek-rumble-14624\">wrestling in Alameda.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piotrkowski,\u003ca href=\"https://beerandsoul.substack.com/\"> an avid beer writer\u003c/a> who has worked in multiple levels of the industry, says one of the goals of SF Beer Week is to provide something for everyone (who is 21 and over). In doing so, it creates a certain cross-pollination of beer connoisseurs, community lovers and people who appreciate the wide array of offerings found in this region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another reason for SF Beer Week, Piotrkowski laments, is that \u003ca href=\"https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2025/07/14/california-breweries-closing-beer-sf\">breweries are struggling across the industry\u003c/a>. But not for the reasons one might assume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You will see a lot of stuff talking about ‘wellness trends’ and ‘abstinence trends’ around alcohol. I still think those are pretty small,” Piotrkowski asserts. “The big thing is that, if you’re under 40 and you live in an expensive place in this country, you don’t have any expendable income.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bars, and the beer industry as a whole, are struggling for the same reason many \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/category/nosh/restaurant-closures/\">restaurants, \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/bar-closures/\">night clubs\u003c/a> and concert venues are having a hard time staying above water, says Piotrkowski. Cheaper and more convenient forms of fun, like staying home and enjoying subscription entertainment services, have replaced the drive for people to spend money at bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986947\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986947\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w.jpg\" alt=\"Musicians playing on a stage outside in San Francisco. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SF Beer Week offers a number of opportunities for people to hear live music all across the region, from small dive bars to larger outdoor venues. \u003ccite>(Arnold Suliguin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SF Beer Week itself was born out of a slower season for the industry, as the rise in the popularity of “dry January” has pushed people to put down the booze during the start of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“February has always been a time when the local beer scene celebrated,” Piotrkowski says, “and did so with strong and rare beers.” He mentions \u003ca href=\"https://the-bistro.com/event-info\">Hayward’s Double IPA Festival\u003c/a>, which just celebrated its 26th year, as well as\u003ca href=\"https://probrewer.com/beverage-industry-news/business-of-beer/strong-beer-month-starts-this-evening/\"> Strong Beer Month, \u003c/a>which was founded in the late ’90s by \u003ca href=\"https://magnoliabrewing.com/\">Magnolia Brewing\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://21st-amendment.com/\"> 21st Amendment Brewing\u003c/a>. And now, the current iteration of SF Beer Week is more reflective of the current state of small breweries in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest frontier for craft beer, Piotrkowski explains, is making the everyday beer — something he calls the “just-give-me-a-beer beer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986948\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986948\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans.jpg\" alt=\"Two people wearing SF Giants gear pose for a photo outside while holding a couple of beers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SF Beer Week: where people support local breweries and local teams. \u003ccite>(Arnold Suliguin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you go back 15–20 years,” Piotrkowski says, “craft breweries really got their foothold at the periphery.” It was the creation of “loud, attention-getting” beers like imperial stouts and double IPAs that were antithetical to common beers, like light lagers and other beverages readily sold by big, well-known brand names.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over time,” Piotrkowski tells me, “we sort of won the Slow Food argument, and people just wanted to buy their beers from local companies.” In turn, small breweries began to make pilsners, light lagers and cream ales that could compete with the titans of the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.temescalbrewing.com/\">Temescal Brewing\u003c/a>, which is releasing a special Mexican-style lager made from blue corn and barley, as an example of the change that he’s seeing of late. “It’s probably akin to a Negro Modelo,” Piotrkowski says of the new brew. “Except that no multinational corporate entity gets a penny out of your purchase of that beer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, the local brewery sources ingredients from nearby farms. It’s like “\u003ca href=\"https://www.foodliteracycenter.org/food-wiki/farm-table-or-farm-fork\">farm to fork\u003c/a>,” but for beer. “Grain to glass,” he calls it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piotrkowski, who represents the 71 breweries in the Bay Area Brewers Guild, knows that there are a lot of options for entertainment in Northern California. But SF Beer Week, with activations like “\u003ca href=\"https://pier39.com/beer-week/\">Beer 39\u003c/a>‘” — a scavenger-hunt-style sampling of beers at San Francisco’s Pier 39 — Piotrkowski says this event offers people something that can “invigorate your life and culture in a way that some of those other things won’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He adds, “This is of your community — world-class beer being made in your community, by people who are accountable to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For more information on events, activities and happenings around SF Beer Week, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/\">check out their website\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As the 17th annual \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/\">SF Beer Week\u003c/a> kicks off this weekend, there are a few things you should know, says \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/beerandsoul/\">Sayre Piotrkowski\u003c/a>, executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://bayareabrewers.org/\">Bay Area Brewers Guild\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s over 200 events at 176 different venues from Monterey to Windsor,” he tells me during a recent call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For instance, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/degrees-plato\">Degrees Plato\u003c/a> in Oakland is serving beer with their taco Tuesday special, and \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/trumer\">Trumer Brewery in Berkeley\u003c/a> is offering brunch and a brew with Oakland Ballers baseball team members. Other evenings, you can enjoy a story night or a trivia competition, attend a pet adoption drive or a vinyl record show. There are “tap takeovers” at Michelin Star-rated restaurants, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/visit-santa-rosa\">a 5k marathon in Santa Rosa\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/profiles/del-cielo-livermore/20260225-speed-dating\">a speed dating event at Del Cielo Brewing Co. in Livermore\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986945\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986945\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137.jpg\" alt=\"A bald white man sits at a wooden table while drinking a glass of beer.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/SayrePiotrkowski137-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sayre Piotrkowski, executive director of the Bay Area Brewers Guild, enjoys a cold brew. \u003ccite>(Portraits To The People)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“One night you’re dropping some real money and drinking \u003ca href=\"https://fairislebrewing.com/\">Fair Isle beer\u003c/a> at \u003ca href=\"https://www.theanchovybar.com/\">The Anchovy Bar\u003c/a> in the City,” says Piotrkowski. “And then, maybe another night, you’re watching \u003ca href=\"https://ticketscandy.com/e/beerweek-rumble-14624\">wrestling in Alameda.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piotrkowski,\u003ca href=\"https://beerandsoul.substack.com/\"> an avid beer writer\u003c/a> who has worked in multiple levels of the industry, says one of the goals of SF Beer Week is to provide something for everyone (who is 21 and over). In doing so, it creates a certain cross-pollination of beer connoisseurs, community lovers and people who appreciate the wide array of offerings found in this region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another reason for SF Beer Week, Piotrkowski laments, is that \u003ca href=\"https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2025/07/14/california-breweries-closing-beer-sf\">breweries are struggling across the industry\u003c/a>. But not for the reasons one might assume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You will see a lot of stuff talking about ‘wellness trends’ and ‘abstinence trends’ around alcohol. I still think those are pretty small,” Piotrkowski asserts. “The big thing is that, if you’re under 40 and you live in an expensive place in this country, you don’t have any expendable income.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bars, and the beer industry as a whole, are struggling for the same reason many \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/category/nosh/restaurant-closures/\">restaurants, \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://sfist.com/bar-closures/\">night clubs\u003c/a> and concert venues are having a hard time staying above water, says Piotrkowski. Cheaper and more convenient forms of fun, like staying home and enjoying subscription entertainment services, have replaced the drive for people to spend money at bars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986947\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986947\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w.jpg\" alt=\"Musicians playing on a stage outside in San Francisco. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A0079_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-amphitheater-band-pov_1600w-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SF Beer Week offers a number of opportunities for people to hear live music all across the region, from small dive bars to larger outdoor venues. \u003ccite>(Arnold Suliguin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SF Beer Week itself was born out of a slower season for the industry, as the rise in the popularity of “dry January” has pushed people to put down the booze during the start of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“February has always been a time when the local beer scene celebrated,” Piotrkowski says, “and did so with strong and rare beers.” He mentions \u003ca href=\"https://the-bistro.com/event-info\">Hayward’s Double IPA Festival\u003c/a>, which just celebrated its 26th year, as well as\u003ca href=\"https://probrewer.com/beverage-industry-news/business-of-beer/strong-beer-month-starts-this-evening/\"> Strong Beer Month, \u003c/a>which was founded in the late ’90s by \u003ca href=\"https://magnoliabrewing.com/\">Magnolia Brewing\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://21st-amendment.com/\"> 21st Amendment Brewing\u003c/a>. And now, the current iteration of SF Beer Week is more reflective of the current state of small breweries in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest frontier for craft beer, Piotrkowski explains, is making the everyday beer — something he calls the “just-give-me-a-beer beer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13986948\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13986948\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans.jpg\" alt=\"Two people wearing SF Giants gear pose for a photo outside while holding a couple of beers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/02/sbw25_sfbw-fest_BE9A9821_Arnold-Suliguin_crowd-toast-sf-giant-fans-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SF Beer Week: where people support local breweries and local teams. \u003ccite>(Arnold Suliguin)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you go back 15–20 years,” Piotrkowski says, “craft breweries really got their foothold at the periphery.” It was the creation of “loud, attention-getting” beers like imperial stouts and double IPAs that were antithetical to common beers, like light lagers and other beverages readily sold by big, well-known brand names.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over time,” Piotrkowski tells me, “we sort of won the Slow Food argument, and people just wanted to buy their beers from local companies.” In turn, small breweries began to make pilsners, light lagers and cream ales that could compete with the titans of the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to Oakland’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.temescalbrewing.com/\">Temescal Brewing\u003c/a>, which is releasing a special Mexican-style lager made from blue corn and barley, as an example of the change that he’s seeing of late. “It’s probably akin to a Negro Modelo,” Piotrkowski says of the new brew. “Except that no multinational corporate entity gets a penny out of your purchase of that beer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, the local brewery sources ingredients from nearby farms. It’s like “\u003ca href=\"https://www.foodliteracycenter.org/food-wiki/farm-table-or-farm-fork\">farm to fork\u003c/a>,” but for beer. “Grain to glass,” he calls it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Piotrkowski, who represents the 71 breweries in the Bay Area Brewers Guild, knows that there are a lot of options for entertainment in Northern California. But SF Beer Week, with activations like “\u003ca href=\"https://pier39.com/beer-week/\">Beer 39\u003c/a>‘” — a scavenger-hunt-style sampling of beers at San Francisco’s Pier 39 — Piotrkowski says this event offers people something that can “invigorate your life and culture in a way that some of those other things won’t.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He adds, “This is of your community — world-class beer being made in your community, by people who are accountable to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For more information on events, activities and happenings around SF Beer Week, \u003ca href=\"https://sfbeerweek.org/\">check out their website\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The East Bay’s Best Late-Night Lao Restaurant Is Inside a Bowling Alley",
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"headTitle": "The East Bay’s Best Late-Night Lao Restaurant Is Inside a Bowling Alley | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13983253\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13983253\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/2-Eating.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men eating a spread of food inside a bowling alley.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/2-Eating.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/2-Eating-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/2-Eating-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/2-Eating-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Located inside the Castro Village Bowl bowling alley, the Lucky Lane 33 Cafe specializes in Lao and Thai dishes like Lao sausage, nam khao (crispy rice ball salad) and papaya salad. \u003ccite>(Raynato Castro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene. This week, guest artist — and competitive league bowler — Raynato Castro joined the fray.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few minutes before 9 o’clock on a recent Saturday night, the line of prospective customers that looped around the Castro Village Bowl parking lot was as long and as energized as any nightclub queue. Inside, a pair of burly armed guards in full tactical gear scanned each person with metal detectors with the brusque efficiency of a TSA screening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once we got past the security checkpoint, though, the vibe could scarcely have been more cheerful and family-friendly — your typical bowling alley mix of young couples, chatty teens and heavy-set dudes in baseball caps. We’d all come for the Castro Valley bowling alley’s Friday and Saturday night “unlimited bowling” promotion: a $20 cover charge, shoe-rental inclusive, to bowl as many games as we could squeeze in between 9 and 11 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is, my bowling-conversant friends tell me, about as good a deal as you can find in the Bay Area. And Castro Village Bowl is one of the region’s last remaining independent bowling alleys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, we had another mission, too: We’d heard that Lucky Lane 33 Cafe, the snack bar inside the bowling alley, doubles as one of the finest Laotian and Thai restaurants in the East Bay — almost certainly the best that stays open past 10 p.m. most nights. The idea of racking up a slew of strikes while munching on nam khao and funky, fish sauce–spiked papaya salad? Impossible to resist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, we’d miscalculated. As it turns out, Lucky Lane 33 \u003ci>does \u003c/i>stay open late for these weekend unlimited bowling nights. But it stops serving its Lao-Thai menu (the whole reason we’d come!) after 8. There was no turning back, though. We’d already paid the cover charge and picked out our bowling balls. So all we could do was choose from the cafe’s other food offerings — quite a vast selection, it turns out. Lucky Lane is just a concessions window in the middle of the bowling alley, and yes, it sells your obligatory hot dogs, chicken strips, jalapeño poppers and mozzarella sticks. But even without dipping into the Lao specials, we were able to order a mostly Asian-leaning spread that far exceeded our expectations for bowling alley food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13983254\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13983254\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/1-Ordering.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A customer ordering at the food window inside a bowling alley.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/1-Ordering.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/1-Ordering-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/1-Ordering-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/1-Ordering-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lucky Lane 33 looks like a typical bowling alley concession stand — albeit one with an unusually large menu. \u003ccite>(Raynato Castro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Who knew, for instance, that crab rangoon makes for an ideal hand-held bowling snack? Yes, these fried wontons are purely an \u003ca href=\"https://www.foodrepublic.com/1494147/chinese-american-origin-story-crab-rangoon/\">American invention\u003c/a>, but something about the crunch of the wrappers and the burst of hot, savory cream cheese filling hit just right when we gobbled these down between frames. And while the pork skewers we ordered were a bit bland and dry, I feel confident declaring that the Thai angel wings were the best chicken wings I’ve ever had at a bowling alley — bite-sized but plump and super-crispy, coated with a sweet and spicy glaze that satisfied our craving for fish sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe because we’d seemed so sad about not being able to order off the Lao menu, the owner did offer us a plate of homemade, sesame seed–flecked Lao-style beef jerky, which was as crunchy as thick potato chip shards. Also proffered: a bag of Thai lotus cookies shaped like beautiful flowers — nutty, sesame seed–tinged, incredibly tasty flowers — at least until I dropped the entire bag onto the ground and they all shattered into a hundred tiny pieces. We also ordered a sleeve of tater tots because why not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But all this was just a teaser. The good news is that Lucky Lane 33 serves its more specialized Lao-Thai menu until closing time every other night — as late as 10:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, for instance. So when we came back again the following week, we were able to eat our fill of all those pungent, spicy Lao flavors we’d been craving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We knew the place was legit when we ordered the Lao-style papaya salad and the owner asked us not just how spicy we wanted it, but exactly how many chilies we wanted. Three, it turns out, was the perfect number — right at the limit of our tolerance, and hot enough to light up all of the pleasure synapses in our brains. On the owner’s suggestion, we ordered a bag of chicken cracklings to eat with the salad, and the combination of flavors and textures was as wonderful as she’d promised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13982096,arts_13974383,arts_13968142']\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>\u003c/b>\u003c/span>On and on went the parade of deliciousness. Nam khao, aka crispy rice ball salad, was a bright and limey delight, generously studded with pork skin and squishy, pink fermented pork sausage. The khao piak sen, a clear-brothed chicken noodle soup, tasted like something a home cook would whip up to cure your hangover. And my favorite, the Lao sausages, were thick, snappy, well-charred specimens — coarse-ground and lemongrassy, delicious over white rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked the owner if they happened to have any jeow som, the famously habit-forming, spicy-funky Lao condiment, and it turns out Lucky Lane makes its own in-house — it’s not on the menu, but Thai and Laotian customers know to ask for it. She handed us a tub, and it was amazing: bright, tangy heat balanced against a deep fish sauce funk, with an extra hit of ginger for good measure. Delicious as a dip for the sausages and the beef jerky, or as a topping for plain rice — for anything, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the actual bowling, our night went the predetermined way you might expect it to go, given that one of us had brought his own bowling shoes and a bag of five (!) bowling balls, and started the evening by giving an extended lecture about “radius of gyration.” The rest of us, who’d learned everything we knew from bowling anime and children’s birthday parties, didn’t fare quite as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, we kept getting up there, with fish sauce on our breath and a sense of hope and promise in our hearts. Because the thing about bowling is there’s always the next frame. There’s always a second ball. And if that doesn’t work out, a bite of Lao sausage and jeow som will ease even the most miserable performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr />\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Lucky Lane 33 Cafe is located inside Castro Village Bowl at 3501 Village Dr. in Castro Valley. The restaurant is open Mondays and Tuesdays 4–9 p.m., Wednesday through Friday 4–10:30 p.m., Saturday 1–10:30 p.m. and Sunday 1–9 p.m. On Friday and Saturday nights, when the bowling alley has its late-night “unlimited bowling” promotion, the kitchen stops serving its Lao and Thai menu after 8 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13983253\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13983253\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/2-Eating.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: Two men eating a spread of food inside a bowling alley.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/2-Eating.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/2-Eating-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/2-Eating-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/2-Eating-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Located inside the Castro Village Bowl bowling alley, the Lucky Lane 33 Cafe specializes in Lao and Thai dishes like Lao sausage, nam khao (crispy rice ball salad) and papaya salad. \u003ccite>(Raynato Castro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003ci>The Midnight Diners\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003ci>Thien Pham\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene. This week, guest artist — and competitive league bowler — Raynato Castro joined the fray.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few minutes before 9 o’clock on a recent Saturday night, the line of prospective customers that looped around the Castro Village Bowl parking lot was as long and as energized as any nightclub queue. Inside, a pair of burly armed guards in full tactical gear scanned each person with metal detectors with the brusque efficiency of a TSA screening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once we got past the security checkpoint, though, the vibe could scarcely have been more cheerful and family-friendly — your typical bowling alley mix of young couples, chatty teens and heavy-set dudes in baseball caps. We’d all come for the Castro Valley bowling alley’s Friday and Saturday night “unlimited bowling” promotion: a $20 cover charge, shoe-rental inclusive, to bowl as many games as we could squeeze in between 9 and 11 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is, my bowling-conversant friends tell me, about as good a deal as you can find in the Bay Area. And Castro Village Bowl is one of the region’s last remaining independent bowling alleys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, we had another mission, too: We’d heard that Lucky Lane 33 Cafe, the snack bar inside the bowling alley, doubles as one of the finest Laotian and Thai restaurants in the East Bay — almost certainly the best that stays open past 10 p.m. most nights. The idea of racking up a slew of strikes while munching on nam khao and funky, fish sauce–spiked papaya salad? Impossible to resist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately, we’d miscalculated. As it turns out, Lucky Lane 33 \u003ci>does \u003c/i>stay open late for these weekend unlimited bowling nights. But it stops serving its Lao-Thai menu (the whole reason we’d come!) after 8. There was no turning back, though. We’d already paid the cover charge and picked out our bowling balls. So all we could do was choose from the cafe’s other food offerings — quite a vast selection, it turns out. Lucky Lane is just a concessions window in the middle of the bowling alley, and yes, it sells your obligatory hot dogs, chicken strips, jalapeño poppers and mozzarella sticks. But even without dipping into the Lao specials, we were able to order a mostly Asian-leaning spread that far exceeded our expectations for bowling alley food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13983254\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13983254\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/1-Ordering.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A customer ordering at the food window inside a bowling alley.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/1-Ordering.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/1-Ordering-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/1-Ordering-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/1-Ordering-1536x1536.