• Chop Bar is a neighborhood favorite near Oakland's Jack London Square, serving breakfast, weekend brunch, lunch and dinner. Using the finest ingredients found in the Bay Area, we make affordable and nourishing food designed to be enjoyed by everyone.

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  • We feature a brand new wine-on-tap system that produces less waste and reduces our overhead, meaning you can enjoy a better glass of wine at a lower price. The bar serves up unique custom cocktails using seasonal ingredients and fresh juices. We have an extensive beer selection featuring local drafts and a great bottle selection too! Our eco-friendly atmosphere was created using reclaimed, recycled and reused materials, featuring local art as decor, and is a welcoming environment for a quick bite, drink, or a leisurely dinner.

    Come join us!

Sau And Brau at Drake’s Brewery

By Lev | Published: February 6, 2012

It’s time for the “Sau and Brau” barrel tasting event at Drake’s again. We did this event last year- it was great. 22 taps, barrel aged beers that aren’t available commercially, and a whole lot of pig. Its all happening at 6 p.m.,Wednesday the 15th at Drake’s tasting room, 1933 Davis St., San Leandro, 94577. Tickets are $45. Click the link for more info.

www.drinkdrakes.com/
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The Barbecue Place You’ve Been Waiting For

By Lev | Published: February 1, 2012

I don’t usually use this space to plug other restaurants, but I went by B-Side Barbecue today and it blew my mind. If you haven’t heard, it’s the new barbecue place from Tonya Holland of Brown Sugar Kitchen. First, the space, which was done by Jeffrey Ruiz (he did our interior too), looks great. Polished concrete floor, lots of rustic wood and old pictures of African-American cowboys. Then the food. The ribs and brisket were smoky and fork tender, the cornbread light and crumbly, the mac and cheese smooth and creamy. There is a short but well curated list of wines and microbrews. It’s on San Pablo at 33rd, go check it out.

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Restaurant Week- Let The Games Begin!

By Lev | Published: January 20, 2012

Hey, Folks, Restaurant Week starts tonight! Man, what a deal! Soup or salad, meatloaf or pork confit, apple blackberry crisp or Mexican chocolate pot de creme, bottomless wine, all for thirty bucks! Sheesh! Come on down!

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Great Meat From Marin Sun Farms, Great Shellfish From Two By Sea

By Lev | Published: January 9, 2012

We are pleased to announce our new affiliation with Marin Sun Farms.From now on, all fresh pork,lamb, and oxtails will be from them. Pork is delivered by the split hog and lamb is delivered whole and broken down here at the restaurant. This enables us to serve a wide variety of cuts while keeping the prices in our range. For example, a lamb delivered on a Tuesday will show up on that weeks’ menu as Lamb Burger with Cumin Aioli,Pappardelle with Lamb Bolognese, Braised Lamb Shoulder, Seared Lamb Loin, and Roasted Leg of Lamb. Prices range from $14 for the lamb burger to $22 for the loin. We’re pretty excited to be able to offer top quality, local, pasture raised, 100% natural meat at such affordable prices.
We’re also pleased to be working with a new seafood company called Two By Sea. Two By Sea buy all their product directly from the boat or farm. When we buy crab from them, the name of the captain is on the invoice. Our mussels and oysters are now coming from a farm in Tomales called Cove, and they are fantastic.

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New Oatmeal, Fists of Flour, Malvasia

By Lev | Published: December 12, 2011

We have a great new product on our breakfast menu- From The Fields’ Vanilla Oatmeal. Betsy Fields crafts her oatmeals, granolas, and mueslis from grains sourced directly from local farmers. Come give it a try.

  Our Birichino Malvasia, a beautifully floral but dry white wine, made the Chronicle’s top 100 wines of the year.

 Tonight, we have Fists of Flour Pizza in the house, back for an encore. James will have his mobile pizza oven fired up on the sidewalk outside, while we provide the drinks and shelter. Our regular menu will also be available.

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Pacific Sun Olive Oil

By Lev | Published: December 8, 2011

There’s a new book out called “Extra Virginity” by New York Times writer Tom Mueller , about the olive oil business. Apparently adulteration is extremely common. The longer the supply chain, the greater chance that the oil has been tampered with. The best way to eliminate that possibility is to buy direct from a trusted source. Our Pacific Sun olive oil, which is the only olive oil we use, is delivered weekly by Pablo Voitzuk, who drives it down personally from the farm near Chico. Ask for a taste. I think its phenomenal.

