Salsipuedes

Came here for Oakland restaurant week.
Hubs and I ordered:
–Tiradito: Loved this. Kind of one-​note in flavor, but it was fresh and delish.
–Beef Tongue: Also loved this. Cooked perfectly. Loved the acidity.
–Octopus Bao: Underwhelmingly bland. Tasted the smokiness from the octopus, but that was about it.
–Pork Steak: Cooked well, but we had a few inedible fatty parts.
–Churro and Almond Ice Cream dessert: Bready dense churro; good flavor of ice cream, not too sweet
Overall, it was pretty good. We would definitely come back. I felt like for the price it was okay, but I would like to see a bigger «punch» of flavor in some of these dishes.

For Oakland Restaurant week, my neighbors suggested we try Salsipuedes because of the background of the chef. This is a nice, neighborhood restaurant that serves some pretty high end dishes, with respect to quality and imagination. Although I was impressed with the octopus melt bao, the fried chicken torta stole the show. It was the best fried chicken sandwich I’ve had in a long time. To top it off, they served Ale Industries cherry kush — yowza. I’m in the zone, eating, don’t bother me…

Went for restaurant week, which was a great deal for a three course meal plus Agua Fresca.
This is a small place with large tables for community like seating. They do not take reservations so we anticipated that for four people it would be a wait. However, I think they need to rethink the way they seat the tables… we saw quite a few (5 – 6, maybe more) smaller parties seated before us after we had waited for almost an hour. At some point I felt they needed to hold seats when they opened up just a couple more minutes until the neighboring seats opened up to accommodate our party. Finally four seats happened to open up at the same time and they sat us.
Onto the food (shared with husband to try more stuff)
1^st course:
— Seared Albacore — it was coated with a sweet sauce (burnt honey) and accompanied by a castelfranco radicchio. The radicchio was great in presentation and taste. I found the albacore to be a little tough and the sauce to be kind of one note sweet. Maybe a touch of acid would help.
— Tiradito — a yellowtail crudo with yuzu ponzu and serranos. Ponzu makes anything taste good so the flavor was there. The temp on the fish probably could have been a tad colder and some more care could have been put into the cut of the fish.
2^nd course:
— Octopus Melt Bao — softly prepared octopus with a nice relish, chicharrones, and salsa verde on a steamed bun. Because the bun and the octopus was so nice and soft, they kind of blended together. There was textural contrast with the relish which made the overall dish fine, I just felt the octopus didn’t get any justice. Flavor was good.
— Pork Steak — nicely seared pork on top of chimichurri. Chimichurri could have used some acid, but the pork was tender with a nice crust (could have been a tad less cooked to be even juicier), but it was my favorite of the second courses.
3^rd course:
— Churro with toasted almond ice cream. The ice cream was amazeballs, but the churro was tough. The dough tasted good, but they need to be fresh (or warmed perhaps) or they get chewy.
Overall the courses tasted good, but there were some aspects that could have been executed better to make it really excellent.

The food was very interesting and very well prepared. We ordered off the Restaurant Week menu, my companion had the yellowtail prepared as sashimi, I had the albacore with kimchi colored cabbage. The yellowtail was exceptional, with a little heat and perhaps lime (citrus of some sort). The seared albacore was great, although the cabbage served with it added nothing — cooked to softness, coated with a red dusting sauce like, say, sriracha in aspect but without real flavor (by «real» i mean flavor I could detect). 2^nd dishes were very good: I had root vegetables, with very (very) nice parsnips and baby carrots (!); friend had chicken torta (sorta-​torta) with sauce that he loved. Altogether terrific.
The wines by the glass were lacking, however. We tasted or ordered all 5 of the reds on offer, liked none of them. We also tried the rose, which was not objectionable but which offered nothing of interest. Really strange, given that the cuisine is very, very good, but not nailed to one perspective. If you can stock any wines in the world, then, why would you stock these?

