Marcia Gagliardi

If you follow me on Instagram, I’ve been posting up a STORM of holiday eats and treats, from Peking duck dinners to latke parties to prime rib feasts for Christmas. There are too many for me to write up, so check my Highlights for Holiday! and look for the…

There’s a new Latin-Caribbean restaurant in the former Soluna: CHAO PESCAO, which translates to “see you later alligator.” Soluna owner Rene Denis is pulling from his Cuban-Colombian upbringing, offering homey dishes like empanadas vallunas (three kinds of Colombian empanadas, made with a masa dough and fried), pan…

I was so sad when La Cocina entrepreneurs LA GUERRERA’S KITCHEN closed their Fruitvale location in March, their first brick and mortar, but great news: owners Reyna Maldonado and her mother, Ofelia Barajas, are reopening in the former Tamarindo Antojeria space in Old Oakland (another beloved business). The maiz…

Man, gut punches are the worst. Imagine getting the wind knocked out of you after you barely get up off the mat, wobbling, weaving. We’re watching our hospitality community in a grueling boxing match with a brutal heavyweight, with no coach, and the countdown is down to the end.…