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Brunch This Friday, Seghesio Gets Props

By Lev | Published: November 23, 2011

This Friday, we will be serving the brunch instead of lunch menu starting at 9 AM. Dinner will be as usual.

  For those of you who follow the Wine Spectator, Seghesio Zinfandel, which we have in the bottle, was voted 12th best wine of the year, worldwide. We agree that it is pretty dang good, and does not suck at all with pork confit.

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The Trouble With Yelp

By Lev | Published: November 18, 2011

OK, first go to Yelp and check out the one star review of us near the top. Read it? Great, here goes.

Yelp can be a really good thing. I used it to find places to eat when I moved to Oakland. Some of those places became my favorites, like El Taco Zamorano and Chai Thai. Although some restaurant people resent it, it can be a good tool. For example, if three yelps say the bread pudding is dry, you might want to check the bread pudding.

Every now and then, though, you get one that shows a disturbing level of unwarranted hostility( did you check out the link in the review I’m talking about?). Here are some clues that we are dealing with someone with pre-existing problems and not someone with genuine criticisms:

The imagined discrimination against the “non-hipster.” Does TA (our yelper) really imagine that we try to edit our customers by appearance? What constitutes a hipster, anyway? Certainly not our hostess, who does not list fashion among her passions. We don’t have a preferred demographic- its a place to eat, not a clothing line. Elderly people, kids, even the odd neck tattoo, all seem to feel pretty welcome here.

Point two: Why would you publicly post something threatening, profane, and insulting about any service employee? They are just implementing policies that are part of their jobs. The point of our seating policies are always to enable as many people to eat here as possible. Thats why we have a bar. Again, it seems clear that some pre-existing hostility was triggered.

TA finishes by claiming she “may even know the owners.” She doesn’t, and it wouldn’t make a difference. Our employees work very hard to satisfy a lot of people. That is expected of them every day. They are not expected to be targets for free floating rage. If you wish to advise your friends not to eat here, that is your right. In the meantime, TA, I request that you take down your abusive post, and please think a little harder before you single someone out for this type of attack. If you decide not to, that’s OK too. You are telling people more about yourself than about our restaurant.

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Sticky Wonton Antics

By Lev | Published: November 17, 2011

Hi, folks, we’ve got some good stuff for you this week. In savory land we have Pork Belly Wontons with Sea Bean Slaw, while on the sweet side we have Sticky Date Pudding with Rye Ice Cream and Boozy Raisins. Also,Lila would like you to know that next week we will have a delightful new Zinfandel on tap called “Antic”, which is balanced and food friendly.

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Fire Your Bank, It Feels Great

By Lev | Published: November 1, 2011

Ever notice all the big posters all over the place from the big banks that show someone with a dog grooming salon or a cupcake shop who couldn’t have done it without Wells Fargo or B of A? Well, I can tell you firsthand that you would certainly get laughed out of any of the big banks if you asked for money for such an endeavor. So why do they bother advertising for something they don’t do? Is it all just P.R.? Maybe they can’t make loans because all their money is tied up in bogus ads. I don’t know.

Anyway, we at Chop Bar are generally supportive of financial justice, but not so interested in camping in front of City Hall. So seeing as our big bank has taken a huge bailout but still refuses to invest in our community, we’ve been looking for a way to use whatever power we have to support a more ethical financial system. That’s why we are moving our money to a community bank.

Torrey Pines is a San Diego based bank that has merged with local bank Alta Alliance. They have a good track record of lending to small businesses and non-profits, and also support local charities like Go Oakland Public Schools. They’re definitely not “Too big to fail.” We’re hoping that, because they are a relatively small bank, they will be more accountable to us, their other customers, and the community,

Here’s a link to a site that can suggest some good banks and credit unions near you:

 

http://moveyourmoneyproject.org/

 

If even, let’s say, 10% of small businesses moved to better banks, I think it might make a big difference. I can definitely guarantee that it feels awesome. Care to join us?

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