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lucky Lane 33 looks like a typical bowling alley concession stand — albeit one with an unusually large menu. \u003ccite>(Raynato Castro)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Who knew, for instance, that crab rangoon makes for an ideal hand-held bowling snack? Yes, these fried wontons are purely an \u003ca href=\"https://www.foodrepublic.com/1494147/chinese-american-origin-story-crab-rangoon/\">American invention\u003c/a>, but something about the crunch of the wrappers and the burst of hot, savory cream cheese filling hit just right when we gobbled these down between frames. And while the pork skewers we ordered were a bit bland and dry, I feel confident declaring that the Thai angel wings were the best chicken wings I’ve ever had at a bowling alley — bite-sized but plump and super-crispy, coated with a sweet and spicy glaze that satisfied our craving for fish sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Maybe because we’d seemed so sad about not being able to order off the Lao menu, the owner did offer us a plate of homemade, sesame seed–flecked Lao-style beef jerky, which was as crunchy as thick potato chip shards. Also proffered: a bag of Thai lotus cookies shaped like beautiful flowers — nutty, sesame seed–tinged, incredibly tasty flowers — at least until I dropped the entire bag onto the ground and they all shattered into a hundred tiny pieces. We also ordered a sleeve of tater tots because why not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But all this was just a teaser. The good news is that Lucky Lane 33 serves its more specialized Lao-Thai menu until closing time every other night — as late as 10:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, for instance. So when we came back again the following week, we were able to eat our fill of all those pungent, spicy Lao flavors we’d been craving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We knew the place was legit when we ordered the Lao-style papaya salad and the owner asked us not just how spicy we wanted it, but exactly how many chilies we wanted. Three, it turns out, was the perfect number — right at the limit of our tolerance, and hot enough to light up all of the pleasure synapses in our brains. On the owner’s suggestion, we ordered a bag of chicken cracklings to eat with the salad, and the combination of flavors and textures was as wonderful as she’d promised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003cb>\u003cstrong>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/strong>\u003c/b>\u003c/span>On and on went the parade of deliciousness. Nam khao, aka crispy rice ball salad, was a bright and limey delight, generously studded with pork skin and squishy, pink fermented pork sausage. The khao piak sen, a clear-brothed chicken noodle soup, tasted like something a home cook would whip up to cure your hangover. And my favorite, the Lao sausages, were thick, snappy, well-charred specimens — coarse-ground and lemongrassy, delicious over white rice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked the owner if they happened to have any jeow som, the famously habit-forming, spicy-funky Lao condiment, and it turns out Lucky Lane makes its own in-house — it’s not on the menu, but Thai and Laotian customers know to ask for it. She handed us a tub, and it was amazing: bright, tangy heat balanced against a deep fish sauce funk, with an extra hit of ginger for good measure. Delicious as a dip for the sausages and the beef jerky, or as a topping for plain rice — for anything, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for the actual bowling, our night went the predetermined way you might expect it to go, given that one of us had brought his own bowling shoes and a bag of five (!) bowling balls, and started the evening by giving an extended lecture about “radius of gyration.” The rest of us, who’d learned everything we knew from bowling anime and children’s birthday parties, didn’t fare quite as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, we kept getting up there, with fish sauce on our breath and a sense of hope and promise in our hearts. Because the thing about bowling is there’s always the next frame. There’s always a second ball. And if that doesn’t work out, a bite of Lao sausage and jeow som will ease even the most miserable performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr />\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Lucky Lane 33 Cafe is located inside Castro Village Bowl at 3501 Village Dr. in Castro Valley. The restaurant is open Mondays and Tuesdays 4–9 p.m., Wednesday through Friday 4–10:30 p.m., Saturday 1–10:30 p.m. and Sunday 1–9 p.m. On Friday and Saturday nights, when the bowling alley has its late-night “unlimited bowling” promotion, the kitchen stops serving its Lao and Thai menu after 8 p.m.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "jungdon-katsu-fire-best-tonkatsu-danville-emeryville",
"title": "A Fire Shuts Down One of the Bay Area’s Best Tonkatsu Restaurants",
"publishDate": 1761586995,
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"headTitle": "A Fire Shuts Down One of the Bay Area’s Best Tonkatsu Restaurants | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A late-night fire at a downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/danville\">Danville\u003c/a> strip mall has shut down one of the Bay Area’s top restaurants specializing in tonkatsu, or Japanese-style fried pork cutlets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jungdonkatsu.com/\">Jungdon Katsu\u003c/a> first opened mid-pandemic in 2022 as a tiny ghost kitchen takeout operation in Emeryville. Almost immediately, the shop’s juicy, preternaturally crunchy pork cutlets gained a loyal following — the \u003ci>San Francisco Chronicle \u003c/i>restaurant critic Cesar Hernandez called them “exceptional and satisfying” in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/jungdon-katsu-17618778.php\">rave review\u003c/a>. Last year, owner Joyce Kim \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/favorite-katsu-bay-area-new-restaurant-19760638.php\">opened the larger, sit-down version of the restaurant\u003c/a> in Danville, sharing a space with Taru Sushi, the sushi spot she’d run at that location with a business partner since 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jungdon and Taru were two of the several businesses that closed indefinitely after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.danvillesanramon.com/fire-wildfire/2025/10/21/businesses-shut-down-after-fire-damages-building-in-downtown-danville/\">Oct. 20 fire\u003c/a>. Reached by phone, Nicole Kim, the owner’s daughter, tells KQED it’s unclear whether the Danville restaurant will ever be able to reopen. Even though the Jungdon space wasn’t caught in the blaze, the whole building suffered so much structural damage that there’s no way for customers to safely enter the restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Luckily, no one got hurt,” Kim says. “It just feels really weird because my mom worked really, really hard to get to this point [for it to be lost], all because of this stupid fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982930\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982930\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/jungdon-katsu-exterior.jpg\" alt='Exterior courtyard of a restaurant. The banner in front reads \"Jung Don Katsu.\" ' width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/jungdon-katsu-exterior.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/jungdon-katsu-exterior-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/jungdon-katsu-exterior-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/jungdon-katsu-exterior-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior courtyard at Jungdon’s Danville location. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For now, she says, her mother is trying to stay positive. Even before the fire, the Kims had already started working on building out a new full-fledged restaurant in Emeryville, at 6485 Hollis St. — a process they’re now trying to fast-track so they can open in the next month or two. Kim has also started a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebuild-taru-sushi-and-jungdon-katsu\">GoFundMe campaign\u003c/a> to help tide the business over during this transition — and, especially, to support workers at the Danville restaurant who now likely have to find new jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Jungdon fans can get their fix at the Emeryville ghost kitchen location, which remains open for takeout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jungdon serves several varieties of breaded deep-fried meat, including menchi katsu (made with ground pork) and chicken katsu. But the pork katsu is the dish that made it a destination restaurant, with long lines out the door nearly every night at the Danville sit-down location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13980829,arts_13971770,arts_13959432']You can find tonkatsu on the menu at most all-purpose Japanese restaurants, and the fried pork cutlets feature prominently at curry shops and casual cafes, where they’re often served in sandwich form. But specialized katsu shops that serve the fried cutlets the way they do in Japan — piping hot on a wire rack, with a mound of thinly shredded cabbage on the side — are extremely rare in the Bay Area. In the East Bay, in particular, Jungdon Katsu was basically one of one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During dinner service, the elder Kim would pound and bread each batch of katsu to order, using fresh panko breadcrumbs to make the shaggy breading puff out outrageously. For dine-in customers, the percussive \u003ci>thud-thud-thud\u003c/i> of Kim pounding each pork cutlet into tender submission made for a comforting soundtrack to the meal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kim first fell in love with pork katsu in her native Korea, and at the new Emeryville location, she’s working on adding a thinner, sauce-soaked version of the dish to the menu — what Koreans call “old-fashioned katsu.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nicole Kim, the daughter, says the family is hoping for the best as far as reopening the Danville restaurant is concerned. If that proves to be impossible, they’ll explore the possibility of opening a new location closer to that part of the East Bay, perhaps in Dublin.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "A Top Tonkatsu Restaurant in Danville Shut Down by Fire | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A late-night fire at a downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/danville\">Danville\u003c/a> strip mall has shut down one of the Bay Area’s top restaurants specializing in tonkatsu, or Japanese-style fried pork cutlets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.jungdonkatsu.com/\">Jungdon Katsu\u003c/a> first opened mid-pandemic in 2022 as a tiny ghost kitchen takeout operation in Emeryville. Almost immediately, the shop’s juicy, preternaturally crunchy pork cutlets gained a loyal following — the \u003ci>San Francisco Chronicle \u003c/i>restaurant critic Cesar Hernandez called them “exceptional and satisfying” in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/jungdon-katsu-17618778.php\">rave review\u003c/a>. Last year, owner Joyce Kim \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/favorite-katsu-bay-area-new-restaurant-19760638.php\">opened the larger, sit-down version of the restaurant\u003c/a> in Danville, sharing a space with Taru Sushi, the sushi spot she’d run at that location with a business partner since 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jungdon and Taru were two of the several businesses that closed indefinitely after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.danvillesanramon.com/fire-wildfire/2025/10/21/businesses-shut-down-after-fire-damages-building-in-downtown-danville/\">Oct. 20 fire\u003c/a>. Reached by phone, Nicole Kim, the owner’s daughter, tells KQED it’s unclear whether the Danville restaurant will ever be able to reopen. Even though the Jungdon space wasn’t caught in the blaze, the whole building suffered so much structural damage that there’s no way for customers to safely enter the restaurant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Luckily, no one got hurt,” Kim says. “It just feels really weird because my mom worked really, really hard to get to this point [for it to be lost], all because of this stupid fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982930\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982930\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/jungdon-katsu-exterior.jpg\" alt='Exterior courtyard of a restaurant. The banner in front reads \"Jung Don Katsu.\" ' width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/jungdon-katsu-exterior.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/jungdon-katsu-exterior-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/jungdon-katsu-exterior-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/jungdon-katsu-exterior-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The exterior courtyard at Jungdon’s Danville location. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For now, she says, her mother is trying to stay positive. Even before the fire, the Kims had already started working on building out a new full-fledged restaurant in Emeryville, at 6485 Hollis St. — a process they’re now trying to fast-track so they can open in the next month or two. Kim has also started a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebuild-taru-sushi-and-jungdon-katsu\">GoFundMe campaign\u003c/a> to help tide the business over during this transition — and, especially, to support workers at the Danville restaurant who now likely have to find new jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Jungdon fans can get their fix at the Emeryville ghost kitchen location, which remains open for takeout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jungdon serves several varieties of breaded deep-fried meat, including menchi katsu (made with ground pork) and chicken katsu. But the pork katsu is the dish that made it a destination restaurant, with long lines out the door nearly every night at the Danville sit-down location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>You can find tonkatsu on the menu at most all-purpose Japanese restaurants, and the fried pork cutlets feature prominently at curry shops and casual cafes, where they’re often served in sandwich form. But specialized katsu shops that serve the fried cutlets the way they do in Japan — piping hot on a wire rack, with a mound of thinly shredded cabbage on the side — are extremely rare in the Bay Area. In the East Bay, in particular, Jungdon Katsu was basically one of one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During dinner service, the elder Kim would pound and bread each batch of katsu to order, using fresh panko breadcrumbs to make the shaggy breading puff out outrageously. For dine-in customers, the percussive \u003ci>thud-thud-thud\u003c/i> of Kim pounding each pork cutlet into tender submission made for a comforting soundtrack to the meal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kim first fell in love with pork katsu in her native Korea, and at the new Emeryville location, she’s working on adding a thinner, sauce-soaked version of the dish to the menu — what Koreans call “old-fashioned katsu.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nicole Kim, the daughter, says the family is hoping for the best as far as reopening the Danville restaurant is concerned. If that proves to be impossible, they’ll explore the possibility of opening a new location closer to that part of the East Bay, perhaps in Dublin.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "10-best-bay-area-san-francisco-oakland-san-jose-halloween-events-guide-2025",
"title": "Derby, Disco and Dirty Devils: 11 Bay Area Halloween Events for 2025",
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"headTitle": "Derby, Disco and Dirty Devils: 11 Bay Area Halloween Events for 2025 | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The Bay Area tends to outdo itself every Halloween, and 2025 offers something for everyone, whether you want to go on your own ghost hunt, \u003cem>boo\u003c/em>-gie down with disco freaks or get spooky with a symphony. Gracious goths, ghostly tour guides and even Rolling Dead skaters are all running wild this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are 11 unmissable events for Halloween 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980995\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980995\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/UCB-hike.png\" alt=\"A grainy black and white image of UC Berkeley's campanile tower lit up at night, viewed behind trees.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1373\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/UCB-hike.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/UCB-hike-160x110.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/UCB-hike-768x527.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/UCB-hike-1536x1054.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Explore UC Berkeley from a whole new (haunted) perspective on the Berkeley Haunted Hike. \u003ccite>(Berkeley Haunted Hike)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://thehauntedbayberkeleyhauntedhike.fearticket.com/\">Berkeley Haunted Hike\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UC Berkeley Campus, Berkeley\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Select dates throughout October\u003c/em>[aside postID=news_12056776 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/holt_286_4870-e1758301572353.jpg']Since 2013, filmmaker Ying Liu has been sharing bone-chilling tales of local hauntings via her \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thehauntedbay/\">\u003cem>Haunted Bay\u003c/em>\u003c/a> series. Liu has proven time and again that, for her, no lore is too off-putting, no history is too horrifying, and no location is too dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because Liu is a tireless seeker of the strange, she knows a terrifying thing or two about locations that, to the rest of us, seem perfectly normal — including the grounds of UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liu has assembled a team of likeminded guides and ghost hunters to lead groups on a three-hour hike around the campus that has been known to scare the wits out of people during its second half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tours include elements of true crime, history and evidence from paranormal investigations, as well as personal anecdotes from the team. Bring your own flashlights (and good luck charms).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980498\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/ghosts-in-the-post.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand on a rural road, surrounded by autumnal trees, dressed as traditional ghosts in white sheet. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/ghosts-in-the-post.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/ghosts-in-the-post-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/ghosts-in-the-post-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/ghosts-in-the-post-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Want a side of tea with your ghost stories? Check out ‘Ghosts in the Post.’ \u003ccite>(Vuk Saric/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Ghosts in the Post\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.neonraspberry.com/\">Neon Raspberry Art House\u003c/a>, Occidental\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Nov. 2, 6 p.m—8 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In collaboration with Books & Barns, a volunteer-run organization that showcases writers in rural spaces, the Neon Raspberry art space is hosting a night of haunted readings from classic texts. These are no ordinary readers, however. “Undead mushrooms, very dead authors and beautiful monsters” will all take the podium, apparently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After story time is over, attendees can participate in a lantern-lit procession to \u003ca href=\"https://www.twotreesteahouse.com/pages/the-tea-house\">Two Trees Tea House\u003c/a> where there will be snacks, more ghostly goings-on and, duh, tea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wondering why the event is called Ghosts in the Post? The organizers will send out curated ghost stories to everyone that requests one via the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/booksandbarns_aliterarything\">Books & Barns Instagram page\u003c/a>. Just send them a private message with your address and prepare for mail that’ll make you pale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976494\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13976494 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"A flamboyant singer with cascading red hair performs on stage, wearing striking make-up and pink and white hot pants, top and ribbons.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">We’re not saying that everyone at Discoween is going to be dressed as Chappell Roan, but an awful lot of people at Discoween are probably going to be dressed as Chappell Roan.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sapphic-spooky-showgirl-discoween-tickets-1602582630789\">Discoween\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>El Rio, San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 31, 9 p.m.—2 a.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a portion of the population of San Francisco that is so perpetually ebullient, so utterly fueled by queer joy, that they’ll make even the darkest holiday on the calendar sparkle. That is what Discoween is for. (That is also, as we all know, what El Rio is for.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Organized by All Your Stupid Friends, this Halloween night shindig promises “Sapphic, Spooky, Showgirl” fun, fueled by your favorite pop and dance tunes from across time. There will be a bunch of costume contests, at least 10 people dressed as Chappell Roan, probably at least one impromptu “Thriller” dance routine and, scariest of all, ABBA songs (*shudder*). It’s also only $5 to get in. Go nuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979700\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979700\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Nightfallfiloli.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a white dress, veil and ghostly make-up stands in a grand hall, lit in red. She is holding dried flowers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Nightfallfiloli.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Nightfallfiloli-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Nightfallfiloli-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Nightfallfiloli-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Nightfall at Filoli.’ \u003ccite>(Julia Rose Photography/Courtesy of Filoli Historic House and Garden)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://filoli.org/nightfall/\">Nightfall at Filoli\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Filoli Historic House & Garden, Woodside\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 3—Nov. 10\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you haven’t yet paid a visit to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13979279/giant-trolls-filoli-gardens-thomas-dambo-woodside-eco-art-sculpture\"> enchanting giant trolls\u003c/a> that are currently hanging out on Filoli’s grounds, rejoice! Your slackness has paid off! Because now you get to see Thomas Dambo’s fascinating creatures by moonlight, surrounded by \u003cem>Children of the Corn\u003c/em>-level creepy scarecrows, scores of jack-o’-lanterns and monster-sized banana slugs. (Just go with it…)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s more, Filoli’s historic house will be hauntingly decorated. There’s a hay maze to get lost in, and even “a blacklight mushroom forest” (whatever that might entail). If you need further enticement, there will also be tarot readings, live music, games and kid-friendly activities to freak out the whole family. Visitors are encouraged to attend in costume, so get your Miss Havisham gowns ready.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971723\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 933px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971723\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/wicked.pressimage.jpg\" alt=\"A young woman with green-hued skin looks away as another young woman rests her head on her shoulder\" width=\"933\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/wicked.pressimage.jpg 933w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/wicked.pressimage-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/wicked.pressimage-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/wicked.pressimage-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 933px) 100vw, 933px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in ‘Wicked.’ \u003ccite>(Universal Pictures)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.symphonysanjose.org/attend/2025-2026-season/concerts/symphonic-spooktacular/\">Bewitching Broadway\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>California Theatre, San Jose\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 26 at 2:30 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039342/travel-through-the-solar-system-at-symphony-san-jose\">Symphony San Jose\u003c/a> conductor \u003ca href=\"https://www.theconductorsinstitute.com/peterjaffe\">Peter Jaffe\u003c/a> leads an evening of enchanting picks from Broadway’s most supernatural moments. Bookended by favorites from \u003cem>Wicked\u003c/em>, the program will include highlights from \u003cem>Sweeney Todd\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Dance of the Vampires\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Phantom of the Opera, Little Shop of Horrors \u003c/em>and many more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaffe has been known to conduct orchestras in full Halloween attire before, setting the perfect tone for the Bewitching Broadway audience costume contest. Participants in the under-18 category can win four tickets to Legoland, and the winner of the special judges’ prize will get two tickets to an upcoming \u003ca href=\"https://broadwaysanjose.com/\">Broadway San Jose\u003c/a> show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982025\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982025\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/St-Francis.png\" alt=\"A large, grand hotel lit up at night, overlooking San Francisco's Union Square.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/St-Francis.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/St-Francis-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/St-Francis-768x511.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/St-Francis-1536x1021.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The storied St. Francis hotel has surprises waiting for you in room 1219.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marriott.com/offers/haunted-suite-experience-off-185722/sfouw-the-westin-st-francis-san-francisco-on-union-square\">The Haunted Suite\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 1—Nov. 1. