According to the New York Times, Oakland ranks just after London and before Tokyo in the 45 Places to Go in 2012. The secret is out!
5. Oakland,
Calif.
New restaurants and bars beckon amid the grit.
Tensions have cooled since violence erupted at the recent Occupy Oakland
protests, but the city’s revitalized night-life scene has continued to
smolder.
The historic Fox Theater reopened in 2009 and quickly cemented its
status as one of the Bay Area’s top music
venues, drawing acts like Wilco and the Decemberists. Meanwhile, the
city’s ever
more sophisticated restaurants are now being joined by upscale
cocktail bars, turning once-gritty Oakland into an increasingly
appealing place to be after dark. James Syhabout, the chef who earned
Oakland its first (and only) Michelin star two years ago at Commis,
followed up in May with the instant-hit Hawker Fare, a casual spot serving
Asian street food. Big-name San
Francisco chefs are now joining him. Daniel Patterson (of
two-Michelin-star Coi) opened the restaurant Plum in late 2010 and
an adjacent cocktail bar later, and another restaurant, called Haven, in the recently renovated
Jack London Square last month. INGRID K. WILLIAMS