3.5÷5
Salsipuedes was my second time ever doing a restaurant week. My friend and I came in on a Tuesday night at around 7pm. There was approximately a 15 minute wait. Despite how busy the restaurant was, it was still relatively easy to find parking. There is only street parking but plenty of spots on the side roads near by. The restaurant itself is relatively small and has a casual vibe. I’m not a huge fan of the seating layout. There is communal table seating and some counter space. The counters are a bit squished but it’s nice to watch them working. Our main server was also quite nice and helpful.
Since it was restaurant week, my friend and I went for the $ 30 pre fixe meal which included a choice of an appetizer, entrée, and a dessert. First of all, I was very sad to not see the Beef Tongue on the menu. It was the most interesting looking items and the main reason my friend and I chose Salsipuedes. In the end both of us ordered the Tiradito, I got the Octopus Bao, and she got the Winter Vegetables.
The tiradito was first and it was very fun watching the employees carefully garnish the plate. When I looked up the dishes online before coming, the menu said the Tiradito used Black Cod. However I’m 99% sure we were served Yellow Tail. That being said, it was good yellow tail. The slices were fatty and flavorful. The yuzu ponzu was slightly fragrant but not very impressive. The yuzu’s flavor did not stand out very much which is disappointing since I really enjoy the bright zing from stronger ponzus. There’s also a bit of heat and some greens that balanced with the fish very well. Overall nothing too special but it was pretty and tasty. (3.5÷5)
For my entrée I ordered the Octopus Bao that I saw everyone raving about online. I kind of wish I went with the Torta or Pork Steak instead though because the Baos were more appetizer sized. The octopus in the bao is delicious. I’m always terrified of rubbery octopus but I really enjoyed the filling. Between the mild salsa verde, salty filling, crunchy chicharrones, and slightly sweet bao, everything comes together very well. To be fair it wasn’t quite a «complex» bite but it was a balanced one and as a whole the bao was quite good. The bun itself could be warmer and softer but I think I was unlucky cause I watched the employees pull out a new batch of buns a few minutes after I received mine. (⁴⁄₅)
My friend seemed fairly neutral about her Winter Vegetables dish. I took a small taste of her kefir farmers cheese and it was very similar to what I buy at my local farmer’s market. All I can say is that it’s a very pretty looking dish.
The dessert was an almond ice cream and a churro. The almond ice cream’s flavor was great. It wasn’t reeking of almond extract which seems to happen a lot when it comes to almond flavored items. The texture could use some work. It was not very smooth, bordering icy. The churro was flat out not good though. It was extremely dense and closer to hard than crunchy. (3.5÷5) for the ice cream and (1.5÷5) for the churro.
Overall I think the general theme is: it’s good but not quite as special as the menu makes it sound. I normally round up from a 3.5 to a 4 for service but bottom-​line is, I don’t know if I’d come back considering the price. It’s possibly worth a try at least once though.

Wife and I came here because it was Restaurant Week in Oakland, and also one of the restaurants near where we live, so figured we check it out.
We were able to find street parking within 5 minutes. There was a 30 minute wait and likely due to Restaurant Week, so i can’t comment on how it is normally. We were seated at the bar, and similar to a sushi bar, you get to see all the action happening in front of you, which I always enjoy (I always try to get a seat at the sushi bar).
Food wise: (3) Courses each, and we got: Tiradito (yellow tail for today — changes based on supply), Pork Steak, Seared Albacore, Drowned Fried Chicken Torta, and dessert was their home made Churro and Roasted Almond Ice Cream.
— Tiradito was sashimi style, thinly sliced and flavorful, but not overpowering the fish.
— Seared Albacore — bigger chunks, and similar to the Tiradito, flavorful without overpowering the fish.
— Pork Steak — simply made, and very tender. I think this is a result of the sous vide process, and it is very good.
— Drowned Fried Chicken Torta — my friend was there with us that had the same item and she noted «best fried chicken» she’s ever had, and it is really that good. Nice fried exterior with tender chicken inside. It is a bit sweet and a bit spicy/​crunchy from the kim chee. Vey good mix/​balance.
— Churro/​Ice Cream — I like the ice cream more than the churro, but was still overall good. Churro seemed a bit stale, but it could’ve been too thick.
Service was great, and the dishes were coming out at timely pace from course to course. Portions looked small at first, but I left very satisfied with the meal — I wasn’t full to the point of a food coma, and not still hungry for more. I’d come back again to try out the trout and octopus melt bao, for sure.