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Old hotels often have rooms they caution guests about because of creepy histories or ghostly goings on. By far the most notorious room in Union Square’s landmark \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13953890/st-francis-hotel-san-francisco-history-arbuckle-jolson-crocker-gerald-ford\">St. Francis Hotel\u003c/a> is 1219. This former suite was the place where Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was accused of assaulting actress Virginia Rappe, resulting in injuries that later caused her death in 1921. (Arbuckle was found not guilty only after three trials.) The room was also where infamous blackface-performer Al Jolson died in 1950.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the month of October, the hotel is leaning all the way into that notoriety with special decorations in the room, including velvet drapes, flickering candlelight and other 1920s accents. The room even comes equipped with a Ouija board and themed tarot deck, in case you wish to chat with Arbuckle and Olson, or divine whether or not you’ll be leaving in the morning. Don’t expect to sleep soundly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981003\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981003\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/block-print.jpg\" alt=\"Traditional Mexican print shows a fierce calavera brandishing a knife with a crowd of calaveras behind him.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1257\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/block-print.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/block-print-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/block-print-768x483.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/block-print-1536x965.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Calavera Oaxaquena,’ published by Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, circa 1903. \u003ccite>(VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/689b781e709d274100369a4b\">Linocut Block Printing with Amor Eterno Arte\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Oakland Public Library, Rockridge branch\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 21, 6 p.m—7:30 p.m\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The artisans of East Oakland tattoo studio and gallery \u003ca href=\"https://amoreternoarte.com/\">Amor Eterno Arte\u003c/a> will be hosting this celebration of Latine printmaking in the run-up to Día de los Muertos. This class will teach attendees (aged 10 and over) the basics of block printing, with all materials provided by Oakland’s Rockridge library.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Participants will make their own prints during the class but — even better — they’ll leave with the skills needed to make their own decorations in good time for Day of the Dead celebrations on Nov. 1 and 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979935\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979935\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/BAD-Halloween-derby.png\" alt=\"A roller derby skater wearing face paint, knee and elbow pads and a green and black uniform gestures to the camera while skating.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/BAD-Halloween-derby.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/BAD-Halloween-derby-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/BAD-Halloween-derby-768x511.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/BAD-Halloween-derby-1536x1021.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Craving some competitive organized chaos this Halloween? Bay Area Derby has you covered. \u003ccite>(Will Toft/Courtesy of Bay Area Derby)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bay-area-derby-halloween-bout-tickets-1207561281299\">Bay Area Derby Halloween Bout\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Richmond Memorial Auditorium, Richmond\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 25, 4 p.m—9 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roller derby is wild on any given day of the year, but the \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayareaderby.com/about/teams/oakland-outlaws\">Oakland Outlaws\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayareaderby.com/about/teams/san-francisco-rolling-dead\">San Francisco Rolling Dead\u003c/a> will be upping the stakes this October in a raucous Halloween Bay Area Derby special. Come see relentless skaters named things like Barbarian Streisand, Sylvia Wrath and Lexistential Dead tearing up the track — and each other — while in costume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First whistle is at 6 p.m., and there will be vendors, food offerings and a costume contest to keep you entertained and refreshed before and during. Given that the Rolling Dead consider themselves “vengeful for victory and hungry for brains” and the Outlaws’ motto is “skate fast, hit hard, and win a good-looking trophy,” this promises to be a rager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981153\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13981153 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/bat-witch-ghost.png\" alt=\"A chaotic room lit by lasers and spotlights. Bare pipes are visible on the wall. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/bat-witch-ghost.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/bat-witch-ghost-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/bat-witch-ghost-768x512.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/bat-witch-ghost-1536x1025.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bat Witch Ghost are haunting YBCA in 2025. \u003ccite>(Bat Witch Ghost)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/batwitchghost/\">Bat Witch Ghost Haunt\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://ybca.org/\">YBCA\u003c/a>, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nOct. 25—Nov. 1\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, Aaron Wojack turned the service entrance and garages of his apartment building into “The Corridor of Horror,” a mind-melting DIY haunted house that KQED Arts’ own Sarah Hotchkiss later described as “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969008/the-best-art-i-didnt-write-about-in-2024\">the most thrilling, scream-filled minutes of my 2024\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event was such a hit that, this year, Wojack’s vision is hitting the hallowed halls of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/ybca\">YBCA\u003c/a>, after an invitation from the art center’s CEO, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969404/ybca-new-ceo-mari-robles-headlands\">Mari Robles\u003c/a>. Ten artists will be presenting their own takes on the haunt’s theme, “Forest of the Eye.” An indoor labyrinth will dominate YBCA’s Forum room, while a graveyard featuring a bar, ambient DJs, psychic readers and face painters will be outside. Costumes are encouraged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adults can attend nighttime shows complete with actors, while families are invited to a to-be-announced number of kid-friendly daytime events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980364\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980364\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/spooked-live.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1164\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/spooked-live.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/spooked-live-160x93.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/spooked-live-768x447.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/spooked-live-1536x894.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Glynn Washington and friends are taking ‘Spooked’ live. \u003ccite>(KQED/Snap Judgment)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.paramountoakland.org/events/detail/kqed-spooked-live\">‘Spooked’ Live\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Paramount Theater, Oakland\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 25, 7 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For mysterious host \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glynn_Washington\">Glynn Washington\u003c/a> and the producers of KQED’s\u003ca href=\"https://spookedpodcast.org/\">\u003cem> Spooked\u003c/em> podcast\u003c/a>, scary stories are for every week of the year, not just Halloween. And as any \u003cem>Spooked\u003c/em> listener could tell you, the most frightening thing of all is that every spine-chilling story featured in the series is true.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Washington will be joined by three storytellers from the \u003cem>Spooked\u003c/em> annals, Tiyi Schippers, Esther Squires and “Hawaii Ghost Guy” \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hawaiighostguy/?hl=en\">Lopaka Kapanui\u003c/a>. Their tales from beyond the veil will be brought to life with the assistance of animations by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/underpresser/?hl=en\">Joe Presser\u003c/a> and music by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/clayxavier/?hl=en\">Clay Xavier\u003c/a>. There’s no better venue for this than the historic Paramount Theatre — a location renowned for its secret trapdoors and passageways, ghostly lore and rumors of hauntings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attend in your spookiest Halloween attire for a chance to win the \u003cem>Spooked\u003c/em> \u003cem>Live\u003c/em> best-dressed prize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981005\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981005\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/rocky-horror.jpg\" alt=\"A white man in garish make-up wearing a corset, stockings and garter belt performs on a stage with a strange woman and man posing behind him.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1492\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/rocky-horror.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/rocky-horror-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/rocky-horror-768x573.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/rocky-horror-1536x1146.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) in all his glory, ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show.’ \u003ccite>(Getty Images/United Archives)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"http://barelylegal.rhps.org/\">‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ 50th Anniversary Parties\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Various venues, Petaluma, Berkeley, Modesto, San Francisco, San Jose\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Throughout October\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s been half a century since Brad and Janet happened upon the gender-bending Dr. Frank-N-Furter and his mansion of strange seduction in \u003cem>The Rocky Horror Picture Show\u003c/em>. In that time, late night screenings of the lowbrow classic have become raucous parties where audience participation heightens all the saucy action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13982172']Now, thanks to\u003cem> Rocky Horror\u003c/em> fanatics \u003ca href=\"http://barelylegal.rhps.org/about.htm\">Barely Legal\u003c/a>, a run of anniversary screenings are taking over the Bay. Screenings will include an interactive pre-show by the Barely Legal performers, as well as a pack of props to utilize during the movie. Tickets are available at the following links: \u003ca href=\"http://barelylegal.rhps.org/rocky-horror-petaluma.htm\">Phoenix Theater\u003c/a>, Petaluma; \u003ca href=\"https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/45328066/rocky-horror-picture-show-berkeley-the-uc-theatre?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22902075321&gbraid=0AAAAABPNr9sW5xSRsC5VHfBUbQke_FQM4&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzt_FBhCEARIsAJGFWVlsmsMnVlgcEkY1vxVfJ6QBulmdbR7gHFsc3J4P6dY-PmSqnIOVHgcaAqTrEALw_wcB\">UC Theater\u003c/a>, Berkeley; \u003ca href=\"https://prod5.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=216261~4e8b4fa5-aaf4-4669-af20-791dec4fd008&\">State Theater\u003c/a>, Modesto; \u003ca href=\"https://www.broadwaysf.com/events/bsf-rhps-2025/curran-theater/tickets/58E541CC-022A-4CBC-BB75-4E53580B04D9\">The Curran Theater\u003c/a>, San Francisco; \u003ca href=\"https://3belowtheaters.com/rhps/\">3Below Theater\u003c/a>, San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re a movie nerd and want more, please visit our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982172/san-francisco-halloween-2025-movie-screenings\">guide to Halloween movie happenings in San Francisco\u003c/a> this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "The Best Bay Area Halloween Events for 2025 | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Bay Area tends to outdo itself every Halloween, and 2025 offers something for everyone, whether you want to go on your own ghost hunt, \u003cem>boo\u003c/em>-gie down with disco freaks or get spooky with a symphony. Gracious goths, ghostly tour guides and even Rolling Dead skaters are all running wild this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are 11 unmissable events for Halloween 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980995\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980995\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/UCB-hike.png\" alt=\"A grainy black and white image of UC Berkeley's campanile tower lit up at night, viewed behind trees.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1373\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/UCB-hike.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/UCB-hike-160x110.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/UCB-hike-768x527.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/UCB-hike-1536x1054.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Explore UC Berkeley from a whole new (haunted) perspective on the Berkeley Haunted Hike. \u003ccite>(Berkeley Haunted Hike)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://thehauntedbayberkeleyhauntedhike.fearticket.com/\">Berkeley Haunted Hike\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UC Berkeley Campus, Berkeley\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Select dates throughout October\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Since 2013, filmmaker Ying Liu has been sharing bone-chilling tales of local hauntings via her \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thehauntedbay/\">\u003cem>Haunted Bay\u003c/em>\u003c/a> series. Liu has proven time and again that, for her, no lore is too off-putting, no history is too horrifying, and no location is too dangerous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because Liu is a tireless seeker of the strange, she knows a terrifying thing or two about locations that, to the rest of us, seem perfectly normal — including the grounds of UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Liu has assembled a team of likeminded guides and ghost hunters to lead groups on a three-hour hike around the campus that has been known to scare the wits out of people during its second half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tours include elements of true crime, history and evidence from paranormal investigations, as well as personal anecdotes from the team. Bring your own flashlights (and good luck charms).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980498\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980498\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/ghosts-in-the-post.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand on a rural road, surrounded by autumnal trees, dressed as traditional ghosts in white sheet. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/ghosts-in-the-post.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/ghosts-in-the-post-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/ghosts-in-the-post-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/ghosts-in-the-post-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Want a side of tea with your ghost stories? Check out ‘Ghosts in the Post.’ \u003ccite>(Vuk Saric/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Ghosts in the Post\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.neonraspberry.com/\">Neon Raspberry Art House\u003c/a>, Occidental\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Nov. 2, 6 p.m—8 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In collaboration with Books & Barns, a volunteer-run organization that showcases writers in rural spaces, the Neon Raspberry art space is hosting a night of haunted readings from classic texts. These are no ordinary readers, however. “Undead mushrooms, very dead authors and beautiful monsters” will all take the podium, apparently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After story time is over, attendees can participate in a lantern-lit procession to \u003ca href=\"https://www.twotreesteahouse.com/pages/the-tea-house\">Two Trees Tea House\u003c/a> where there will be snacks, more ghostly goings-on and, duh, tea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wondering why the event is called Ghosts in the Post? The organizers will send out curated ghost stories to everyone that requests one via the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/booksandbarns_aliterarything\">Books & Barns Instagram page\u003c/a>. Just send them a private message with your address and prepare for mail that’ll make you pale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976494\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13976494 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"A flamboyant singer with cascading red hair performs on stage, wearing striking make-up and pink and white hot pants, top and ribbons.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-800x533.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-1020x680.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/00-chappell-roan-by-will-heath-nbc-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">We’re not saying that everyone at Discoween is going to be dressed as Chappell Roan, but an awful lot of people at Discoween are probably going to be dressed as Chappell Roan.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sapphic-spooky-showgirl-discoween-tickets-1602582630789\">Discoween\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>El Rio, San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 31, 9 p.m.—2 a.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is a portion of the population of San Francisco that is so perpetually ebullient, so utterly fueled by queer joy, that they’ll make even the darkest holiday on the calendar sparkle. That is what Discoween is for. (That is also, as we all know, what El Rio is for.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Organized by All Your Stupid Friends, this Halloween night shindig promises “Sapphic, Spooky, Showgirl” fun, fueled by your favorite pop and dance tunes from across time. There will be a bunch of costume contests, at least 10 people dressed as Chappell Roan, probably at least one impromptu “Thriller” dance routine and, scariest of all, ABBA songs (*shudder*). It’s also only $5 to get in. Go nuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979700\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979700\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Nightfallfiloli.jpg\" alt=\"A woman wearing a white dress, veil and ghostly make-up stands in a grand hall, lit in red. She is holding dried flowers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Nightfallfiloli.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Nightfallfiloli-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Nightfallfiloli-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/Nightfallfiloli-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Nightfall at Filoli.’ \u003ccite>(Julia Rose Photography/Courtesy of Filoli Historic House and Garden)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://filoli.org/nightfall/\">Nightfall at Filoli\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Filoli Historic House & Garden, Woodside\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 3—Nov. 10\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you haven’t yet paid a visit to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13979279/giant-trolls-filoli-gardens-thomas-dambo-woodside-eco-art-sculpture\"> enchanting giant trolls\u003c/a> that are currently hanging out on Filoli’s grounds, rejoice! Your slackness has paid off! Because now you get to see Thomas Dambo’s fascinating creatures by moonlight, surrounded by \u003cem>Children of the Corn\u003c/em>-level creepy scarecrows, scores of jack-o’-lanterns and monster-sized banana slugs. (Just go with it…)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What’s more, Filoli’s historic house will be hauntingly decorated. There’s a hay maze to get lost in, and even “a blacklight mushroom forest” (whatever that might entail). If you need further enticement, there will also be tarot readings, live music, games and kid-friendly activities to freak out the whole family. Visitors are encouraged to attend in costume, so get your Miss Havisham gowns ready.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971723\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 933px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971723\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/wicked.pressimage.jpg\" alt=\"A young woman with green-hued skin looks away as another young woman rests her head on her shoulder\" width=\"933\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/wicked.pressimage.jpg 933w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/wicked.pressimage-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/wicked.pressimage-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/wicked.pressimage-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 933px) 100vw, 933px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in ‘Wicked.’ \u003ccite>(Universal Pictures)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.symphonysanjose.org/attend/2025-2026-season/concerts/symphonic-spooktacular/\">Bewitching Broadway\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>California Theatre, San Jose\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 26 at 2:30 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12039342/travel-through-the-solar-system-at-symphony-san-jose\">Symphony San Jose\u003c/a> conductor \u003ca href=\"https://www.theconductorsinstitute.com/peterjaffe\">Peter Jaffe\u003c/a> leads an evening of enchanting picks from Broadway’s most supernatural moments. Bookended by favorites from \u003cem>Wicked\u003c/em>, the program will include highlights from \u003cem>Sweeney Todd\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Dance of the Vampires\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Phantom of the Opera, Little Shop of Horrors \u003c/em>and many more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jaffe has been known to conduct orchestras in full Halloween attire before, setting the perfect tone for the Bewitching Broadway audience costume contest. Participants in the under-18 category can win four tickets to Legoland, and the winner of the special judges’ prize will get two tickets to an upcoming \u003ca href=\"https://broadwaysanjose.com/\">Broadway San Jose\u003c/a> show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13982025\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13982025\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/St-Francis.png\" alt=\"A large, grand hotel lit up at night, overlooking San Francisco's Union Square.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/St-Francis.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/St-Francis-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/St-Francis-768x511.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/St-Francis-1536x1021.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The storied St. Francis hotel has surprises waiting for you in room 1219.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marriott.com/offers/haunted-suite-experience-off-185722/sfouw-the-westin-st-francis-san-francisco-on-union-square\">The Haunted Suite\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 1—Nov. 1. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Old hotels often have rooms they caution guests about because of creepy histories or ghostly goings on. By far the most notorious room in Union Square’s landmark \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13953890/st-francis-hotel-san-francisco-history-arbuckle-jolson-crocker-gerald-ford\">St. Francis Hotel\u003c/a> is 1219. This former suite was the place where Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was accused of assaulting actress Virginia Rappe, resulting in injuries that later caused her death in 1921. (Arbuckle was found not guilty only after three trials.) The room was also where infamous blackface-performer Al Jolson died in 1950.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the month of October, the hotel is leaning all the way into that notoriety with special decorations in the room, including velvet drapes, flickering candlelight and other 1920s accents. The room even comes equipped with a Ouija board and themed tarot deck, in case you wish to chat with Arbuckle and Olson, or divine whether or not you’ll be leaving in the morning. Don’t expect to sleep soundly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981003\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981003\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/block-print.jpg\" alt=\"Traditional Mexican print shows a fierce calavera brandishing a knife with a crowd of calaveras behind him.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1257\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/block-print.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/block-print-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/block-print-768x483.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/block-print-1536x965.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘Calavera Oaxaquena,’ published by Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, circa 1903. \u003ccite>(VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/689b781e709d274100369a4b\">Linocut Block Printing with Amor Eterno Arte\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Oakland Public Library, Rockridge branch\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 21, 6 p.m—7:30 p.m\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The artisans of East Oakland tattoo studio and gallery \u003ca href=\"https://amoreternoarte.com/\">Amor Eterno Arte\u003c/a> will be hosting this celebration of Latine printmaking in the run-up to Día de los Muertos. This class will teach attendees (aged 10 and over) the basics of block printing, with all materials provided by Oakland’s Rockridge library.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Participants will make their own prints during the class but — even better — they’ll leave with the skills needed to make their own decorations in good time for Day of the Dead celebrations on Nov. 1 and 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13979935\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13979935\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/BAD-Halloween-derby.png\" alt=\"A roller derby skater wearing face paint, knee and elbow pads and a green and black uniform gestures to the camera while skating.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1330\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/BAD-Halloween-derby.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/BAD-Halloween-derby-160x106.