The team behind popular San Francisco vegan restaurant Shizen has finally opened a vegan restaurant on the East Bay side of the bridge, but rather than an extension of Shizen, the team instead installed a second location of their Hawaiian vegan sushi restaurant, Tane Vegan Izakaya. Expect gorgeous vegan food (of course) in the form of nigiri, sushi rolls, and ramen.

Babette was long known as the cafe within the Berkeley Art Museum, residing there for 10 years, but now owners Joan Ellis and Patrick Hooker have moved into a cozy new spot on San Pablo Avenue with a beautiful back patio to boot. Expect an expanded menu from Babette’s days at the museum, with a selection of pizzas and dinner entrees, coffee and house-made pastries on the weekdays, and brunch on the weekend.

The co-founder of Sequoia Diner is branching out on her own with Tarocco, a plant-forward restaurant serving California-Mediterranean dishes. The menu changes regularly, but expect to find dishes like grilled cabbage with tahini sauce and herbs, turmeric roasted cauliflower, or breakfast-y plates like chia seed pudding with tahini almond granola, Sicilian orange marmalade, and a variety of seasonal fruit. If you enjoy the food and want more of it, the restaurant also has a meal delivery program serving the same style of food each week.

Local farms are the star at Oakland’s Pomet, and with good reason: the proprietors behind the new spot hail from K&J Orchards, and they’re centering local food producers in each dish. Each menu item highlights where the ingredients hail from, such as quail from Wolfe Ranch, carrots from Star Route Farms, and honeynut miso butter made by Shared Cultures. This is farm-to-table to the extreme and a celebration of those who grow local produce.

Bay Area folks love a good rooftop bar, and the lucky residents of the East Bay recently welcomed not just one rooftop bar, but two. High 5ive is the second rooftop bar to debut within the last six weeks, and already people are hyped on not just the views, but also the drink menu, which has vibrant and showy cocktails like the Tony Bennett, which is their smoked version of a manhattan.

Hi Felicia went from a pandemic pop-up hosted on the deck of chef Imana’s Oakland apartment to a brick-and-mortar, bringing the restaurant’s unique style of California comfort food-fine dining to a wider audience. Expect small bites influenced primarily by Mexican culture with global touches throughout, like fried chicken smothered in mole verde or a scallop aguachile dish.

Imani Greer is another chef who made the leap from pop-up to a permanent space, bringing his style of vegan food to 14th Street in Oakland. Diners can order a chickn’ n’ waffles, a black bean burger, or create their own bowls, choosing a base of rice, quinoa, or greens (or a combo) and a vegan protein, such as the chorizo made from walnuts and spices.

Slug is the sister bar to Oakland’s popular Snail Bar, but it’s not an entire repeat of the original. Yes, there’s the same commitment to natural wine and an array of just-as-impressive dishes, but this location boasts the addition of music via Oakland’s Lower Grand Radio. Don’t sleep on the food, while you’re dancing the night away — sample the boudins if you’ve never been to Snail Bar, and look to the other dishes, such as the scallop crudo, cucumber salad, and the miso sticky toffee pudding on the opening menu.

When it came time to reimagine what to do with their first restaurant space, Nido owners Sylvia and Cory McCollow decided to do something they’ve always wanted: open a mezcaleria. Sample the mezcal selection at Odin in a cocktail or flight, before diving into tacos or tostadas made with local and seasonal ingredients from Devin González of Tacos El Precioso. For a snack, try the tabla de carne or tabla de Quesos Salazar, González’s take on meat and cheese boards. (And there’s typically some vegan or vegetarian options available on the rotating menu, if that’s what you prefer.)