Slow-Cooked Mexican Meats Come to Oakland

Three months of Mixiote

Plum Cocktail Bar has booked its next guest chef residency: Alma Rodriguez of Mixiote, a La Cocina alum, will bring her Mexico City-style fare to the Uptown, Oakland space. Specifically, Rodriguez specializes in mixiotes, marinated meats wrapped in avocado and banana leaves and slowly cooked in their own juices. Given the setting, her residency menu will include some bar-appropriate snacky items, like fried potato-cheese cakes, guacamole, and fish tacos, but the highlight will be those mixiotes, served with black beans, nopales, pickles onions, and tortillas. The full menu — which is available starting Monday, November 12, through February — is below. Related: Also check out Plum’s new, poetry-filled cocktail menu from new bar lead Chris Mansury, inspired by the work of E.E. Cummings.

News from the Bay Area’s only Native restaurant

Despite opening in September, Cafe Ohlone hasn’t really been open much. The small, Berkeley cafe — located in the back of University Press Books — has thus far opened its doors for brief tasting sessions here and there, with regular hours still to come. Next up, Cafe Ohlone is hosting its first in a series of evening meals, known as Mur, on Saturday, November 10. It’ll feature a locally-gathered dinner of pre-contact Ohlone foods — including venison and chanterelle stew and chia seed-hazelnut porridge — and Native teas, as well as stories and discussions from Native cultural revival leaders. Tickets cost $95.

New wine at El Sur

Potrero Hill empanada hub El Sur has a new wine list highlighting bottles from Argentina, designed with help from Sam Bogue of Ne Timeas (A’ls Place, Foxsister, Sorrel). Wines are available by the glass — starting at $6 — or by the bottle.

No more Turkish sweets

Turkish dessert and ice cream shop Sweet Castro has closed after less than two years. The owner is bringing one of his other businesses over to fill the space: Park Gyros, which currently operates next door, will use it as an expanded prep kitchen.

Yet another Blue Bottle Coffee

After just opening a new location in Oakland, Blue Bottle is now bringing a second cafe to Palo Alto. It’s coming to the Stanford Shopping Center, but no word yet on when.