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/BAD-Halloween-derby-768x511.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/BAD-Halloween-derby-1536x1021.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Craving some competitive organized chaos this Halloween? Bay Area Derby has you covered. \u003ccite>(Will Toft/Courtesy of Bay Area Derby)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bay-area-derby-halloween-bout-tickets-1207561281299\">Bay Area Derby Halloween Bout\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Richmond Memorial Auditorium, Richmond\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 25, 4 p.m—9 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roller derby is wild on any given day of the year, but the \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayareaderby.com/about/teams/oakland-outlaws\">Oakland Outlaws\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayareaderby.com/about/teams/san-francisco-rolling-dead\">San Francisco Rolling Dead\u003c/a> will be upping the stakes this October in a raucous Halloween Bay Area Derby special. Come see relentless skaters named things like Barbarian Streisand, Sylvia Wrath and Lexistential Dead tearing up the track — and each other — while in costume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First whistle is at 6 p.m., and there will be vendors, food offerings and a costume contest to keep you entertained and refreshed before and during. Given that the Rolling Dead consider themselves “vengeful for victory and hungry for brains” and the Outlaws’ motto is “skate fast, hit hard, and win a good-looking trophy,” this promises to be a rager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981153\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13981153 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/bat-witch-ghost.png\" alt=\"A chaotic room lit by lasers and spotlights. Bare pipes are visible on the wall. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/bat-witch-ghost.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/bat-witch-ghost-160x107.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/bat-witch-ghost-768x512.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/bat-witch-ghost-1536x1025.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bat Witch Ghost are haunting YBCA in 2025. \u003ccite>(Bat Witch Ghost)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/batwitchghost/\">Bat Witch Ghost Haunt\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://ybca.org/\">YBCA\u003c/a>, San Francisco\u003cbr>\nOct. 25—Nov. 1\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, Aaron Wojack turned the service entrance and garages of his apartment building into “The Corridor of Horror,” a mind-melting DIY haunted house that KQED Arts’ own Sarah Hotchkiss later described as “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969008/the-best-art-i-didnt-write-about-in-2024\">the most thrilling, scream-filled minutes of my 2024\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event was such a hit that, this year, Wojack’s vision is hitting the hallowed halls of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/ybca\">YBCA\u003c/a>, after an invitation from the art center’s CEO, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969404/ybca-new-ceo-mari-robles-headlands\">Mari Robles\u003c/a>. Ten artists will be presenting their own takes on the haunt’s theme, “Forest of the Eye.” An indoor labyrinth will dominate YBCA’s Forum room, while a graveyard featuring a bar, ambient DJs, psychic readers and face painters will be outside. Costumes are encouraged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adults can attend nighttime shows complete with actors, while families are invited to a to-be-announced number of kid-friendly daytime events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980364\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980364\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/spooked-live.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1164\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/spooked-live.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/spooked-live-160x93.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/spooked-live-768x447.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/08/spooked-live-1536x894.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Glynn Washington and friends are taking ‘Spooked’ live. \u003ccite>(KQED/Snap Judgment)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.paramountoakland.org/events/detail/kqed-spooked-live\">‘Spooked’ Live\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Paramount Theater, Oakland\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Oct. 25, 7 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For mysterious host \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glynn_Washington\">Glynn Washington\u003c/a> and the producers of KQED’s\u003ca href=\"https://spookedpodcast.org/\">\u003cem> Spooked\u003c/em> podcast\u003c/a>, scary stories are for every week of the year, not just Halloween. And as any \u003cem>Spooked\u003c/em> listener could tell you, the most frightening thing of all is that every spine-chilling story featured in the series is true.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Washington will be joined by three storytellers from the \u003cem>Spooked\u003c/em> annals, Tiyi Schippers, Esther Squires and “Hawaii Ghost Guy” \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hawaiighostguy/?hl=en\">Lopaka Kapanui\u003c/a>. Their tales from beyond the veil will be brought to life with the assistance of animations by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/underpresser/?hl=en\">Joe Presser\u003c/a> and music by \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/clayxavier/?hl=en\">Clay Xavier\u003c/a>. There’s no better venue for this than the historic Paramount Theatre — a location renowned for its secret trapdoors and passageways, ghostly lore and rumors of hauntings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Attend in your spookiest Halloween attire for a chance to win the \u003cem>Spooked\u003c/em> \u003cem>Live\u003c/em> best-dressed prize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13981005\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13981005\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/rocky-horror.jpg\" alt=\"A white man in garish make-up wearing a corset, stockings and garter belt performs on a stage with a strange woman and man posing behind him.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1492\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/rocky-horror.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/rocky-horror-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/rocky-horror-768x573.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/rocky-horror-1536x1146.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) in all his glory, ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show.’ \u003ccite>(Getty Images/United Archives)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"http://barelylegal.rhps.org/\">‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ 50th Anniversary Parties\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Various venues, Petaluma, Berkeley, Modesto, San Francisco, San Jose\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Throughout October\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s been half a century since Brad and Janet happened upon the gender-bending Dr. Frank-N-Furter and his mansion of strange seduction in \u003cem>The Rocky Horror Picture Show\u003c/em>. In that time, late night screenings of the lowbrow classic have become raucous parties where audience participation heightens all the saucy action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now, thanks to\u003cem> Rocky Horror\u003c/em> fanatics \u003ca href=\"http://barelylegal.rhps.org/about.htm\">Barely Legal\u003c/a>, a run of anniversary screenings are taking over the Bay. Screenings will include an interactive pre-show by the Barely Legal performers, as well as a pack of props to utilize during the movie. Tickets are available at the following links: \u003ca href=\"http://barelylegal.rhps.org/rocky-horror-petaluma.htm\">Phoenix Theater\u003c/a>, Petaluma; \u003ca href=\"https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/45328066/rocky-horror-picture-show-berkeley-the-uc-theatre?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22902075321&gbraid=0AAAAABPNr9sW5xSRsC5VHfBUbQke_FQM4&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzt_FBhCEARIsAJGFWVlsmsMnVlgcEkY1vxVfJ6QBulmdbR7gHFsc3J4P6dY-PmSqnIOVHgcaAqTrEALw_wcB\">UC Theater\u003c/a>, Berkeley; \u003ca href=\"https://prod5.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=216261~4e8b4fa5-aaf4-4669-af20-791dec4fd008&\">State Theater\u003c/a>, Modesto; \u003ca href=\"https://www.broadwaysf.com/events/bsf-rhps-2025/curran-theater/tickets/58E541CC-022A-4CBC-BB75-4E53580B04D9\">The Curran Theater\u003c/a>, San Francisco; \u003ca href=\"https://3belowtheaters.com/rhps/\">3Below Theater\u003c/a>, San Jose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re a movie nerd and want more, please visit our \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982172/san-francisco-halloween-2025-movie-screenings\">guide to Halloween movie happenings in San Francisco\u003c/a> this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978105\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13978105 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/vivarium-snake.png\" alt=\"A two-headed snake with a white body and black markings.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1949\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/vivarium-snake.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/vivarium-snake-160x156.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/vivarium-snake-768x748.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/vivarium-snake-1536x1497.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Somebody get some teeny-tiny party hats because Angel/Zeke, the two-headed snake, is about to turn one! \u003ccite>(East Bay Vivarium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Update, Sept. 8, 2025\u003c/strong>: Sadly, the East Bay Vivarium’s two-headed kingsnake, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DOSGk4JCYH_/?hl=en\">Zeke/Angel, died\u003c/a> three days after this story was published, just one day before his first birthday.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re one of the thousands of Americans living with ophidiophobia (a fear of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13901725/sfos-resident-snake-caretaker-talks-san-francisco-garter-snakes-and-poop\">snakes\u003c/a>), encountering a serpent with two heads probably isn’t high on your bucket list. But for Bay Area reptile fans, the two-headed California kingsnake currently residing at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbayvivarium.org/\">East Bay Vivarium\u003c/a> in Berkeley has been a source of joy for a whole year now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13901725']Hatched on Sept. 6, 2024, Angel/Zeke has spent his first 12 months hanging out, munching on frozen baby mice once a week, and generally living his best life — against all odds. Not only are two-headed snakes a rarity, only occurring about once every 100,000 snake births, they often die almost immediately. This one benefits from the fact that the two heads share a single set of organs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve hatched and/or birthed partially two-headed snakes before but they haven’t survived,” explains John Emberton, co-owner of the vivarium. “We’ve hatched two-headed lizards. We had a two-headed Japanese cave gecko once. We’ve had some two-headed turtles, but none of them survived. None of them made it more than a few days. In some cases, they got out of the egg and that was it. They didn’t even live an hour. So that’s what makes this thing special. It’s pretty darn rare. I’ve been doing this for 36 years and this is the only one that has lived for me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angelzeke.jpg\" alt=\"A white man's hand holding a black and white snake with two heads.\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angelzeke.jpg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angelzeke-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angelzeke-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angelzeke-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angel/Zeke shortly after hatching in 2024. \u003ccite>(East Bay Vivarium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now that Angel/Zeke is hitting his one-year milestone, the Vivarium is hoping to re-home him in an institution that will make him even more visible to the public. Emberton’s preference would be the California Academy of Sciences — already home to local animal icons, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13974045/albino-alligator-livestream-claude-california-academy-science\">Claude the albino alligator\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978366\">Methuselah, the 100-year-old lungfish\u003c/a>. Emberton has been in discussions with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/quest/tag/steinhart-aquarium\">Steinhart Aquarium\u003c/a> about getting his legless legend situated there. According to Emberton, this \u003cem>lampropeltis getula californiae\u003c/em> would be a good fit because it’s much more outgoing than most snakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Snakes are generally secretive and shy, but this guy’s not,” Emberton explains. “He’s out all the time. He’s very curious about the world around him. Most snakes are really good at getting into or out of things. They can weasel through the smallest little cracks and get into tight little holes. This one of course can’t. He’s not as retiring as other snakes, which makes it a really good display.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13978366']Angel/Zeke was named after the two Vivarium employees that were on hand the day that the snake hatched, though which name applies to which head is still being debated. The larger head is the only one that eats but Emberton assures us that the smaller head is alert, healthy and aware of the world around it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has even picked fights with its brother, its other head,” Emberton says.” I’ve only seen that twice. And it’s usually getting irritated because we’re handling it. But I mean, everybody gets grumpy with their brothers!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980906\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1305px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980906\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angel-zeke-x-ray.jpg\" alt=\"An x-ray of a two headed snake.\" width=\"1305\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angel-zeke-x-ray.jpg 1305w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angel-zeke-x-ray-160x245.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angel-zeke-x-ray-768x1177.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angel-zeke-x-ray-1002x1536.jpg 1002w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1305px) 100vw, 1305px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An x-ray of Angel/Zeke, taken shortly after he hatched. \u003ccite>(East Bay Vivarium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Angel/Zeke is on display at the East Bay Vivarium now. Emberton suggests paying him a visit before he’s relocated to a higher-profile location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s probably a good time to look at him soon,” Emberton says. “Come into our shop and it’s not going to cost you a nickel.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13978105\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13978105 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/vivarium-snake.png\" alt=\"A two-headed snake with a white body and black markings.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1949\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/vivarium-snake.png 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/vivarium-snake-160x156.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/vivarium-snake-768x748.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/vivarium-snake-1536x1497.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Somebody get some teeny-tiny party hats because Angel/Zeke, the two-headed snake, is about to turn one! \u003ccite>(East Bay Vivarium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Update, Sept. 8, 2025\u003c/strong>: Sadly, the East Bay Vivarium’s two-headed kingsnake, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DOSGk4JCYH_/?hl=en\">Zeke/Angel, died\u003c/a> three days after this story was published, just one day before his first birthday.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’re one of the thousands of Americans living with ophidiophobia (a fear of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13901725/sfos-resident-snake-caretaker-talks-san-francisco-garter-snakes-and-poop\">snakes\u003c/a>), encountering a serpent with two heads probably isn’t high on your bucket list. But for Bay Area reptile fans, the two-headed California kingsnake currently residing at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbayvivarium.org/\">East Bay Vivarium\u003c/a> in Berkeley has been a source of joy for a whole year now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Hatched on Sept. 6, 2024, Angel/Zeke has spent his first 12 months hanging out, munching on frozen baby mice once a week, and generally living his best life — against all odds. Not only are two-headed snakes a rarity, only occurring about once every 100,000 snake births, they often die almost immediately. This one benefits from the fact that the two heads share a single set of organs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve hatched and/or birthed partially two-headed snakes before but they haven’t survived,” explains John Emberton, co-owner of the vivarium. “We’ve hatched two-headed lizards. We had a two-headed Japanese cave gecko once. We’ve had some two-headed turtles, but none of them survived. None of them made it more than a few days. In some cases, they got out of the egg and that was it. They didn’t even live an hour. So that’s what makes this thing special. It’s pretty darn rare. I’ve been doing this for 36 years and this is the only one that has lived for me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980905\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980905\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angelzeke.jpg\" alt=\"A white man's hand holding a black and white snake with two heads.\" width=\"1500\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angelzeke.jpg 1500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angelzeke-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angelzeke-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angelzeke-1152x1536.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angel/Zeke shortly after hatching in 2024. \u003ccite>(East Bay Vivarium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now that Angel/Zeke is hitting his one-year milestone, the Vivarium is hoping to re-home him in an institution that will make him even more visible to the public. Emberton’s preference would be the California Academy of Sciences — already home to local animal icons, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13974045/albino-alligator-livestream-claude-california-academy-science\">Claude the albino alligator\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978366\">Methuselah, the 100-year-old lungfish\u003c/a>. Emberton has been in discussions with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/quest/tag/steinhart-aquarium\">Steinhart Aquarium\u003c/a> about getting his legless legend situated there. According to Emberton, this \u003cem>lampropeltis getula californiae\u003c/em> would be a good fit because it’s much more outgoing than most snakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Angel/Zeke was named after the two Vivarium employees that were on hand the day that the snake hatched, though which name applies to which head is still being debated. The larger head is the only one that eats but Emberton assures us that the smaller head is alert, healthy and aware of the world around it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has even picked fights with its brother, its other head,” Emberton says.” I’ve only seen that twice. And it’s usually getting irritated because we’re handling it. But I mean, everybody gets grumpy with their brothers!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13980906\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1305px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13980906\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angel-zeke-x-ray.jpg\" alt=\"An x-ray of a two headed snake.\" width=\"1305\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angel-zeke-x-ray.jpg 1305w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angel-zeke-x-ray-160x245.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angel-zeke-x-ray-768x1177.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/angel-zeke-x-ray-1002x1536.jpg 1002w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1305px) 100vw, 1305px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An x-ray of Angel/Zeke, taken shortly after he hatched. \u003ccite>(East Bay Vivarium)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Angel/Zeke is on display at the East Bay Vivarium now. Emberton suggests paying him a visit before he’s relocated to a higher-profile location.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s probably a good time to look at him soon,” Emberton says. “Come into our shop and it’s not going to cost you a nickel.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "This East Bay Graphic Novel Celebrates the Magic of Passing Notes With Friends",
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"content": "\u003cp>The epigraph for Briana Loewinsohn’s wonderfully nostalgic new graphic memoir \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> reads, “This is not a love story. It is a love letter.” Set during the author’s middle and high school years in Berkeley, Oakland and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/el-cerrito\">El Cerrito\u003c/a> in the 1990s, the book is a coming-of-age story about the deep loneliness of being a teenager, and also the transformative power of friendship and art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also, as much as anything, about the magic of handwritten letters and notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by phone, the Oakland cartoonist explains that this was actually the impetus for the whole book: “First and foremost I wanted to write about notes,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of the graphic novel’s 200 pages, Loewinsohn’s adolescent self is constantly writing notes to her friends. She folds them up into little triangles and passes them when the teacher isn’t looking, and marvels at how good and funny and weird a certain friend’s notes always are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972139\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972139\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes.jpg\" alt='Four panels from a graphic novel: A girl dozes off at her desk in class. Then, a hand reaches out to hand her a piece of paper folded up into a triangle. \"Briana\" is written on the outside of the note.' width=\"2000\" height=\"2012\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-800x805.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1020x1026.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-768x773.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1527x1536.jpg 1527w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1920x1932.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Handwritten notes are a through line in this coming-of-age story. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The book also features what has become one of Loewinsohn’s signature devices (debuted in her KQED series on old East Bay \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930727/comic-lost-cafes-coffee-shops-the-med-au-coquelet-gaylords-oakland-berkeley\">coffee shops\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/movie-theaters-we-have-lost\">movie theaters\u003c/a>), wherein she includes a handwritten note — something like a diary entry — every few pages, between scenes. Like her \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13926136/poignant-graphic-novel-ephemera-explores-an-oakland-artists-lonely-childhood\">debut memoir, \u003ci>Ephemera\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, about her early childhood, \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts \u003c/i>has a quiet beauty, and many of the panels have little to no dialogue whatsoever. Against that backdrop, the handwritten interludes give deeper insight into what she’s thinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The other kids] all seem to understand how to be in the world in a way that I do not,” she writes in one note. “They punch each other and laugh. Then they punch someone else. They get it.” In another, about her dad: “He will never ask how my day was or how school is going. But he will also never bother me. … Some days, though, I wouldn’t mind being bothered.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loewinsohn says she’s kept every single note that her friends ever gave her. As research for the book, she went back and reread all of them — along with her high school journal and every email she wrote in 1997 — to put herself back into that “cringeworthy” mode of teenage self-expression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972145\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972145\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman.jpg\" alt=\"Panels from a graphic novel: Each panels progressively zooms out, showing teens sprawled in a field, each listening to their own Walkman.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The book is a nostalgic trip for readers who grew up in the ’90s, listening to Walkmans and talking on landline telephones. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, Loewinsohn thinks back on all the notes she exchanged with her friends as an early form of social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13968201,arts_13930727,arts_13926136']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>“It was a cure for boredom, definitely, and a conduit for gossip,” she says. “But I think it really just made you feel connected to people even when you maybe weren’t with them, because you were like, ‘Oh, I’m writing a note to this person, or I’m waiting to get a note.’ There was that serotonin bump when you would get a note.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Loewinsohn’s teenage self explains in one of the handwritten notes that are interspersed throughout the book, “Notes make us feel … like we have a friend with us when really we are surrounded by zombies. … I can’t imagine how lonely I’d feel without them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Raised by Ghosts \u003c/i>will resonate with Gen Xers and elder millennials who went to high school in the ’90s, watched the same \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/movie-theaters-we-have-lost\">movies\u003c/a> and TV shows, and made mixtapes with the same bands (Tupac, Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins). Readers who grew up in the East Bay, in particular, will get a heavy dose of nostalgia from Loewinsohn’s lovingly rendered drawings of the old haunts where she and her friends spent their nights and weekends: Moe’s Books, Amoeba Music, Albany Bowl, all ages shows at Berkeley Square.