Splendid. Incredible kimchi and fried chicken sandwich and great albacore. Host was fun and warm !

Meh.
I’ve been hearing so much about this place that I was thrilled to go. I browsed the menu beforehand and wasn’t super intrigued by anything but figured we’d give it a whirl.
It was seriously just ok. The food was mediocre. The wine was great. We had the sea bean tempura, which was unexpectedly flavorful and one of the best dishes we had. Seared albacore was SO SO FISHY that we couldn’t eat but one bite each– super disappointing because that was the dish I was most excited about. Roasted vegetables were good but nothing I couldn’t make at my own house. Octopus Bao was the best thing and we wished we would have gotten nothing else but double portions of that and just the sea beans.
Overall, Oakland has new stuff popping up all over the place so I wouldn’t return.

Came for the octopus melt bao which was tasty but the true winner was the local trout which was absolutely divine! Sorry not sorry we ate the whole thing minus head and tail. If my boyfriend had come, the fish head would have been devoured. Wonderful staff, sit at the counter and watch the magic happen!

The food at this place is 100 emoji, thumbs up, etc. etc. However, it’s pretty small and it can take some time to get a place to eat. I was surprised to see this in the middle of nowhere, just residential in West Oakland. But anyway, the food
Tempura sea beans– pretty good, tempura batter was very light
Clams– pretty damn good
Scallops– solid, hard to complain about these
Fried chicken torta– OMG OMG PUT IT IN MY MOUTH I NEVER WANT YOU TO LEAVE MY GAPING MAW PLEASE MORE
Trout– see above
Churros– pretty solid
but really, the only gripe is kind of slow service, and running out of the prix fixe menu items, which we were informed of when we walked in. I would like to go back to this place when it is less crowded.

FOR THIS PLACE TO BE A BLOCK AWAY FROM ME IS just awesome this IS MY 3RD experience and I just have to give them 5 stars!!!

It was fine. I wasn’t super impressed.
Walked in on a thursday and the place was practically empty. No big thing, but I was expecting it to be a bit more hopping considering I have been hearing a lot of good things about it.
Interior is pretty sparse. There is a counter around the kitchen, a counter in one of the windows and then a big communal table. Would be nice if there were a few two or four tops.
Drink list was pretty sparse. Two mixed drink. One was mixed with a pilsner (?) and the other was a vermouth drink. Beer list was pretty decent. Had a Berryessa which is always good.
Food was a mixed bag. Generally, I feel like the food was missing a bit of brightness. We shared the following:
Corn nuts with seaweed salt: ok. Too hard. Didn’t think the seaweed added a whole lot.
bay scallops, pear, fermented black bean and wakame: Not a fan. Dish was ok, but nothing was singing. Scallops were somewhat fishy and flavorless. Pears were kind of bland. Black bean sauce was kind of nasty. I didn’t notice any wakame… I think they forgot it.
Octopus bao: overrated. It tasted good, but all I could really taste were onions and peppers. The shrimp and the octopus got kind of lost in the mix.
Fried Chicken Torta: Probably the best thing we had. chicken was nice and crispy. Kimchi added a nice touch. Again, I am not sure where the wakame was. Something tasted like apples in the dish. Not sure if they used apple cider vinegar in the kimchi or not.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad meal, but I left feeling somewhat unfulfilled and kind of sad. I am not dying to return.
One more thing: The next morning, when I picked up the clothes I was wearing at the restaurant to throw them in the hamper, my clothes all smelled like grease from sitting right next to the kitchen :-/

Great date place. Cozy and friendly. Food is amazing. Amazing wine selection and beer too. Such a fun place to discover.

