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After spending the last couple of months researching 2026 food news, the evidence is clear: we’ve got a lot to look forward to in the Bay Area. Here’s what’s top of mind here at Good Taste:
Cafe Ohlone’s latest concept
Not only will ‘ammatka cafe open inside Lawrence Hall of Science (1 Centennial Drive, Berkeley) in January, founders Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino from mak-’amham have helped to bring Ohlone representation and history to the entire museum. If you’ve been reading my column for the past four years, you may already understand what visionaries these two men are.
Good Taste was present at a recent menu preview, which included their gorgeous, fruit-enhanced Ohlone salad, grilled cheese sandwiches for kids and adults (the latter with homemade blackberry jam, Cowgirl Creamery Wagon Wheel cheese, and jalapeńos), and tater tots with an Ohlone-herbed aioli. I haven’t stopped thinking about their thinly sliced smoked duck sandwich with Cowgirl’s Mt. Tam triple cream cheese and homemade rosehip jam. I’ll be surprised if that’s not my favorite sandwich of 2026, too.
“A huge amount of biodiversity and abundance has been shaped by the hands of our Ohlone people for thousands upon thousands of years,” Medina said at the preview. “And that knowledge, it’s never been lost, because our forebears have worked intergenerationally to preserve it, even through some of the hardest times that have come from colonization…
“And the truth is that colonization does not define our story. When we interpret our culture to the public and promote our culture, it’s a story about joy, celebration, about the knowledge that’s continued intergenerationally, and about how victorious the generations before us are and keeping alive the oldest traditions of the East Bay.”
Medina and Trevino’s seasonal ‘ottoytak cafe, located in the outdoor courtyard of the Hearst Anthropology Museum on campus, will also return next year, following the completion of nearby construction.
“No holds barred” supper club by Ask JG
San Francisco-based culture curator Ask JG is launching a supper club in the Bay Area and beyond in 2026 as a spotlight for Black and Brown chefs to let loose in the kitchen and for diners from all backgrounds to feel welcome.
“I want to create a space where they can do their menu for one night only, where there’s no holds barred on flavor,” he says.
The first dinner in his yet-to-be-named supper club series is set for Jan. 22 at Frenchie Wine Bar with chef Shawn Phillips, whose Tartufino project received Eater SF’s Best Pop-Up of 2025. Expect an à la carte menu of six dishes that top out at $30, plus a kid-focused option selected by the chef’s daughter and maybe, just maybe, a secret item. Reservations are coming soon to Tock. Follow @AskJG_ on Instagram for more info as it happens, and stay tuned for a closer look at this concept in a future Good Taste column.
Dalida duo’s Mexican restaurant
Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz, the chef-owners of the acclaimed Presidio restaurant Dalida, will open a new Mexican restaurant called Maria Isabel at 500 Presidio Avenue in San Francisco in February, and I can’t wait to try it. According to a press release, “The restaurant’s story is about bridging the Pacific coast of Mexico with that of California.” Seafood, baby!
Cake cake cake from Butter & Crumble
It took me seven weeks to score a pre-order box of pastries from Butter & Crumble this year, which was silly, but admittedly entirely worth the effort. So I’m anticipating the 2026 opening of their forthcoming North Beach cake café, which I hope will be a little easier to navigate. A premiere date or season has yet to be announced.
At least two new Asian grocery stores
I loved supermarket sweeping through the new Korean grocery store Jagalchi when it debuted in Daly City earlier this year, and I can’t wait for Japan’s Tokyo Central to finally open at 5603 Bay Street in Emeryville on Jan. 31. Canada’s Asian grocery chain T&T Supermarket will also open a third Bay Area store — this time at 95 Murchison Drive in Millbrae — some time this winter.
A couple of big Ferry Building additions
This year, the Ferry Building welcomed high-profile debuts from Nopa Fish, Parachute Bakery, and Arquet. Next year, there are two more biggies: a summer or fall opening for Hayati (Arabic for “my love”), a Mediterranean restaurant from Barcha and Bon Délire owner Kais Bouzidi; and Lucania, a concept celebrating Southern Italian Mediterranean vibes from A16 that’s projected to pop open mid-to-late ‘26.
Tamara Palmer offers the complimentary Food Book Club and California Eating newsletters.