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972142\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972142\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A young woman strolls down a downtown street. The signs on the storefronts read, "Shambhala Publications" and "Moe's Books."\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2008\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-800x803.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1020x1024.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-768x771.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1530x1536.jpg 1530w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1920x1928.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The book takes place at popular teen hangouts in the East Bay of the 1990s — including stores like Amoeba Music and Moe’s Books in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the book was really written with a teenage audience in mind, says Loewinsohn. On the one hand, she thinks many pages in \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> will read as fun objects of curiosity for teens today, who might not talk on the phone at all anymore or at least not in the same way we Olds did — for six hours sometimes, twisting the long cord around our fingers, until our parents kicked us off the line or we literally fell asleep. They may have never known what it was like to fold up a handwritten note during a time when social media didn’t exist in the same way. (One of the most fun outcomes of the book, Loewinsohn says, would be if it helps spark a resurgence in note-writing among teens — which is why she included detailed origami diagrams for three different note-folding techniques in the appendix.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13972147 alignright\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-160x206.jpg\" alt=\"Cover for the book 'Raised by Ghosts.'\" width=\"240\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-160x206.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-800x1028.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1020x1311.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-768x987.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1195x1536.jpg 1195w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1593x2048.jpg 1593w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1920x2468.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-scaled.jpg 1991w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even more than that, though, Loewinsohn hopes young readers will take the book’s message to heart. “The intention of the book is really just to acknowledge how hard it is to be a teenager and how big the feelings are — whether they’re founded or unfounded is inconsequential. It is \u003ci>hard\u003c/i> to be a teenager,” she says. “And the book is to acknowledge that and to tell you, I see you. You’re doing great. Keep going, and look for things in your life that help you feel connected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s fitting, then, that one of Loewinsohn’s very first events promoting \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> will be geared specifically for a teen audience. Her Feb. 22 reading at the Oakland Public Library will feature a Q&A led by fellow Oakland graphic novelist (and frequent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">KQED contributor\u003c/a>) \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930458/thien-pham-family-style-graphic-novel-food-memoir-vietnamese-refugee-san-jose-hella-hungry\">Thien Pham\u003c/a>, and Loewinsohn will also spend some time talking about how she got into drawing comics to begin with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the challenges of catering a book event for a younger crowd, Loewinsohn noted that she talks to teenagers every day. She’s worked as a high school art teacher for the past 20 years, after all.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/raised-by-ghosts?srsltid=AfmBOoopc3MlFgJFoIITS5LmDU5g4a8f1WbR0yb-b4RBpyvW2iQ2Tskv\">Raised by Ghosts\u003c/a> \u003ci>is available at all booksellers now. The \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DF_v8bSPsZH/\">\u003ci>Oakland Public Library event\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will take place on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m., in the TeenZone at the main branch (125 14th St., Oakland). Follow Loewinsohn on \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brianabreaks/\">\u003ci>Instagram\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> for details on other upcoming events.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Review: Briana Loewinsohn's Graphic Novel 'Raised by Ghosts' | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The epigraph for Briana Loewinsohn’s wonderfully nostalgic new graphic memoir \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> reads, “This is not a love story. It is a love letter.” Set during the author’s middle and high school years in Berkeley, Oakland and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/el-cerrito\">El Cerrito\u003c/a> in the 1990s, the book is a coming-of-age story about the deep loneliness of being a teenager, and also the transformative power of friendship and art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also, as much as anything, about the magic of handwritten letters and notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reached by phone, the Oakland cartoonist explains that this was actually the impetus for the whole book: “First and foremost I wanted to write about notes,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of the graphic novel’s 200 pages, Loewinsohn’s adolescent self is constantly writing notes to her friends. She folds them up into little triangles and passes them when the teacher isn’t looking, and marvels at how good and funny and weird a certain friend’s notes always are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972139\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972139\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes.jpg\" alt='Four panels from a graphic novel: A girl dozes off at her desk in class. Then, a hand reaches out to hand her a piece of paper folded up into a triangle. \"Briana\" is written on the outside of the note.' width=\"2000\" height=\"2012\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-800x805.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1020x1026.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-768x773.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1527x1536.jpg 1527w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-notes-1920x1932.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Handwritten notes are a through line in this coming-of-age story. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The book also features what has become one of Loewinsohn’s signature devices (debuted in her KQED series on old East Bay \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930727/comic-lost-cafes-coffee-shops-the-med-au-coquelet-gaylords-oakland-berkeley\">coffee shops\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/movie-theaters-we-have-lost\">movie theaters\u003c/a>), wherein she includes a handwritten note — something like a diary entry — every few pages, between scenes. Like her \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13926136/poignant-graphic-novel-ephemera-explores-an-oakland-artists-lonely-childhood\">debut memoir, \u003ci>Ephemera\u003c/i>\u003c/a>, about her early childhood, \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts \u003c/i>has a quiet beauty, and many of the panels have little to no dialogue whatsoever. Against that backdrop, the handwritten interludes give deeper insight into what she’s thinking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The other kids] all seem to understand how to be in the world in a way that I do not,” she writes in one note. “They punch each other and laugh. Then they punch someone else. They get it.” In another, about her dad: “He will never ask how my day was or how school is going. But he will also never bother me. … Some days, though, I wouldn’t mind being bothered.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Loewinsohn says she’s kept every single note that her friends ever gave her. As research for the book, she went back and reread all of them — along with her high school journal and every email she wrote in 1997 — to put herself back into that “cringeworthy” mode of teenage self-expression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972145\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972145\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman.jpg\" alt=\"Panels from a graphic novel: Each panels progressively zooms out, showing teens sprawled in a field, each listening to their own Walkman.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-walkman-1920x1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The book is a nostalgic trip for readers who grew up in the ’90s, listening to Walkmans and talking on landline telephones. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, Loewinsohn thinks back on all the notes she exchanged with her friends as an early form of social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>“It was a cure for boredom, definitely, and a conduit for gossip,” she says. “But I think it really just made you feel connected to people even when you maybe weren’t with them, because you were like, ‘Oh, I’m writing a note to this person, or I’m waiting to get a note.’ There was that serotonin bump when you would get a note.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Loewinsohn’s teenage self explains in one of the handwritten notes that are interspersed throughout the book, “Notes make us feel … like we have a friend with us when really we are surrounded by zombies. … I can’t imagine how lonely I’d feel without them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Raised by Ghosts \u003c/i>will resonate with Gen Xers and elder millennials who went to high school in the ’90s, watched the same \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/movie-theaters-we-have-lost\">movies\u003c/a> and TV shows, and made mixtapes with the same bands (Tupac, Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins). Readers who grew up in the East Bay, in particular, will get a heavy dose of nostalgia from Loewinsohn’s lovingly rendered drawings of the old haunts where she and her friends spent their nights and weekends: Moe’s Books, Amoeba Music, Albany Bowl, all ages shows at Berkeley Square.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972142\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972142\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: A young woman strolls down a downtown street. The signs on the storefronts read, "Shambhala Publications" and "Moe's Books."\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2008\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-800x803.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1020x1024.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-768x771.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1530x1536.jpg 1530w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/raised-by-ghosts-moes-books-1920x1928.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The book takes place at popular teen hangouts in the East Bay of the 1990s — including stores like Amoeba Music and Moe’s Books in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Fantagraphics)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the book was really written with a teenage audience in mind, says Loewinsohn. On the one hand, she thinks many pages in \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> will read as fun objects of curiosity for teens today, who might not talk on the phone at all anymore or at least not in the same way we Olds did — for six hours sometimes, twisting the long cord around our fingers, until our parents kicked us off the line or we literally fell asleep. They may have never known what it was like to fold up a handwritten note during a time when social media didn’t exist in the same way. (One of the most fun outcomes of the book, Loewinsohn says, would be if it helps spark a resurgence in note-writing among teens — which is why she included detailed origami diagrams for three different note-folding techniques in the appendix.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-13972147 alignright\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-160x206.jpg\" alt=\"Cover for the book 'Raised by Ghosts.'\" width=\"240\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-160x206.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-800x1028.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1020x1311.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-768x987.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1195x1536.jpg 1195w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1593x2048.jpg 1593w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-1920x2468.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/Raised-by-Ghosts_Loewinsohn_SOLIC-scaled.jpg 1991w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even more than that, though, Loewinsohn hopes young readers will take the book’s message to heart. “The intention of the book is really just to acknowledge how hard it is to be a teenager and how big the feelings are — whether they’re founded or unfounded is inconsequential. It is \u003ci>hard\u003c/i> to be a teenager,” she says. “And the book is to acknowledge that and to tell you, I see you. You’re doing great. Keep going, and look for things in your life that help you feel connected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s fitting, then, that one of Loewinsohn’s very first events promoting \u003ci>Raised by Ghosts\u003c/i> will be geared specifically for a teen audience. Her Feb. 22 reading at the Oakland Public Library will feature a Q&A led by fellow Oakland graphic novelist (and frequent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">KQED contributor\u003c/a>) \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930458/thien-pham-family-style-graphic-novel-food-memoir-vietnamese-refugee-san-jose-hella-hungry\">Thien Pham\u003c/a>, and Loewinsohn will also spend some time talking about how she got into drawing comics to begin with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the challenges of catering a book event for a younger crowd, Loewinsohn noted that she talks to teenagers every day. She’s worked as a high school art teacher for the past 20 years, after all.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.fantagraphics.com/products/raised-by-ghosts?srsltid=AfmBOoopc3MlFgJFoIITS5LmDU5g4a8f1WbR0yb-b4RBpyvW2iQ2Tskv\">Raised by Ghosts\u003c/a> \u003ci>is available at all booksellers now. The \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DF_v8bSPsZH/\">\u003ci>Oakland Public Library event\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> will take place on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m., in the TeenZone at the main branch (125 14th St., Oakland). Follow Loewinsohn on \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/brianabreaks/\">\u003ci>Instagram\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> for details on other upcoming events.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "mexican-hibachi-fusion-burrito-benihana-bay-area-pinole",
"title": "Mexican Hibachi Is the Bay Area’s Next Great Fusion Cuisine",
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"headTitle": "Mexican Hibachi Is the Bay Area’s Next Great Fusion Cuisine | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen you walk into \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihibachi/\">MexiHibachi\u003c/a>, a new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/mexican-food\">Mexican\u003c/a>-Japanese fusion restaurant in Pinole, the first thing you notice is the giant mural on the wall: a stylized image of a samurai — full armor, katana held upright — facing off against an Aztec warrior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s just the first of many cultural collisions that grab the diner’s attention. There’s the endless loop of Karol G reggaeton music videos juxtaposed with traditional Japanese decor elements like red paper lanterns. There’s the name of the restaurant, “MexiHibachi,” painted in bold letters in the tricolor of the Mexican flag across the body of a flying dragon. And there are the smells — a potent mix of garlic butter, taco sauce and teriyaki that’s meant to get your mouth watering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is, after all, a restaurant that specializes in Benihana-style Japanese hibachi with a Mexican twist: big plates of steak and shrimp served over fried rice or garlic noodles, everything cooked on a flat-top grill — and also stuffed, sometimes, into a burrito or a quesadilla, and drizzled with the kind of creamy orange hot sauce you might find at your favorite taqueria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That unique combination of flavors and cross-cultural influences has made MexiHibachi one of the hottest new restaurants in Contra Costa County since it opened in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971776\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971776\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A restaurant employee brings two plates of food out to customers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MexiHibachi employee Jocelyn Valadez brings out customers’ orders. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The brainchild of chef Francisco Arce and his wife Silvia Cortes, the business started during the pandemic-spurred economic downturn of 2022, when Arce’s day job as a union painter had slowed to a standstill. With medical bills piling up for their young daughter, who needed eye surgery, the couple decided to supplement their income by starting a home-based catering operation. At first they mostly sold quesabirria, but at that point \u003ci>everyone \u003c/i>was doing quesabirria. Meanwhile, Arce had picked up tens of thousands of followers on his \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@chefblackstone\">TikTok cooking channel\u003c/a>, where, among other recipes, he showed off the Benihana-style hibachi skills he’d learned working at a teppanyaki restaurant in Alameda. “Everyone was like, ‘Where can I get my hands on a plate?’” Cortes recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So they decided to give it a shot. The first MexiHibachi pop-ups featured a portable flat-top grill that they set up in a 10-by-10-foot tent in front of their house in Richmond. Eventually, as word got out, they started booking big backyard quinceañera and anniversary parties, where Arce entertained guests by \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@mexihibachi/video/7219617566027779370\">flipping shrimp directly into their mouths\u003c/a> and casually lighting up the grill so the whole thing burst into flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one of those pop-ups, MexiHibachi caught the attention of their current business partner, Juan Nuñez, a local entrepreneur and tattoo artist. He set Arce and Cortes up in their first brick-and-mortar kitchen space, a little takeout shop attached to Nuñez’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/juannuneztattoo/?hl=en\">tattoo shop\u003c/a> on San Pablo Avenue in Richmond. Business was brisk, and before long, they’d outgrown that kitchen as well. With Nuñez’s help, they found their current space, in a Pinole strip mall, last April and renovated the space themselves. (Nuñez, with his tattoo art background, did all the murals.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971460\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29.jpg\" alt=\"A man and woman pose for a portrait seated inside a restaurant, in front of a mural of a samurai fighting an Aztec warrior.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Silvia Cortes (left) and Francisco Arce, owners of MexiHibachi, pose for a photo at their newly-opened teppanyaki restaurant. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a surface level, MexiHibachi’s take on teppanyaki doesn’t look \u003ci>so \u003c/i>different from what you might find at a regular old Benihana. Its staple dishes are the combo plates — your choice of proteins (steak, shrimp, chicken, salmon or scallops) served over a bed of garlicky, buttery fried rice; spicy udon noodles; or, my favorite, an excellent, extra-savory version of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900855/garlic-noodles-sf-bay-area-iconic-foods-thanh-long-smellys\">garlic noodles\u003c/a>. But then in addition to your standard hibachi shop “yum yum” sauce (a creamy, slightly tangy aioli) and ginger soy sauce, customers also have the option to drench their meal in MexiHibachi’s fiery housemade diablo sauce (again, something akin to a taqueria \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13958466/la-vics-orange-sauce-la-victoria-taqueria-late-night-san-jose\">orange sauce\u003c/a>). Even more fusion-minded customers have the option to pack the whole meal inside the confines of a cheesy quesadilla or a burrito — with or without the addition of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13913985/hot-cheeto-burrito-taqueria-el-mezcal-richard-montanez-san-pablo\">Hot Cheetos\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming weeks, Arce plans to introduce more new dishes that play with the restaurant’s Mexican and Japanese influences. There will be a Baja-style fried fish taco, topped with both the red diablo sauce and the white yum yum sauce, for a subtle Japanese touch. They’ll also serve a version of spicy Mexican caldo de siete mares that has elements of an Asian seafood noodle soup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971784\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971784\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A burrito cut in half to reveal steak, Hot Cheetos and fried rice on the inside.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1296\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-800x518.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1020x661.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-768x498.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1536x995.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1920x1244.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A steak hibachi wrap with Hot Cheetos, one of the restaurant’s Mexican-Japanese fusion dishes. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Arce and Cortes didn’t invent the “Benihana-but-make-it-Mexican” food genre, but the trend seems to be fairly new, picking up steam in the early 2020s. A handful of other \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/losgallosxezbachi/\">restaurants\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hibachiteppanyaki90/\">food trucks\u003c/a> with similar menus opened in the Bay Area in the past couple of years. There are even more of them in Southern California, where at least one popular chain — \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihanashibachigrill/?hl=en\">Mexihanas\u003c/a> — has been around since 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13900855,arts_13913985,arts_13963832']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>One might assume that the trend stems from some deep, abiding love that Mexican Americans have for Benihana and its offshoots, but Cortes says that hasn’t been her experience. While some of MexiHibachi’s younger Mexican American customers might have eaten at a Japanese teppanyaki spot like Benihana at some point, most of the older Latino customers have no idea what to make of the restaurant the first time they come. At first, she says, “we were being compared to Panda Express.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our clientele at the beginning were more African American than anything,” Cortes recalls. But as word about MexiHibachi spread, Latino customers started to familiarize themselves with the pleasures of a steak-and-shrimp combo plate and griddle-top garlic fried rice. “Now they know what hibachi is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971461\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971461\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47.jpg\" alt=\"Stir-fried udon with shrimp, beef and broccoli.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The New York steak, chicken and shrimp spicy stir-fry udon plate. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Given that most Mexican American diners don’t have a long history with Japanese teppanyaki, the origin of the Mexican hibachi trend is probably even more obvious and mundane: As Nuñez notes, if you walk into any Benihana-style restaurant in the Bay Area these days, the vast majority of the chefs doing the fancy tricks on the grill will be Latino. (Arce himself learned his craft at one of those spots, after all.) It only makes sense, then, that some of those cooks would eventually open their own hibachi businesses and put their cultural stamp on the cuisine. It’s the same reason we’ve seen an infusion of ambitious Mexican-owned \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hakashisushibar/?hl=en\">sushi restaurants\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13917556/davids-pastas-pizzas-richmond-red-sauce-italian-tortas\">red-sauce pasta joints\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course even more than the food itself, Benihanas are famous for their \u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/23737639/benihana-be-the-chef-onion-volcano-shrimp-tails-performance-anxiety\">bag of tricks\u003c/a> — the juggling of spatulas, the shrimp tails flipped into the chef’s hat, the eggs that magically multiply underneath a bowl. And, as it turns out, MexiHibachi’s kitchen crew all trained in this dinner-and-a-show approach to teppanyaki; they’re fully conversant in the language of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kDxl_eiYycM\">flaming onion volcanos\u003c/a>. Arce has been honing his repertoire of crowd-pleasing stunts for years — one of his most popular moves, he says, is when he makes the steaks dance on the plancha to the tune of “I Like to Move It.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971777\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971777\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A chef in a black baseball cap lights his grill on fire.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Arce sets the grill aflame. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For now, Cortes says, only customers who book MexiHibachi for private catering events will get a whole show with their meal. Their current space in Pinole isn’t big enough for the chefs to do tableside grilling, and the kitchen is set up, conventionally, in the back. A big chunk of the restaurant’s business is just takeout orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But,” Cortes says, “it’s definitely our goal and dream to open a fancy restaurant like that, like a Benihana, in the future.” There’s no precedent for that kind of grand, showy Mexican fusion teppanyaki restaurant in the Bay Area, and even L.A.’s more established Mexican hibachi scene mostly consists of food trucks and small takeout shops. But Arce and Cortes don’t think the idea is all that far-fetched — not when their business has already grown so much in the span of just a couple of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely see it happening,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihibachi/\">\u003ci>MexiHibachi\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday to Thursday noon–9 p.m., Friday to Saturday noon–10 p.m. and Sunday noon–8 p.m. at 1578 Fitzgerald Dr. in Pinole.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A new Pinole restaurant packs Benihana-style teppanyaki into a burrito, with a hit of diablo sauce.",
