New Program Offers Free Meals to Every Oakland Resident Under Age 18

Welcome to p.m. Intel, your lunchtime (or so) roundup of Bay Area food and restaurant news from publications near and far. Tips are always welcome, drop them here.

• The Oakland Unified School District announced a new program Wednesday that will serve free meals to every single city resident under the age of 18. The initiative kicks off today at 22 locations across Oakland, all of which will be open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays. Kids don’t have to be present (adults can pick on on their behalf), but masks and social distancing are mandatory. At each pickup, families can grab meals for multiple days, of up to three meals for each weekday and two meals for each weekend day per child. More details are available here.
• Park Chalet, the garden-level restaurant behind coastal destination Beach Chalet, has opened its patio and lawn for dining, it says via press release. Its new, seafood-focused menu is available from 12-8:00 p.m. weekdays, with weekend brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for dine-in service only.
• Alameda has joined the mask fine movement. Its city council this week agreed that restaurants (and other businesses) that violate health orders face tickets ranging from $250-$1,000. Alameda city official Andrew Thomas tells KRON 4 that the enforcement effort won’t focus on individual citizens, just businesses, each will get three warnings. After that, if they “absolutely refuse to follow the rules, then and only then do we think about using the citation process.”
• Hayes Valley macaron hot spot Miette has been shuttered since the pandemic began, but it’ll be wide open on November 3 — as a polling place for the general election. Hoodline spotted the bakery’s Instagram post on the topic, which says “for the love of cake, vote for the change you want to see in the world.” Other restaurants that are interested in generating some extra election day traffic should take note: Applications to host an SF polling place remain open.
• Mudlab, a new, zero-waste grocery store in Oakland, is celebrating their grand opening on Sunday with a socially-distanced shindig. [Berkeleyside]
• One Market wine director Tonya Pitts says that she’s focused on ensuring that women winemakers and winemakers of color are prominently placed on her restaurant’s list. [Wine Spectator]