Uptown Oakland won’t be the same after Thursday, June 22. Yes, there is still Cafe Van Kleef, but Hopscotch, the lauded restaurant from award-winning chef Kyle Itani, will cease to exist as a dine-in restaurant in less than a week’s time.
The restaurant, which serves “American classics inspired by Japanese flavors,” is known for dishes such as fish and chips with Asahi beer-battered cod, a fan-favorite buttermilk fried chicken and soba mafaldine with buckwheat noodles in a maitake mushroom ragu. The restaurant also had an affordable $45 three-course prix fixe dinner option, ideal for when there was a performance at the Fox Theater.
While the space at 1915 San Pablo Ave. will no longer serve food, chef Itani will continue to cook for the people of Oakland in a few ways, according to Eater SF.
For one, Itani launched Hopscotch Catering during the pandemic and plans to continue running that business. It will feature a lot of smoked foods, allowing Itani to use his “beast of a smoker that can feed up to 150 people.” The Annex, part of the same building, will also continue to hold private events, Itani said. Lastly, he’ll be collaborating with former Hopscotch employees Matt Meyer and Daniel Paez, who now own and operate Low Bar, in the Uptown Oakland space.
In a farewell post on the restaurant’s website and social media, Itani called the closure “bittersweet.” He told Eater the Uptown neighborhood is ready for a change.
“I think this neighborhood, this block, this space, calls for some young vibrant energy,” he said.
Hopscotch in Oakland is set to close after dinner service on June 22.
Danny V./YelpItani opened Hopscotch in 2012; it received a 3-star rating from former San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer. The following year, the Chronicle named Itani a Rising Star Chef. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms).
While Itani was mostly silent on the upcoming project with Meyer and Paez, he called it a “win-win” situation that they would take over the restaurant space. If all goes well, it could open in September.
While Hopscotch is set to close, Itani’s other restaurants, Yonsei Handrolls and Itani Ramen, which are both directly across from the Fox Theater, remain open.