Review: Plum Restaurant in Oakland

2214 Broadway
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 444-7586
plumoakland.com

Description
When he opened Coi in 2006, farmer’s market fiend Daniel Patterson helped make a culinary name for San Francisco. Since then, he’s been known to lament the high costs of running a restaurant (surrounded by an influx of uncreative high-end joints) in the city.

All that has led (to our great fortune) to Plum, Patterson’s first restaurant in his hometown of Oakland. The stars at this laid-back eatery are still the quality northern California ingredients and finely honed, innovative preparations. But where Coi is big-city upscale, Plum has a homey vibe that is distinctively Oakland: a converted fried chicken joint with an open kitchen and communal tables crafted from recycled oak trees.

And while the tasting menu at Coi runs $165, the menu at Plum—divided into “snacks” like crisp pig ear pate, “animals” like steelhead trout with sunchokes and kumquat, and “vegetables” like quinoa fritters—runs mostly in the sub-$15 range. For even more frugal foodies, the new bar menu offers jalapeno pork sausage sandwiches ($12) and confit chicken wings ($7).

Read about more affordable foodie finds in the East Bay.

Directions
Take BART to 19th Street /Oakland Station (a .2mile walk to Plum)