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"title": "Mexican Hibachi Is the Bay Area’s Next Great Fusion Cuisine | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">W\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>hen you walk into \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihibachi/\">MexiHibachi\u003c/a>, a new \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/mexican-food\">Mexican\u003c/a>-Japanese fusion restaurant in Pinole, the first thing you notice is the giant mural on the wall: a stylized image of a samurai — full armor, katana held upright — facing off against an Aztec warrior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s just the first of many cultural collisions that grab the diner’s attention. There’s the endless loop of Karol G reggaeton music videos juxtaposed with traditional Japanese decor elements like red paper lanterns. There’s the name of the restaurant, “MexiHibachi,” painted in bold letters in the tricolor of the Mexican flag across the body of a flying dragon. And there are the smells — a potent mix of garlic butter, taco sauce and teriyaki that’s meant to get your mouth watering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is, after all, a restaurant that specializes in Benihana-style Japanese hibachi with a Mexican twist: big plates of steak and shrimp served over fried rice or garlic noodles, everything cooked on a flat-top grill — and also stuffed, sometimes, into a burrito or a quesadilla, and drizzled with the kind of creamy orange hot sauce you might find at your favorite taqueria.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That unique combination of flavors and cross-cultural influences has made MexiHibachi one of the hottest new restaurants in Contra Costa County since it opened in January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971776\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971776\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A restaurant employee brings two plates of food out to customers.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-20_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">MexiHibachi employee Jocelyn Valadez brings out customers’ orders. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The brainchild of chef Francisco Arce and his wife Silvia Cortes, the business started during the pandemic-spurred economic downturn of 2022, when Arce’s day job as a union painter had slowed to a standstill. With medical bills piling up for their young daughter, who needed eye surgery, the couple decided to supplement their income by starting a home-based catering operation. At first they mostly sold quesabirria, but at that point \u003ci>everyone \u003c/i>was doing quesabirria. Meanwhile, Arce had picked up tens of thousands of followers on his \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@chefblackstone\">TikTok cooking channel\u003c/a>, where, among other recipes, he showed off the Benihana-style hibachi skills he’d learned working at a teppanyaki restaurant in Alameda. “Everyone was like, ‘Where can I get my hands on a plate?’” Cortes recalls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So they decided to give it a shot. The first MexiHibachi pop-ups featured a portable flat-top grill that they set up in a 10-by-10-foot tent in front of their house in Richmond. Eventually, as word got out, they started booking big backyard quinceañera and anniversary parties, where Arce entertained guests by \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@mexihibachi/video/7219617566027779370\">flipping shrimp directly into their mouths\u003c/a> and casually lighting up the grill so the whole thing burst into flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one of those pop-ups, MexiHibachi caught the attention of their current business partner, Juan Nuñez, a local entrepreneur and tattoo artist. He set Arce and Cortes up in their first brick-and-mortar kitchen space, a little takeout shop attached to Nuñez’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/juannuneztattoo/?hl=en\">tattoo shop\u003c/a> on San Pablo Avenue in Richmond. Business was brisk, and before long, they’d outgrown that kitchen as well. With Nuñez’s help, they found their current space, in a Pinole strip mall, last April and renovated the space themselves. (Nuñez, with his tattoo art background, did all the murals.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971460\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29.jpg\" alt=\"A man and woman pose for a portrait seated inside a restaurant, in front of a mural of a samurai fighting an Aztec warrior.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-29-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Silvia Cortes (left) and Francisco Arce, owners of MexiHibachi, pose for a photo at their newly-opened teppanyaki restaurant. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a surface level, MexiHibachi’s take on teppanyaki doesn’t look \u003ci>so \u003c/i>different from what you might find at a regular old Benihana. Its staple dishes are the combo plates — your choice of proteins (steak, shrimp, chicken, salmon or scallops) served over a bed of garlicky, buttery fried rice; spicy udon noodles; or, my favorite, an excellent, extra-savory version of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13900855/garlic-noodles-sf-bay-area-iconic-foods-thanh-long-smellys\">garlic noodles\u003c/a>. But then in addition to your standard hibachi shop “yum yum” sauce (a creamy, slightly tangy aioli) and ginger soy sauce, customers also have the option to drench their meal in MexiHibachi’s fiery housemade diablo sauce (again, something akin to a taqueria \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13958466/la-vics-orange-sauce-la-victoria-taqueria-late-night-san-jose\">orange sauce\u003c/a>). Even more fusion-minded customers have the option to pack the whole meal inside the confines of a cheesy quesadilla or a burrito — with or without the addition of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13913985/hot-cheeto-burrito-taqueria-el-mezcal-richard-montanez-san-pablo\">Hot Cheetos\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the coming weeks, Arce plans to introduce more new dishes that play with the restaurant’s Mexican and Japanese influences. There will be a Baja-style fried fish taco, topped with both the red diablo sauce and the white yum yum sauce, for a subtle Japanese touch. They’ll also serve a version of spicy Mexican caldo de siete mares that has elements of an Asian seafood noodle soup.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971784\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971784\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A burrito cut in half to reveal steak, Hot Cheetos and fried rice on the inside.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1296\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-800x518.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1020x661.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-160x104.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-768x498.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1536x995.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-48_qed-1920x1244.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A steak hibachi wrap with Hot Cheetos, one of the restaurant’s Mexican-Japanese fusion dishes. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Arce and Cortes didn’t invent the “Benihana-but-make-it-Mexican” food genre, but the trend seems to be fairly new, picking up steam in the early 2020s. A handful of other \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/losgallosxezbachi/\">restaurants\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hibachiteppanyaki90/\">food trucks\u003c/a> with similar menus opened in the Bay Area in the past couple of years. There are even more of them in Southern California, where at least one popular chain — \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihanashibachigrill/?hl=en\">Mexihanas\u003c/a> — has been around since 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>One might assume that the trend stems from some deep, abiding love that Mexican Americans have for Benihana and its offshoots, but Cortes says that hasn’t been her experience. While some of MexiHibachi’s younger Mexican American customers might have eaten at a Japanese teppanyaki spot like Benihana at some point, most of the older Latino customers have no idea what to make of the restaurant the first time they come. At first, she says, “we were being compared to Panda Express.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our clientele at the beginning were more African American than anything,” Cortes recalls. But as word about MexiHibachi spread, Latino customers started to familiarize themselves with the pleasures of a steak-and-shrimp combo plate and griddle-top garlic fried rice. “Now they know what hibachi is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971461\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971461\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47.jpg\" alt=\"Stir-fried udon with shrimp, beef and broccoli.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-47-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The New York steak, chicken and shrimp spicy stir-fry udon plate. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Given that most Mexican American diners don’t have a long history with Japanese teppanyaki, the origin of the Mexican hibachi trend is probably even more obvious and mundane: As Nuñez notes, if you walk into any Benihana-style restaurant in the Bay Area these days, the vast majority of the chefs doing the fancy tricks on the grill will be Latino. (Arce himself learned his craft at one of those spots, after all.) It only makes sense, then, that some of those cooks would eventually open their own hibachi businesses and put their cultural stamp on the cuisine. It’s the same reason we’ve seen an infusion of ambitious Mexican-owned \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hakashisushibar/?hl=en\">sushi restaurants\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13917556/davids-pastas-pizzas-richmond-red-sauce-italian-tortas\">red-sauce pasta joints\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course even more than the food itself, Benihanas are famous for their \u003ca href=\"https://www.eater.com/23737639/benihana-be-the-chef-onion-volcano-shrimp-tails-performance-anxiety\">bag of tricks\u003c/a> — the juggling of spatulas, the shrimp tails flipped into the chef’s hat, the eggs that magically multiply underneath a bowl. And, as it turns out, MexiHibachi’s kitchen crew all trained in this dinner-and-a-show approach to teppanyaki; they’re fully conversant in the language of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kDxl_eiYycM\">flaming onion volcanos\u003c/a>. Arce has been honing his repertoire of crowd-pleasing stunts for years — one of his most popular moves, he says, is when he makes the steaks dance on the plancha to the tune of “I Like to Move It.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13971777\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13971777\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A chef in a black baseball cap lights his grill on fire.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/02/20250205_MexiHibachi_GC-25_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chef Arce sets the grill aflame. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For now, Cortes says, only customers who book MexiHibachi for private catering events will get a whole show with their meal. Their current space in Pinole isn’t big enough for the chefs to do tableside grilling, and the kitchen is set up, conventionally, in the back. A big chunk of the restaurant’s business is just takeout orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But,” Cortes says, “it’s definitely our goal and dream to open a fancy restaurant like that, like a Benihana, in the future.” There’s no precedent for that kind of grand, showy Mexican fusion teppanyaki restaurant in the Bay Area, and even L.A.’s more established Mexican hibachi scene mostly consists of food trucks and small takeout shops. But Arce and Cortes don’t think the idea is all that far-fetched — not when their business has already grown so much in the span of just a couple of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely see it happening,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mexihibachi/\">\u003ci>MexiHibachi\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open Wednesday to Thursday noon–9 p.m., Friday to Saturday noon–10 p.m. and Sunday noon–8 p.m. at 1578 Fitzgerald Dr. in Pinole.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>At first glance, the newest trendy-looking store in Richmond’s Pacific East Mall seems like it might be a sleek, high-end boba shop or purveyor of fancy Asian pastries. It’s got bright, colorful signage and an Instagram-friendly selfie spot: a pale-green sofa with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925835/durian-bay-area-love-letter-singaporean-culture\">durian\u003c/a>-shaped throw pillows, positioned next to a lush faux-durian tree, underneath which sits a teddy bear assembled out of spiky balls that look exactly like freshly picked durians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the giant, larger-than-life plastic mascot sitting just inside the entrance with a crown on top of his head? Definitely some kind of Boy Durian King, his whole body encased in the spiky shell of Southeast Asia’s King of Fruits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In case it isn’t already clear: JQ&B Liu Shang Pin is an entire store specializing in durian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, the only products it sells are whole Malaysian durians, available in about 10 different varieties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966668\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966668\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display.jpg\" alt=\"Freezer cases filled with dozens of gold foil wrapped durians.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The shop sells about 10 different varieties of Malaysian durian, all picked ripe and flash-frozen. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Open since Oct. 4, Liu Shang Pin is the swankiest durian shop I’ve ever seen. It’s also the only one of its kind in the Bay Area that I’m aware of — selling durian but no other kinds of tropical fruit, and not even any durian drinks or desserts. Instead, the shop’s entire inventory is visible in four carefully ventilated and temperature-controlled freezer cases, where customers can find dozens of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925835/durian-bay-area-love-letter-singaporean-culture\">famously pungent fruits\u003c/a>, each specimen wrapped in shiny gold foil, looking every bit like the luxury food items they are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It should come as no surprise, then, that the durians at Liu Shang Pin aren’t cheap. Prices range from $16.99 a pound at the low end to a whopping $23.99 a pound for the \u003ca href=\"https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=4cec7896052ae80c03ef5f6118c58c0f&topic=4076.0\">super-trendy Black Thorn variety\u003c/a>, with each spiky-shelled fruit weighing in at four to five pounds. (The Musang King, probably Malaysia’s most famous and popular durian variety, rings up at $17.99 a pound.) In some cases, that means you’re paying more than $100 for a single durian — an expense too hard to swallow even for this durian lover (who, unfortunately, lives in a household of non-durian-eaters). Meanwhile, on the same day as my visit, the 99 Ranch supermarket just down the hall was selling Thai durians for only $11.99 a pound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13925835,arts_13953078,forum_2010101893028']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Of course, 99 Ranch doesn’t sell whole Black Thorns or Musang Kings, to say nothing of the other more obscure varietals sold at Liu Shang Pin. And many supermarkets in the U.S. only sell durians that have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/16/business/durian-china-malaysia-thailand.html\">picked long before they’re ripe\u003c/a>, mainly because the fruit’s shelf life is so short. In those cases, the durian will never fully achieve the rich pungency, sweetness and custardy texture that it’s known for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The owners of Liu Shang Pin, on the other hand, say they’re selling mature durians that are picked and \u003ca href=\"https://www.myfoodresearch.com/uploads/8/4/8/5/84855864/_44__fr-2021-428_razali.pdf\">flash-frozen\u003c/a> when they’re fully ripe. Once you bring the durian home, you just need to let it sit at room temperature for about five hours before cracking it open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Could durian emerge as the Bay Area’s hottest new luxury food? While the fruit has always been held in the highest esteem by our region’s Southeast Asian communities, conventional wisdom has generally held that it’s just \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2007/05/12/10016534/ooh-that-smell-designing-a-stinkless-durian\">too “stinky”\u003c/a> to attain mainstream popularity in the U.S. What Liu Shang Pin seems to be going for, though, is the connoisseurs’ market — folks for whom a $100 durian might seem like a bargain if it saves you from having to buy a plane ticket to Malaysia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966669\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966669\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king.jpg\" alt='A giant, plastic \"durian king\" mascot with a spiky shell and a crown on his head.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The shop’s “durian king” mascot. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>JQ&B Liu Shang Pi is open daily inside the Pacific East Mall (3288 Pierce St.) in Richmond.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>At first glance, the newest trendy-looking store in Richmond’s Pacific East Mall seems like it might be a sleek, high-end boba shop or purveyor of fancy Asian pastries. It’s got bright, colorful signage and an Instagram-friendly selfie spot: a pale-green sofa with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925835/durian-bay-area-love-letter-singaporean-culture\">durian\u003c/a>-shaped throw pillows, positioned next to a lush faux-durian tree, underneath which sits a teddy bear assembled out of spiky balls that look exactly like freshly picked durians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the giant, larger-than-life plastic mascot sitting just inside the entrance with a crown on top of his head? Definitely some kind of Boy Durian King, his whole body encased in the spiky shell of Southeast Asia’s King of Fruits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In case it isn’t already clear: JQ&B Liu Shang Pin is an entire store specializing in durian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, the only products it sells are whole Malaysian durians, available in about 10 different varieties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966668\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966668\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display.jpg\" alt=\"Freezer cases filled with dozens of gold foil wrapped durians.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-store-display-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The shop sells about 10 different varieties of Malaysian durian, all picked ripe and flash-frozen. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Open since Oct. 4, Liu Shang Pin is the swankiest durian shop I’ve ever seen. It’s also the only one of its kind in the Bay Area that I’m aware of — selling durian but no other kinds of tropical fruit, and not even any durian drinks or desserts. Instead, the shop’s entire inventory is visible in four carefully ventilated and temperature-controlled freezer cases, where customers can find dozens of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13925835/durian-bay-area-love-letter-singaporean-culture\">famously pungent fruits\u003c/a>, each specimen wrapped in shiny gold foil, looking every bit like the luxury food items they are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It should come as no surprise, then, that the durians at Liu Shang Pin aren’t cheap. Prices range from $16.99 a pound at the low end to a whopping $23.99 a pound for the \u003ca href=\"https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=4cec7896052ae80c03ef5f6118c58c0f&topic=4076.0\">super-trendy Black Thorn variety\u003c/a>, with each spiky-shelled fruit weighing in at four to five pounds. (The Musang King, probably Malaysia’s most famous and popular durian variety, rings up at $17.99 a pound.) In some cases, that means you’re paying more than $100 for a single durian — an expense too hard to swallow even for this durian lover (who, unfortunately, lives in a household of non-durian-eaters). Meanwhile, on the same day as my visit, the 99 Ranch supermarket just down the hall was selling Thai durians for only $11.99 a pound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Of course, 99 Ranch doesn’t sell whole Black Thorns or Musang Kings, to say nothing of the other more obscure varietals sold at Liu Shang Pin. And many supermarkets in the U.S. only sell durians that have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/16/business/durian-china-malaysia-thailand.html\">picked long before they’re ripe\u003c/a>, mainly because the fruit’s shelf life is so short. In those cases, the durian will never fully achieve the rich pungency, sweetness and custardy texture that it’s known for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The owners of Liu Shang Pin, on the other hand, say they’re selling mature durians that are picked and \u003ca href=\"https://www.myfoodresearch.com/uploads/8/4/8/5/84855864/_44__fr-2021-428_razali.pdf\">flash-frozen\u003c/a> when they’re fully ripe. Once you bring the durian home, you just need to let it sit at room temperature for about five hours before cracking it open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Could durian emerge as the Bay Area’s hottest new luxury food? While the fruit has always been held in the highest esteem by our region’s Southeast Asian communities, conventional wisdom has generally held that it’s just \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2007/05/12/10016534/ooh-that-smell-designing-a-stinkless-durian\">too “stinky”\u003c/a> to attain mainstream popularity in the U.S. What Liu Shang Pin seems to be going for, though, is the connoisseurs’ market — folks for whom a $100 durian might seem like a bargain if it saves you from having to buy a plane ticket to Malaysia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13966669\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13966669\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king.jpg\" alt='A giant, plastic \"durian king\" mascot with a spiky shell and a crown on his head.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/durian-king-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The shop’s “durian king” mascot. \u003ccite>(Luke Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>JQ&B Liu Shang Pi is open daily inside the Pacific East Mall (3288 Pierce St.) in Richmond.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963234\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963234\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert.jpg\" alt=\"A server in a formal black suit serves a platter of pale green rice cakes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2169\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-800x904.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-1020x1152.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-160x181.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-768x868.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-1360x1536.jpg 1360w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-1813x2048.jpg 1813w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A server serves klepon, a kind of sweet Indonesian rice cake. The treats were part of one of Kopi Bar and Sandai’s Indonesian-inspired high tea events in Walnut Creek. \u003ccite>(Matchbook Media)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The newest contender in the Bay Area’s frill-bedecked world of afternoon tea has all the accoutrements an Anglophile could ask for: dainty finger sandwiches, elegant three-tier cake stands piled high with fresh-baked cakes and pastries and, of course, actually good tea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only difference? At \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/kopibar.us/\">Kopi Bar\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sandai.us/?hl=en\">SanDai’s\u003c/a> monthly Indonesian-inspired \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C4LmpQuxfEr/\">high tea series\u003c/a> in Walnut Creek, finger sandwiches come spiced up with a hit of sambal. Scones and croissants are infused with pandan or rose syrup. And the tea itself comes sweetened with condensed milk by default, just like how you’d get it in Singapore or Malaysia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The events are the brainchild of chef Nora Haron, and they’re very much in keeping with Haron’s overarching vision for Cali-\u003ca href=\"https://www.worldgastronomy.org/post/nusantara-cuisine-food-that-transcends-southeast-asia-s-borders\">Nusantara\u003c/a> cuisine — food that draws on the flavors of the region encompassing Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In March of 2023, Haron and owner Amanda Toh Steckler opened Kopi Bar as an Indonesian-inspired coffee shop, specializing in croissants and other \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C6umOYoLy0N/\">Western pastries that incorporate Nusantara flavors and ingredients\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963231\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963231\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop.jpg\" alt=\"A three-tiered cake stand loaded with pastries and finger sandwiches.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-1020x701.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-1536x1056.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-1920x1320.