Editor’s note: Nosh covers food and restaurant news across the East Bay, and each week we publish one article covering all the restaurant openings and one article covering closings. Have a tip for Nosh? Submit it here.
Bamboo Asia Oakland
Oakland City Center’s colorful Bamboo Asia eatery, first opened in January 2020 and featuring flavors from Japan, Vietnam and India, appears to have closed, and its website is no longer live. According to tipsters, business had been slow for a while. The San Francisco location on California Street has also shuttered. Bamboo Asia was at 1221 Broadway in Oakland.
Kirala 2 Epicurious Garden
The team behind South Berkeley sushi restaurant Kirala first launched grab-and-go sushi counter Kirala 2 inside the tony North Shattuck Epicurious Garden in 2006, and the corner kiosk with a smattering of tables and prepared sushi was a hit from the start. This summer, when the popular stall cut back its lunch hours, diners were already pretty upset. Then the gate came down around the darkened kiosk and the notice appeared. “Thank you Berkeley,” it read. “We are grateful to be handing over this space to our longtime friend and talented chef Kyle Itani (Itani Ramen and Yonsei Handrolls), who will be opening Itani Sushi here in September 2024!” So long, Kirala 2, and thanks for all the fish. Kirala 2 was inside the Epicurious Garden at 1511 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley.
Saigon Seafood Harbor Richmond
We mentioned this large Richmond dim sum restaurant’s “temporary” closure for “internal adjustments” back when it was first announced by the group in April. After a call to Saigon Seafood’s still-open location in Sunnyvale in which a staffer mentioned that the Richmond location was “definitely closed,” and a spring and summer of zero movement through the gate of the abandoned restaurant building, all signs are indicating the location has shuttered for good. Saigon Seafood Harbor was at 3150 Pierce St. in Richmond.
Lucky House Thai
“Thank you City of Berkeley, UC Berkeley and valued customers for supporting us for over 20 years,” says the closure note in the window of Lucky House Thai, on University Avenue in downtown Berkeley. The no-frills, affordable Thai restaurant opened as “New” Lucky House in the spring of 2004. It took more than luck for the small spot to persevere through two decades of industry ups and downs, including the unprecedented downs of the past four years.Farewell, Lucky House. Lucky House Thai was at 2140 University Ave. in Berkeley.