Casual atmosphere, inventive menu, questionable value, clearly a work in-​progress.
:Atmosphere:
Very casual spot, despite the high end menu & above-​average price points. The restaurant is located at 42^nd & Market, an area that I can honestly say I’ve only driven through because it’s still a part of Oakland that’s largely residential and hasn’t become infused with new cafes, restaurants, galleries (like select parts of Downtown & some parts of West Oakland). I discovered this place via word of mouth and made the trek for the chef & the menu, not the location.
There’s probably seating for 30ish people inside (10 at the L-​shaped counter facing the open kitchen area, 10 – 12 at the communal table, and 10 more at the other counters. Casual/​neighborhood vibe, sans a unique aesthetic in the interior to really set it apart… although the rows of candles perched above the walkway heading to the restroom were a nice touch. Some hip hop music played over the speakers, filling the silence, not too loud, just the right volume. The service also matched the casual vibe, which was fine… though it felt a little mismatched considering the menu… I was expecting our server to at least comment on the myriad of ingredients when delivering the dishes.
:Food & Drink:
What initially drew me here was the inventive menu, especially for a casual Oakland eatery in a part of town that’s absolutely devoid of anything above casual… or in the nearby area, anything at all other than a corner liquor store. Their site says that chef Marcus Krauss most recently cooked at The Restaurant at Meadowood… which is one of the only Michelin three-​star restaurants in California… so this chef clearly has some serious cooking chops!
My thoughts on the meal…
Heavenly Hefeweizen, Frontier Amber — Both served in wine glass tumblers, which I thought was a bit unusual, but no big deal. Beer selection seemed appropriately small and catered to the menu… so you won’t likely find any stouts, porters, or IPAs available.
Corn nuts w/​seaweed salt — Just fine. Something reasonable to munch on if you’re having enjoying some beer. The seaweed salt seemed like a nice touch, though I could hardly notice what it was adding to this snack.
Beef tongue, sea urchin, cactus, seaweed, green salsa — Really interesting dish w/​some unexpected pairings, mixed results. The beef tongue was cooked perfectly, cactus was a nice surprise, I really enjoyed that. I love sear urchin on its own, so I was skeptical to see it paired with something so meaty (beef tongue), something so bright (green salsa), and something that came close to resembling its texture (seaweed)… the sea urchin wasn’t meant to be the star of the dish, though it felt a little too lost for me.
Seared albacore, burnt honey, castelfranco radicchio, smoked pepper — This was a great dish. The albacore portions were cut thick and felt substantial. The radicchio and smoked pepper were a great combo.
Octopus melt bao, oregon shrimp, chicharrones — Probably the best thing I had all night! I love the textural variety… combination of octopus, shrimp, and pork, especially in a soft warm vehicle like a bao. There were 2 baos on the plate and both weren’t that substantial, so the price point of $ 15 felt high.
:Final thoughts:
Mixed. This place feels like a concept that hasn’t been fully realized yet… and one that’s set up shop in a neighborhood that might be paralyzing its ability to get noticed more. I left my meal hungry and without the sense of satisfaction/​comfort that you typically get from a proper neighborhood eatery. As far as casual Oakland spots go, I’ll remember this one for a while thanks to the inventive menu and the attention to detail that went into each dish. I’ll definitely keep my eyes peeled to see how this place evolves in the coming year.

You can tell the level of experience the owners bring to this place. The chef asked our opinion of a dish that was on the menu for the first night, which was the roasted seasonal vegetables and our favorite of the night.
They are obviously not shy about showcasing interesting wine and have left mainstream in the dust, though their selections complement the food nicely.
It has a friendly, neighborhood vibe, but the food is upscale and we’re lucky to have this gem in our neighborhood.