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The pastries and finger sandwiches are infused with Nusantara ingredients like pandan and sambal. \u003ccite>(Matchbook Media)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inspired by coffee culture in Bali, she also creates original drinks for the shop, like a coconut cappuccino and the “Kopi Avocado” — a blend of fresh avocado, coconut condensed milk and espresso. “It’s so, so good, and we sell so much of it,” Haron says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just a week after Kopi Bar’s launch, Haron and Toh Steckler opened \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sandai.us/?hl=en\">SanDai\u003c/a>, a full-fledged Nusantara Californian restaurant, right next door. It’s one of a handful of new spots in the East Bay serving modern, California-inflected interpretations of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13962220/fikscue-best-indonesian-texas-barbecue-smoked-brisket-alameda\">Indonesian\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13895713/lion-dance-cafe-shawarmaji-vegan-shawarma-seitan-oakland\">Singaporean\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13953078/curry-puff-malaysian-damansara-sf-noe-valley\">Malaysian\u003c/a> food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The high tea events — which are really \u003ca href=\"https://www.thespruceeats.com/afternoon-vs-high-tea-difference-435327\">afternoon tea, if we’re being technical\u003c/a> — were born during a rough patch this past spring, when walk-in business had slowed to a trickle at both the coffee shop and restaurant. International Women’s Day was coming up on March 8, and Haron thought about the women in her life who love going out for afternoon tea. Back in Singapore, where she grew up, British-style tea parties were a hugely popular remnant of the island’s colonial history. She remembers attending a particularly grand high tea at Raffles Hotel where they served local foods — mee goreng and nasi lemak — along with little Western finger sandwiches and desserts. There, too, well-dressed guests would sip their tea with their pinkies out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, Haron thought, “I want to do a one-day high tea to celebrate women — just one day, let’s do it.” After she \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C3-2ZMcP5fH/?img_index=1\">posted the event\u003c/a>, tickets sold out by the end of the day. Thinking she might be onto something, she scheduled a high tea service every week for the rest of March — and the entire run sold out in two days. Now held on a monthly basis, the high tea series continues to rank among the restaurant’s most popular events. Earlier this summer, after the new season of \u003ci>Bridgerton \u003c/i>came out, Haron put together two \u003ci>Bridgerton\u003c/i>-themed tea parties, and “Oh my God, that thing went nuts,” she says. The outfits alone were \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8VpXMvvaU-/?img_index=3\">a sight to behold\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The newest edition of the series has a Bollywood theme. Haron says she had the Indian diaspora on her mind after watching recent footage of the ultra-glamorous, Bollywood star–studded \u003ca href=\"https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/inside-600-million-dollar-ambani-wedding-jewels-stars-party\">Ambani wedding\u003c/a> (“I was obsessed with it!”) and because of Vice President Kamala Harris’s emergent presidential campaign. (Haron is of Indonesian-Indian descent; her grandfathers on both sides of the family were Indian.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963238\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Guests in formal attire seated at a long table covered with candles and three-tier cake stands.\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The scene at a ‘Bridgerton’-inspired high tea earlier this summer. \u003ccite>(Matchbook Media)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than anything, the Bollywood event is meant to be a lot of fun. The tea parties take place in SanDai’s sunny front room with open French doors, and Haron says she goes all out for the tablescapes and decor. For this edition, she expects many of the attendees will come decked out in their finest saris and lehengas. A Bollywood dance instructor will give guests a crash course in the expressive, high-energy moves they may have seen in their favorite Indian blockbusters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13962220,arts_13953078,arts_13908798']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Foodwise, Haron says the Indian theme nods to the deep influence of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916794/azalina-malaysian-restaurant-reopening-tenderloin\">Mamak (i.e. Tamil Muslim with roots in India) cuisine\u003c/a> in Malaysia and Singapore. As with her previous high tea events, Haron will serve a full three-tier spread of California-Indonesian pastries, cakes and finger sandwiches, except with more Indian flavors. The hot ginger tea with condensed milk will be spiked with cardamom. Finger sandwiches will feature chicken curry instead of chicken with sambal, and cucumber chutney instead of plain cucumber. There will also be samosas, mee goreng (a Mamak Malaysian noodle stir-fry) and lentils with roti. Nearby restaurant \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/the_essence_cuisine/\">The Essence\u003c/a> will supply a variety of Indian sweets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event is likely to sell out quickly, Haron says, but those who miss out this time can look forward to similarly sumptuous takes on afternoon tea in the coming months — a reprise of the Bollywood theme, perhaps, and an \u003ci>Arabian Nights\u003c/i>-inspired cross-cultural edition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And I would love to do a full-blown Indonesian one where everyone comes in their \u003ca href=\"https://www.tatlerasia.com/style/fashion/8-indonesian-women-who-nailed-the-trendy-kebaya-look\">kebaya\u003c/a>,” Haron says.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C-35gs8Ptrh/\">\u003ci>Bollywood High Tea\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> at SanDai and Kopi Bar will take place on Sunday, Sept. 1, noon–2 p.m., at 1526 N. Main St. in Walnut Creek. A limited number of tickets ($65) are available online via \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bollywood-high-tea-and-brunch-experience-walnut-creek-tickets-989719847707?aff=oddtdtcreator\">\u003ci>Eventbrite\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. The set menu includes a mimosa (or Prosecco) and a choice of coffee or tea. For updates on future high tea events, follow \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sandai.us/?hl=en\">\u003ci>SanDai\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> and \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/kopibar.us/\">\u003ci>Kopi Bar\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> on Instagram.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963234\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963234\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert.jpg\" alt=\"A server in a formal black suit serves a platter of pale green rice cakes.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2169\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-800x904.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-1020x1152.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-160x181.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-768x868.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-1360x1536.jpg 1360w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/Server-plating-Klepon-Indo-Dessert-1813x2048.jpg 1813w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A server serves klepon, a kind of sweet Indonesian rice cake. The treats were part of one of Kopi Bar and Sandai’s Indonesian-inspired high tea events in Walnut Creek. \u003ccite>(Matchbook Media)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The newest contender in the Bay Area’s frill-bedecked world of afternoon tea has all the accoutrements an Anglophile could ask for: dainty finger sandwiches, elegant three-tier cake stands piled high with fresh-baked cakes and pastries and, of course, actually good tea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The only difference? At \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/kopibar.us/\">Kopi Bar\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sandai.us/?hl=en\">SanDai’s\u003c/a> monthly Indonesian-inspired \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C4LmpQuxfEr/\">high tea series\u003c/a> in Walnut Creek, finger sandwiches come spiced up with a hit of sambal. Scones and croissants are infused with pandan or rose syrup. And the tea itself comes sweetened with condensed milk by default, just like how you’d get it in Singapore or Malaysia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The events are the brainchild of chef Nora Haron, and they’re very much in keeping with Haron’s overarching vision for Cali-\u003ca href=\"https://www.worldgastronomy.org/post/nusantara-cuisine-food-that-transcends-southeast-asia-s-borders\">Nusantara\u003c/a> cuisine — food that draws on the flavors of the region encompassing Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In March of 2023, Haron and owner Amanda Toh Steckler opened Kopi Bar as an Indonesian-inspired coffee shop, specializing in croissants and other \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C6umOYoLy0N/\">Western pastries that incorporate Nusantara flavors and ingredients\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963231\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963231\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop.jpg\" alt=\"A three-tiered cake stand loaded with pastries and finger sandwiches.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1375\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-1020x701.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-768x528.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-1536x1056.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/sandai-high-tea-crop-1920x1320.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The pastries and finger sandwiches are infused with Nusantara ingredients like pandan and sambal. \u003ccite>(Matchbook Media)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inspired by coffee culture in Bali, she also creates original drinks for the shop, like a coconut cappuccino and the “Kopi Avocado” — a blend of fresh avocado, coconut condensed milk and espresso. “It’s so, so good, and we sell so much of it,” Haron says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just a week after Kopi Bar’s launch, Haron and Toh Steckler opened \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sandai.us/?hl=en\">SanDai\u003c/a>, a full-fledged Nusantara Californian restaurant, right next door. It’s one of a handful of new spots in the East Bay serving modern, California-inflected interpretations of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13962220/fikscue-best-indonesian-texas-barbecue-smoked-brisket-alameda\">Indonesian\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13895713/lion-dance-cafe-shawarmaji-vegan-shawarma-seitan-oakland\">Singaporean\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13953078/curry-puff-malaysian-damansara-sf-noe-valley\">Malaysian\u003c/a> food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The high tea events — which are really \u003ca href=\"https://www.thespruceeats.com/afternoon-vs-high-tea-difference-435327\">afternoon tea, if we’re being technical\u003c/a> — were born during a rough patch this past spring, when walk-in business had slowed to a trickle at both the coffee shop and restaurant. International Women’s Day was coming up on March 8, and Haron thought about the women in her life who love going out for afternoon tea. Back in Singapore, where she grew up, British-style tea parties were a hugely popular remnant of the island’s colonial history. She remembers attending a particularly grand high tea at Raffles Hotel where they served local foods — mee goreng and nasi lemak — along with little Western finger sandwiches and desserts. There, too, well-dressed guests would sip their tea with their pinkies out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, Haron thought, “I want to do a one-day high tea to celebrate women — just one day, let’s do it.” After she \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C3-2ZMcP5fH/?img_index=1\">posted the event\u003c/a>, tickets sold out by the end of the day. Thinking she might be onto something, she scheduled a high tea service every week for the rest of March — and the entire run sold out in two days. Now held on a monthly basis, the high tea series continues to rank among the restaurant’s most popular events. Earlier this summer, after the new season of \u003ci>Bridgerton \u003c/i>came out, Haron put together two \u003ci>Bridgerton\u003c/i>-themed tea parties, and “Oh my God, that thing went nuts,” she says. The outfits alone were \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C8VpXMvvaU-/?img_index=3\">a sight to behold\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The newest edition of the series has a Bollywood theme. Haron says she had the Indian diaspora on her mind after watching recent footage of the ultra-glamorous, Bollywood star–studded \u003ca href=\"https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/inside-600-million-dollar-ambani-wedding-jewels-stars-party\">Ambani wedding\u003c/a> (“I was obsessed with it!”) and because of Vice President Kamala Harris’s emergent presidential campaign. (Haron is of Indonesian-Indian descent; her grandfathers on both sides of the family were Indian.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13963238\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13963238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Guests in formal attire seated at a long table covered with candles and three-tier cake stands.\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/High-Tea-Guests-2-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The scene at a ‘Bridgerton’-inspired high tea earlier this summer. \u003ccite>(Matchbook Media)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>More than anything, the Bollywood event is meant to be a lot of fun. The tea parties take place in SanDai’s sunny front room with open French doors, and Haron says she goes all out for the tablescapes and decor. For this edition, she expects many of the attendees will come decked out in their finest saris and lehengas. A Bollywood dance instructor will give guests a crash course in the expressive, high-energy moves they may have seen in their favorite Indian blockbusters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Foodwise, Haron says the Indian theme nods to the deep influence of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13916794/azalina-malaysian-restaurant-reopening-tenderloin\">Mamak (i.e. Tamil Muslim with roots in India) cuisine\u003c/a> in Malaysia and Singapore. As with her previous high tea events, Haron will serve a full three-tier spread of California-Indonesian pastries, cakes and finger sandwiches, except with more Indian flavors. The hot ginger tea with condensed milk will be spiked with cardamom. Finger sandwiches will feature chicken curry instead of chicken with sambal, and cucumber chutney instead of plain cucumber. There will also be samosas, mee goreng (a Mamak Malaysian noodle stir-fry) and lentils with roti. Nearby restaurant \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/the_essence_cuisine/\">The Essence\u003c/a> will supply a variety of Indian sweets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event is likely to sell out quickly, Haron says, but those who miss out this time can look forward to similarly sumptuous takes on afternoon tea in the coming months — a reprise of the Bollywood theme, perhaps, and an \u003ci>Arabian Nights\u003c/i>-inspired cross-cultural edition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And I would love to do a full-blown Indonesian one where everyone comes in their \u003ca href=\"https://www.tatlerasia.com/style/fashion/8-indonesian-women-who-nailed-the-trendy-kebaya-look\">kebaya\u003c/a>,” Haron says.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C-35gs8Ptrh/\">\u003ci>Bollywood High Tea\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> at SanDai and Kopi Bar will take place on Sunday, Sept. 1, noon–2 p.m., at 1526 N. Main St. in Walnut Creek. A limited number of tickets ($65) are available online via \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bollywood-high-tea-and-brunch-experience-walnut-creek-tickets-989719847707?aff=oddtdtcreator\">\u003ci>Eventbrite\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>. The set menu includes a mimosa (or Prosecco) and a choice of coffee or tea. For updates on future high tea events, follow \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sandai.us/?hl=en\">\u003ci>SanDai\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> and \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/kopibar.us/\">\u003ci>Kopi Bar\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> on Instagram.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Hayward Isn’t Known For Hip-Hop — But This Samoan Rapper Is Changing That",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962721\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 642px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962721\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/0A4F24E7-133D-4EB9-BF1C-8D77D5C39DD5.jpg\" alt=\"a rapper wearing dark sunglasses stands against the wall\" width=\"642\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/0A4F24E7-133D-4EB9-BF1C-8D77D5C39DD5.jpg 642w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/0A4F24E7-133D-4EB9-BF1C-8D77D5C39DD5-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">AdamBeen is an American Samoa-born, Hayward-raised rapper bringing attention to his city through music and streetwear. \u003ccite>(Courtesy AdamBeen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It was at a house party near the Dumbarton Bridge in Newark where I first met \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/adambeen_/\">AdamBeen\u003c/a>. On what should’ve been a restful Sunday afternoon, the large Samoan brought a bottle of mezcal and began to whip up cocktails in my cousin’s kitchen, which, in a houseful of Mexicans, is a welcome gesture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing over 6 feet tall with the build of a defensive tackle, Adam stooped over the counter evincing the gentle touch of a seasoned bartender — salting the glass rims, and mixing generous pours of the Oaxacan spirit with splashes of fresh juice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, I didn’t know he made music and co-founded \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hellatechh/?hl=en\">HellaTech\u003c/a>, an underground streetwear brand I’d seen some of my younger cousins wearing around the East Bay. Soon after taking a shot together and connecting over a simple mention of hip-hop, we mused on Gang Starr, Curren$y, Griselda, The Jacka, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13934803/1100-himself-oakland-rapper-thizzler\">1100 Himself\u003c/a> and Rappin’ 4-Tay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covering a range of rap styles, regions and eras, he impressed me for a Bay Area dude nearly 10 years younger than me. Turns out that AdamBeen knows his hip-hop lore — a student of the game who, as a DJ in his spare time, is on his way to becoming a parochial tastemaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/3YUg3p1aGSS39vzgFo6rw5?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What separates AdamBeen from his generational Bay Area contemporaries isn’t just his old-school rap erudition, though. As I later found out by diving into his music catalog, it’s his carefully tuned, Griselda-esque verbal artillery. And as a Pacific Islander born in American Samoa who was raised by an adopted family in a Mexican, Hawaiian and Samoan household in Hayward, AdamBeen’s got plenty of unique perspective to spit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His development as an emcee can be traced to his 2021 debut, \u003ci>Under The Beenfluence, Vol. 1\u003c/i>. The LP opens with an audio clip of Spice 1 talking about Hayward, establishing a hometown lineage that the young emcee embraces in the video for “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsquAgV8E9Y&list=OLAK5uy_nIqsJaqfpQlMAMEH2v0v4urfJ_VVfiPGk&index=4\">Go On N Cry\u003c/a>.” The album served to calibrate his sonic identity within the Bay Area ecosystem, with a prominent feature from rising Filipino American rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/darrellmedellin/\">Darrell Medellin\u003c/a> and local friends Benny Mak and Esancho. Entirely produced by Union City’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/payseanprod/\">Pay$ean\u003c/a>, the project carries overtones of mobb music, which Been would soon veer away from in favor of lo-fi minimalism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.samoanews.com/linking-samoans/samoan-slang-fuels-aussie-interest-polynesian-culture-language\">big uce\u003c/a> dropped \u003ci>Bag of Bars\u003c/i>, a collaboration with Bay Area soundmaker Steelo Fury. On songs like “Heaven’s Tears,” “Prism,” “Tech Kwon Do,” and “Beached Thoughts,” the album allows for a quieter, wandering — if not euphonious — lyricism. Meditative and unforced, the album is free from remnants of mobb or hyphy energy to which many rappers in the region can be zealously bound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLuEMJGvlQU\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, with \u003ci>Selected Works\u003c/i> — released in the spring of 2024 — the emcee proves he’s stayed active in the lyrical dojo, delivering seven tracks on his best project to date. With a third collaborator at the helm, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/allsngeye/\">THEALLSEEINGEYE\u003c/a> — an East Bay factotum who produces, raps, paints and even designed the album cover — AdamBeen’s artistry continues to grow into jazzier permutations while retaining a gritty, industrial texture reflective of Hayward’s backstreets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A blue-collar suburb just south of Oakland, and the third largest city in Alameda County, Hayward first garnered shine in the Bay Area hip-hop cosmos in 1991, when Spice 1 released his anthemic track, “187 Proof.” The city has had only intermittent regional stars, like 187 Fac or Darkroom Familia, since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even back then, Spice 1 — the rapid-spitting gangster rapper known for his collaborations with 2Pac, the Luniz, E-40 and other California heavyweights — didn’t really rep Hayward with the same fervor his peers reserved for Oakland, Frisco, Vallejo and Richmond. Though a similar city in demographics and vibe — predominantly blue collar, dotted with warehouses and junkyards, close to the shoreline — Hayward, or the Stack, never reached the same level of rap eminence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AdamBeen might be in the best position to change that. His artistic merit surpasses any online algorithm or follower count. For any true rap lover, particularly those with an allegiance to the boom-bap era, Been has a promising allure, particularly as one of Hayward’s sole representatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he establishes on “Stop & Listen,” the introductory track to \u003ci>Selected Works\u003c/i>, he’s doing things his own way and doesn’t plan on switching up: “I ain’t no S.O.S [\u003ca href=\"https://unitedgangs.com/sons-of-samoa/\">Sons Of Samoa\u003c/a>], I ain’t on no same old shit / Had to make changes without changing / …you gotta hate yourself before you hate this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962721\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 642px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962721\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/0A4F24E7-133D-4EB9-BF1C-8D77D5C39DD5.jpg\" alt=\"a rapper wearing dark sunglasses stands against the wall\" width=\"642\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/0A4F24E7-133D-4EB9-BF1C-8D77D5C39DD5.jpg 642w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/0A4F24E7-133D-4EB9-BF1C-8D77D5C39DD5-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">AdamBeen is an American Samoa-born, Hayward-raised rapper bringing attention to his city through music and streetwear. \u003ccite>(Courtesy AdamBeen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It was at a house party near the Dumbarton Bridge in Newark where I first met \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/adambeen_/\">AdamBeen\u003c/a>. On what should’ve been a restful Sunday afternoon, the large Samoan brought a bottle of mezcal and began to whip up cocktails in my cousin’s kitchen, which, in a houseful of Mexicans, is a welcome gesture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing over 6 feet tall with the build of a defensive tackle, Adam stooped over the counter evincing the gentle touch of a seasoned bartender — salting the glass rims, and mixing generous pours of the Oaxacan spirit with splashes of fresh juice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, I didn’t know he made music and co-founded \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/hellatechh/?hl=en\">HellaTech\u003c/a>, an underground streetwear brand I’d seen some of my younger cousins wearing around the East Bay. Soon after taking a shot together and connecting over a simple mention of hip-hop, we mused on Gang Starr, Curren$y, Griselda, The Jacka, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13934803/1100-himself-oakland-rapper-thizzler\">1100 Himself\u003c/a> and Rappin’ 4-Tay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covering a range of rap styles, regions and eras, he impressed me for a Bay Area dude nearly 10 years younger than me. Turns out that AdamBeen knows his hip-hop lore — a student of the game who, as a DJ in his spare time, is on his way to becoming a parochial tastemaker.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/3YUg3p1aGSS39vzgFo6rw5?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What separates AdamBeen from his generational Bay Area contemporaries isn’t just his old-school rap erudition, though. As I later found out by diving into his music catalog, it’s his carefully tuned, Griselda-esque verbal artillery. And as a Pacific Islander born in American Samoa who was raised by an adopted family in a Mexican, Hawaiian and Samoan household in Hayward, AdamBeen’s got plenty of unique perspective to spit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His development as an emcee can be traced to his 2021 debut, \u003ci>Under The Beenfluence, Vol. 1\u003c/i>. The LP opens with an audio clip of Spice 1 talking about Hayward, establishing a hometown lineage that the young emcee embraces in the video for “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsquAgV8E9Y&list=OLAK5uy_nIqsJaqfpQlMAMEH2v0v4urfJ_VVfiPGk&index=4\">Go On N Cry\u003c/a>.” The album served to calibrate his sonic identity within the Bay Area ecosystem, with a prominent feature from rising Filipino American rapper \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/darrellmedellin/\">Darrell Medellin\u003c/a> and local friends Benny Mak and Esancho. Entirely produced by Union City’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/payseanprod/\">Pay$ean\u003c/a>, the project carries overtones of mobb music, which Been would soon veer away from in favor of lo-fi minimalism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.samoanews.com/linking-samoans/samoan-slang-fuels-aussie-interest-polynesian-culture-language\">big uce\u003c/a> dropped \u003ci>Bag of Bars\u003c/i>, a collaboration with Bay Area soundmaker Steelo Fury. On songs like “Heaven’s Tears,” “Prism,” “Tech Kwon Do,” and “Beached Thoughts,” the album allows for a quieter, wandering — if not euphonious — lyricism. Meditative and unforced, the album is free from remnants of mobb or hyphy energy to which many rappers in the region can be zealously bound.