All stories about "Jack London Square"

CENTRAL COAST—Yes, the San Luis Obispo area is a bit out of our coverage area, but the home turf of Bradley Ogden and the Lark Creek restaurant group (One Market, Lark Creek Steak and Yankee Pier) is surely the Bay, and the announcement of Ogden's newest venture tops our list of "things we didn't expect to read today": "Bradley Ogden ... is partnering with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians to open a restaurant at the Royal Scandinavian Inn in Solvang, it was announced Monday. Ogden, chef, co-founder and co-proprietor of the Lark Creek Restaurant Group, has been guided in his success by creating dishes using native American ingredients." The same article also claims that Ogden will be moving to the area, which if true, would seem to be fairly noteworthy, given that his empire rests in the Bay and Vegas. This Native American project has no ETA at this point. [SLO]

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Jack London Square's Waterfront Hotel and Jack's Bistro [Photo: Flickr/Jachdeja]

Between rising rents and the health care fiasco, the costs of operating a restaurant in San Francisco have never been higher, and there are few signs that the trend will quell. Thus, more than a few people have already speculated that over the next couple years, as newcomers seek out spaces and leases expire, restaurateurs' migration eastward will become more and more pronounced. Oakland's Temescal 'hood has already gotten the Wall Street Journal treatment and Jack London Square continues to boom. Among the happenings in the Jack London revitalization project alone:

1) Lito Saldana's Cocina Poblana, a modern Mexican restaurant boasting the largest tequila collection in the East Bay, opened two weeks ago in the former Pizzeria SFO space.

SOMA—Fans of The Gallery Lounge and nearby DaDa will be happy to know that Michael Gouddou—the man behind the two aforementioned bars—has a third SoMa project in his sights, this time on the outer fringes of the hood, at 1655 Market (across from Zuni and CAV). The name of his next endeavor—Buck Tavern—doesn't quite lend the same ... artsy sophistication as those prior (it could be the name of a porn star, even), but we're told it's going to be a lower key, casual beer place with pub grub options. [EaterWire]

OAKLAND—On Sunday from noon to 1pm, Jack London Square will host a special crab festival, according to BellyFull. Crabbers will sell Dungeness from the back of their boats and there will be a talk on sustainable fishing. But that's not all: "For an even more delicious time, Chef Tamar Adler of Berkeley's Chez Panisse will do a crab cooking demonstration. And for a dose of zaniness, there will even be crab races on a custom-built racing track." All that in an hour? [BellyFull]

CITY-WIDE—It's well-known that San Francisco doesn't require public displays of health inspections like LA, but SFist sheds some light on the game of cat and mice: "The little card with a numerical score of the most recent inspection is not required to be on public display. However, the complementary Inspection Report must be posted in an obvious place as you walk in. Based on what we've seen, compliance with this public notice requirement might not be fully at 100% yet." [SFist]

[Photo courtesy]

OAKLAND—Big news from the East Bay waterfront. As of November 1st, Jack's Bistro in Jack London Square will have a new owner: none other than Joie de Vivre. Given Joie de Vivre's impressive restaurant list—Americano, Bambuddha, sexy Cortez and Millennium, just to name a few—expect a lot of money to be poured into Jack's. A "big" remodeling project will begin on the first of the month, but the restaurant will not close during renovations. [EaterWire]

THE CASTRO—Months after a fire ravaged the interior, Mecca has finally set a reopening date: October 27th, 5pm to be precise. Executive Chef Randy Lewis supposedly has an entirely new menu, and the interior has experienced a dramatic revamping as well. A passerby shares rumors of exposed indoor concrete; is that kind of thing allowed outside of SoMa? [EaterWire, EaterWire Inbox]

YOGURT WARS FRONTLINE—Lest we forget about the Fro-Yo Wars, we thought it essential to mention that Starbucks founder Howard Schultz has invested $27.5 million into SoCal yogurt giant Pinkberry, which means that the wars may have a clear victor in a not-so-distant future. That, or a proliferation of mocha soy latte yogurt. [CNN]

[Photo courtesy]