Mixed feelings on this new spot in the Longfellow neighborhood between Temescal & Emeryville. Short menu with a few cold (
) and handful of hot items (
)
I sampled:
— Corn nuts with seaweed «salt» ($ 3.50,
) — Bland. Needed more of the seaweed.
— Tongue, Uni, Cactus ($ 15,
) — Tongue tender with good seasoning, but the seaweed was tough. Salsa verde was flavorful and mild on the spice scale. There was a pretty small amount of Uni which got lost with the beef & salsa verde; it needed more prominance or just eliminate.
— Octopus Melt Bao ($ 15 for two
) was the best thing I tried. It came with some of the same salsa verde as the Tongue on the side (
)
Very tasty with about ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ with shrimp mixed together with a slightly spicy sauce, some sea beans, and chicharron for some crunch (
). Really tender octopus from being cooked sous vide (
). The chicharrons were a little «soggy» more deflated vs. crackled.
— Stawberry ice cream ($?,
) I probably need to try more at the source (Nieve Cinco de Mayo), but this was icy & inconsistent texturally and was pretty meh for me. I had a couple bites and was done. Owner shrugged and said that’s how it is.
Spent over $ 70 with tax/​tip and a few beers for my meal and was a little hungry and not very wowed.

4+ stars. This place is clearly a work in progress, but I really liked what I saw [and ate] on a recent visit. First and foremost, this is a neighborhood restaurant in a mostly residential zone. It has the same comfy down to earth vibe that I enjoyed at B-​Side BBQ [RIP]; most of the folks eating seemed like they had walked or biked over from their homes.
The food is distinctive and creative; just on the right side of precious [although I did see tweezers in action on a few occasions]. The wine list is eclectic and obviously designed with the cuisine in mind; there are a few interesting chilled reds that pair well with the more robust seafood dishes. The wine was expensive, especially given the miserly pours.
The dining room has a pleasantly cobbled together feel with a bar and large communal tables arranged around an open kitchen. A few more candles or accent lights would warm up the ambiance which is a bit chilly now.
And speaking of chilly: the servers were awesome but the cooks all looked like they were in the middle of open heart surgery. If you’re going to have an open kitchen and a bar, take advantage of it and socialize with your patrons!

Not very impressed. I really wanted to like this place.
Décor was… meh. Not terrible… I’ve seen some taco places have better. Personally I’m not a big fan of communal tables… especially at these kind of prices.
Overall the first impression was good, but as plates started to come out I was let down by under seasoned and bland flavors almost in every dish we had.
Shishito peppers seemed like didn’t have any salt and so did the eggplant dish. One thing I enjoyed was chicken katsu sandwich with kimchi. The biggest disappointment for me was miso marinated cod collar. It was the weirdest cut of the fish that didn’t have much flesh to eat, skin and fins, and it was $ 22… there was nothing else on the plate to consume. Maybe in some places its a delicacy of some sort but for me it was… not. I would have made some broth out of it.
Overall I think this place is overpriced for what you get, there are plenty more restaurants in Oakland that are in the same price range and after eating there you would come out and not doubt if you want to come back. This place… I will wait few months and give it another try, hopefully they have settled in and adjusted.

The weekend is always a good time to try something new which is something I never shy away from. I took my fresh feet and curious mouth to Salsipuedes, a new Mexican fused with every global taste restaurant in Oakland near the Emeryville border. The dinner experience comprised of sharing a long communal table. Tasty and interesting dishes. The octopus buns were really tasty with a blend of shrimp, lightly cooked octopus and soft buns. The beef tongue and and pork steak were interesting as well visually but I felt the taste to be bland. The beef tongue didn’t mess well with the cactus and the pork steak was a bit dry. Check out my pictures!

I really wanted to like this place, since it’s only 2 blocks from my house and I’d heard so much about it, but no dice. My boyfriend and I spent 40+ bucks on two tiny, overpriced, nothing-​special plates (a few bites of an OK eggplant dish and a boring but decent chicken sandwich) and two non-​alcoholic drinks. With their precious menu and high prices I doubt they’ll be seeing anyone from the neighborhood in here — except for the gentrifiers like myself — which is unfortunate.
We went to an Italian restaurant afterwards to get a real dinner.
We walked up to the hostess stand, waited around a minute or two, and several people said/​motioned they’d be with us. We waited… And waited. It’s an awkward feeling because there’s hardly any seating: one single table and a bunch of spots at the bar. You almost feel like leaving the minute you walk in the door. If I owned this place I’d make it a top priority to immediately welcome each guest who walks in, ask if this was their first time in the restaurant, if they’re from the neighborhood, and make sure they stuck around.
Anyway, I’m glad I tried it but I won’t be going back.