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/lLuEMJGvlQU'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/lLuEMJGvlQU'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Now, with \u003ci>Selected Works\u003c/i> — released in the spring of 2024 — the emcee proves he’s stayed active in the lyrical dojo, delivering seven tracks on his best project to date. With a third collaborator at the helm, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/allsngeye/\">THEALLSEEINGEYE\u003c/a> — an East Bay factotum who produces, raps, paints and even designed the album cover — AdamBeen’s artistry continues to grow into jazzier permutations while retaining a gritty, industrial texture reflective of Hayward’s backstreets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A blue-collar suburb just south of Oakland, and the third largest city in Alameda County, Hayward first garnered shine in the Bay Area hip-hop cosmos in 1991, when Spice 1 released his anthemic track, “187 Proof.” The city has had only intermittent regional stars, like 187 Fac or Darkroom Familia, since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even back then, Spice 1 — the rapid-spitting gangster rapper known for his collaborations with 2Pac, the Luniz, E-40 and other California heavyweights — didn’t really rep Hayward with the same fervor his peers reserved for Oakland, Frisco, Vallejo and Richmond. Though a similar city in demographics and vibe — predominantly blue collar, dotted with warehouses and junkyards, close to the shoreline — Hayward, or the Stack, never reached the same level of rap eminence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AdamBeen might be in the best position to change that. His artistic merit surpasses any online algorithm or follower count. For any true rap lover, particularly those with an allegiance to the boom-bap era, Been has a promising allure, particularly as one of Hayward’s sole representatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he establishes on “Stop & Listen,” the introductory track to \u003ci>Selected Works\u003c/i>, he’s doing things his own way and doesn’t plan on switching up: “I ain’t no S.O.S [\u003ca href=\"https://unitedgangs.com/sons-of-samoa/\">Sons Of Samoa\u003c/a>], I ain’t on no same old shit / Had to make changes without changing / …you gotta hate yourself before you hate this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]B[/dropcap]efore I visited \u003ca href=\"https://www.fikscue.com/\">Fikscue\u003c/a>, I had never eaten Texas barbecue in combination with homestyle Indonesian food — thick, jiggly slices of smoked brisket paired with a peanut-sauce slaw, or bites of a prehistoric-sized beef rib interspersed with fragrant nasi goreng fried rice. But by the time I’d finished my lunch, I was convinced this was just about the most ingenious act of culinary fusion anyone had ever concocted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clearly, I’m not the only one. At around 11:30 on a recent Sunday morning, a half hour before Fikscue’s tiny Alameda storefront opened for business, the queue along Park Street already stretched most of the way down the block. It’s been like this ever since husband-and-wife owners Fik and Reka Saleh opened their brick-and-mortar spot this past November. The restaurant is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, and just for lunch. By 3:30, they’re completely sold out — and even earlier for hot-ticket items like the dino ribs and beef back ribs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given how delicious the barbecue is — and it’s as good as any I’ve tasted in Northern California — it’s remarkable that Fik, the restaurant’s pitmaster and namesake, only started honing his craft about six years ago, after a life-changing trip to the barbecue heartlands of Austin, Texas. He taught himself how to smoke brisket by watching \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/user/bbqwithfranklin\">Aaron Franklin videos\u003c/a> on YouTube and began making it at home for friends and family in a backyard offset smoker. He’d nerd out over barbecue minutiae, developing a fondness for the “mohawk” of the brisket — a part most pitmasters trimmed off that made for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fikscue/reel/CsT8WvApffH/\">best burnt ends\u003c/a>, he discovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He got good, too. Good enough that when he lost his day job at the start of the pandemic, he asked himself, “Why not?” He started selling brisket via \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fikscue/\">Instagram\u003c/a> under the name Fikscue in June of 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962172\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962172\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A long line of people on a sidewalk waiting to get into a restaurant\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Customers often wait an hour or longer to put in their orders. By 3:30 p.m. — or earlier —the restaurant is usually completely sold out. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962171\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962171\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A barbecue chef in a black apron passes out samples to customers waiting in line.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fik Saleh hands out samples of smoked brisket for people waiting in line before opening. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Reka had made a study of incorporating leftover brisket into Indonesian food. She launched her own parallel Instagram pop-up, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gurih.table/\">Gurih Table\u003c/a>, selling traditional dishes alongside the couple’s earliest attempts at fusion, including a smoked brisket rendang plate she still considers her proudest creation. When the opportunity to open a full-on brick-and-mortar restaurant presented itself, it was an easy decision to combine the two concepts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Reka and Fik, there isn’t really any culture of smoking meat in Indonesia, where both of them were born. But Fik, who grew up in Jakarta until his senior year of high school, remembers how everywhere he went there’d be street food vendors selling satay, Indonesia’s version of grilled meat on a stick. It’s part of what turned him into a “backyard person” — the designated steak-griller and burger-flipper at any outdoor function — once he moved to the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Put in that context, Fikscue’s hybridized cuisine just makes sense. I, too, was raised on the kind of first-generation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13915306/bbq-in-the-bay-series-intro-multicultural-barbecue-bay-area\">Asian American immigrant cookout\u003c/a> where we’d pair grilled meats with \u003ca href=\"https://tastecooking.com/jif-peanut-butter-cold-sesame-noodles/\">garlicky cold noodles\u003c/a>, and wash our hot dogs down with lemon aiyu ladled from a punch bowl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962169\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962169\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A barbecue pitmaster slices brisket on a wooden chopping block.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cutting the brisket. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962167\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962167\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A chef dumps a tray of cubed brisket into a pot of brown stew.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reka Saleh prepares adds cubes of smoked brisket to batch of rendang — a unique Indo-Tex interpretation of the classic Indonesian stew. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So, for me, the food at Fikscue was doubly enjoyable. Again, the barbecue itself is pure Texas style: The dino beef ribs aren’t just jaw-droppingly large; they’re smoked to a wobbly, luxurious tenderness you can cut through with a fork. The beef back ribs, a relative rarity in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bbq\">Bay Area barbecue scene\u003c/a>, are all crisp, chewy edges — a sheer delight to gnaw off the bone. And, of course, that smoked brisket is as good as advertised, juicy and full-flavored even without sauce, especially if you land a fatty, extra-jiggly slice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13915312,arts_13954939,arts_13908798']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>What I loved even more was eating these smoked meats in combination with the various Indonesian side dishes — an experience that, for me, felt both nostalgic and thrillingly new. Eaten on its own, barbecue can be a little bit too rich and salty to enjoy in large quantities. What a marvel it was, then, to take a bite of brisket or beef rib and then cleanse my palate with Fikscue’s sweet, peanutty, Indonesian-inspired cucumber-and-cabbage slaw studded with chunks of fresh pineapple — so much more interesting than your standard vinegar-based slaw. And who knew that fried rice laced with fish sauce and corned beef, served fresh out of a hot wok, would be the perfect accompaniment to Texas-style ’cue?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the most enjoyable dishes was also the most overt in its Indo-Texan fusion. The balado plate looks indistinguishable from a classic Indonesian lunch: a mound of rice, a puffy and frilly-edged fried egg, luscious creamed-kale curry (maybe the most compulsively eatable thing on the plate), a pile of colorful garlic chips and a big hunk of smoked brisket or chicken tossed in fiery-red sambal. Somehow, the combination of flavors couldn’t have felt more natural.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962177\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962177\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1.jpg\" alt=\"A tray of barbecue includes a dino beef rib, a slice of brisket, a sausage, and a cardboard try of fried rice.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The perfect combination: smoked brisket, jalapeño-cheese beef sausage, a dino beef rib and a sleeve of Indonesian nasi goreng fried rice. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During my recent Sunday lunchtime visit, the crowd looked to be about 90% Asian American, which the Salehs say isn’t atypical, though the particular mix of people varies from week to week. But no matter a customer’s background, a meal at Fikscue is likely to introduce them to something new. Barbecue aficionados might be trying Indonesian food for the first time. Folks who come for the Asian food might get their first taste of legit Texas-style barbecue. And since the restaurant is 100% halal, it also attracts Muslim customers who might be new to both cuisines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Reka puts it, “Our whole goal is to bridge these two food cultures and introduce [them] to the community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps the only thing keeping Indo-Tex barbecue from becoming the biggest thing in the Bay Area food scene right now? The long lines and limited hours mean the current iteration of Fikscue is mostly for the diehards — folks willing to plan a big chunk of their weekend around the experience, basically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962236\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962236\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A paper sleeve of cucumber and cabbage slaw.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fikscue’s peanutty rujak slaw has the flavor profile of an Indonesian fruit salad. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962175\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962175\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Customers order at the front counter of a barbecue restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another busy Sunday at Fikscue. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At first, the Salehs had hoped to stay open three or four days a week, but a (still unresolved) permitting snafu put a dent in those plans, preventing them from operating their smoker on-site. In the coming months, they’d like to add at least one more day to their weekly schedule — perhaps a non-barbecue dinner service focused on Indonesian-style satay grilling. In past pop-ups, they’ve grilled skewers of cubed, smoked brisket to great acclaim, and Reka has been doing R&D to try to perfect a version of ayam bakar, a classic Indonesian grilled chicken dish with wonderfully caramelized skin. They’d also like to serve Indonesian oxtail soup, but with smoked oxtail to give the dish a Fikscue-style twist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we’ve only scratched the surface of what we can offer,” Fik says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for those intimidatingly long lines, Fik says he’s always thinking about ways to make the restaurant more accessible to newcomers. But he’s also reminded of the fact that in Texas, it isn’t too uncommon to find barbecue spots set up the same way as theirs — open just two or three days a week with a limited supply of meat and, often, lines that stretch as long as four or five hours. For truly outstanding barbecue, people are willing to wait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With that point of comparison, Fik says with a sheepish laugh, “I think an hour’s not too bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962173\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962173\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED.jpg\" alt='A woman and a man pose for a portrait, both wearing black and gold \"Fikscue\" baseball caps.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The husband-and-wife team: Fik Saleh (right) is a self-taught barbecue pitmaster. And Reka Saleh has mastered the art of incorporating leftover barbecue into traditional Indonesian dishes. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fikscue/\">\u003ci>Fikscue\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open on Saturdays and Sundays, from noon–4 p.m. (or until sold out), at 1708 Park St. Ste. 120 in Alameda. The restaurant has a few tables set up in its small outdoor courtyard; otherwise, dine-in customers can bring their food into Alameda Island Brewing next door if they purchase a drink.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">B\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>efore I visited \u003ca href=\"https://www.fikscue.com/\">Fikscue\u003c/a>, I had never eaten Texas barbecue in combination with homestyle Indonesian food — thick, jiggly slices of smoked brisket paired with a peanut-sauce slaw, or bites of a prehistoric-sized beef rib interspersed with fragrant nasi goreng fried rice. But by the time I’d finished my lunch, I was convinced this was just about the most ingenious act of culinary fusion anyone had ever concocted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clearly, I’m not the only one. At around 11:30 on a recent Sunday morning, a half hour before Fikscue’s tiny Alameda storefront opened for business, the queue along Park Street already stretched most of the way down the block. It’s been like this ever since husband-and-wife owners Fik and Reka Saleh opened their brick-and-mortar spot this past November. The restaurant is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, and just for lunch. By 3:30, they’re completely sold out — and even earlier for hot-ticket items like the dino ribs and beef back ribs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Given how delicious the barbecue is — and it’s as good as any I’ve tasted in Northern California — it’s remarkable that Fik, the restaurant’s pitmaster and namesake, only started honing his craft about six years ago, after a life-changing trip to the barbecue heartlands of Austin, Texas. He taught himself how to smoke brisket by watching \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/user/bbqwithfranklin\">Aaron Franklin videos\u003c/a> on YouTube and began making it at home for friends and family in a backyard offset smoker. He’d nerd out over barbecue minutiae, developing a fondness for the “mohawk” of the brisket — a part most pitmasters trimmed off that made for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fikscue/reel/CsT8WvApffH/\">best burnt ends\u003c/a>, he discovered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He got good, too. Good enough that when he lost his day job at the start of the pandemic, he asked himself, “Why not?” He started selling brisket via \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fikscue/\">Instagram\u003c/a> under the name Fikscue in June of 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962172\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962172\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A long line of people on a sidewalk waiting to get into a restaurant\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0092-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Customers often wait an hour or longer to put in their orders. By 3:30 p.m. — or earlier —the restaurant is usually completely sold out. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962171\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962171\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A barbecue chef in a black apron passes out samples to customers waiting in line.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0077-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fik Saleh hands out samples of smoked brisket for people waiting in line before opening. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Reka had made a study of incorporating leftover brisket into Indonesian food. She launched her own parallel Instagram pop-up, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/gurih.table/\">Gurih Table\u003c/a>, selling traditional dishes alongside the couple’s earliest attempts at fusion, including a smoked brisket rendang plate she still considers her proudest creation. When the opportunity to open a full-on brick-and-mortar restaurant presented itself, it was an easy decision to combine the two concepts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Reka and Fik, there isn’t really any culture of smoking meat in Indonesia, where both of them were born. But Fik, who grew up in Jakarta until his senior year of high school, remembers how everywhere he went there’d be street food vendors selling satay, Indonesia’s version of grilled meat on a stick. It’s part of what turned him into a “backyard person” — the designated steak-griller and burger-flipper at any outdoor function — once he moved to the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Put in that context, Fikscue’s hybridized cuisine just makes sense. I, too, was raised on the kind of first-generation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13915306/bbq-in-the-bay-series-intro-multicultural-barbecue-bay-area\">Asian American immigrant cookout\u003c/a> where we’d pair grilled meats with \u003ca href=\"https://tastecooking.com/jif-peanut-butter-cold-sesame-noodles/\">garlicky cold noodles\u003c/a>, and wash our hot dogs down with lemon aiyu ladled from a punch bowl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962169\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962169\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A barbecue pitmaster slices brisket on a wooden chopping block.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0064-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cutting the brisket. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962167\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962167\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A chef dumps a tray of cubed brisket into a pot of brown stew.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0012-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Reka Saleh prepares adds cubes of smoked brisket to batch of rendang — a unique Indo-Tex interpretation of the classic Indonesian stew. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So, for me, the food at Fikscue was doubly enjoyable. Again, the barbecue itself is pure Texas style: The dino beef ribs aren’t just jaw-droppingly large; they’re smoked to a wobbly, luxurious tenderness you can cut through with a fork. The beef back ribs, a relative rarity in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/bbq\">Bay Area barbecue scene\u003c/a>, are all crisp, chewy edges — a sheer delight to gnaw off the bone. And, of course, that smoked brisket is as good as advertised, juicy and full-flavored even without sauce, especially if you land a fatty, extra-jiggly slice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>What I loved even more was eating these smoked meats in combination with the various Indonesian side dishes — an experience that, for me, felt both nostalgic and thrillingly new. Eaten on its own, barbecue can be a little bit too rich and salty to enjoy in large quantities. What a marvel it was, then, to take a bite of brisket or beef rib and then cleanse my palate with Fikscue’s sweet, peanutty, Indonesian-inspired cucumber-and-cabbage slaw studded with chunks of fresh pineapple — so much more interesting than your standard vinegar-based slaw. And who knew that fried rice laced with fish sauce and corned beef, served fresh out of a hot wok, would be the perfect accompaniment to Texas-style ’cue?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the most enjoyable dishes was also the most overt in its Indo-Texan fusion. The balado plate looks indistinguishable from a classic Indonesian lunch: a mound of rice, a puffy and frilly-edged fried egg, luscious creamed-kale curry (maybe the most compulsively eatable thing on the plate), a pile of colorful garlic chips and a big hunk of smoked brisket or chicken tossed in fiery-red sambal. Somehow, the combination of flavors couldn’t have felt more natural.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962177\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962177\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1.jpg\" alt=\"A tray of barbecue includes a dino beef rib, a slice of brisket, a sausage, and a cardboard try of fried rice.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0223-KQED_1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The perfect combination: smoked brisket, jalapeño-cheese beef sausage, a dino beef rib and a sleeve of Indonesian nasi goreng fried rice. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>During my recent Sunday lunchtime visit, the crowd looked to be about 90% Asian American, which the Salehs say isn’t atypical, though the particular mix of people varies from week to week. But no matter a customer’s background, a meal at Fikscue is likely to introduce them to something new. Barbecue aficionados might be trying Indonesian food for the first time. Folks who come for the Asian food might get their first taste of legit Texas-style barbecue. And since the restaurant is 100% halal, it also attracts Muslim customers who might be new to both cuisines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Reka puts it, “Our whole goal is to bridge these two food cultures and introduce [them] to the community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps the only thing keeping Indo-Tex barbecue from becoming the biggest thing in the Bay Area food scene right now? The long lines and limited hours mean the current iteration of Fikscue is mostly for the diehards — folks willing to plan a big chunk of their weekend around the experience, basically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962236\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962236\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed.jpg\" alt=\"A paper sleeve of cucumber and cabbage slaw.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_Fikscue_ML_0201_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fikscue’s peanutty rujak slaw has the flavor profile of an Indonesian fruit salad. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962175\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962175\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"Customers order at the front counter of a barbecue restaurant.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0213-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Another busy Sunday at Fikscue. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At first, the Salehs had hoped to stay open three or four days a week, but a (still unresolved) permitting snafu put a dent in those plans, preventing them from operating their smoker on-site. In the coming months, they’d like to add at least one more day to their weekly schedule — perhaps a non-barbecue dinner service focused on Indonesian-style satay grilling. In past pop-ups, they’ve grilled skewers of cubed, smoked brisket to great acclaim, and Reka has been doing R&D to try to perfect a version of ayam bakar, a classic Indonesian grilled chicken dish with wonderfully caramelized skin. They’d also like to serve Indonesian oxtail soup, but with smoked oxtail to give the dish a Fikscue-style twist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we’ve only scratched the surface of what we can offer,” Fik says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for those intimidatingly long lines, Fik says he’s always thinking about ways to make the restaurant more accessible to newcomers. But he’s also reminded of the fact that in Texas, it isn’t too uncommon to find barbecue spots set up the same way as theirs — open just two or three days a week with a limited supply of meat and, often, lines that stretch as long as four or five hours. For truly outstanding barbecue, people are willing to wait.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With that point of comparison, Fik says with a sheepish laugh, “I think an hour’s not too bad.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13962173\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13962173\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED.jpg\" alt='A woman and a man pose for a portrait, both wearing black and gold \"Fikscue\" baseball caps.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/08/20240804_KQED_FIKSCUE_ML_0109-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The husband-and-wife team: Fik Saleh (right) is a self-taught barbecue pitmaster. And Reka Saleh has mastered the art of incorporating leftover barbecue into traditional Indonesian dishes. \u003ccite>(Marissa Leshnov for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fikscue/\">\u003ci>Fikscue\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci> is open on Saturdays and Sundays, from noon–4 p.m. (or until sold out), at 1708 Park St. Ste. 120 in Alameda. The restaurant has a few tables set up in its small outdoor courtyard; otherwise, dine-in customers can bring their food into Alameda Island Brewing next door if they purchase a drink.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"title": "Latino USA",
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
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"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"source": "American Public Media"
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"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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