Check Out the Menu for Salsipuedes, Now Softly Open in Oakland

Though the official opening day is still weeks away, East Bay Express notes that Salsipuedes has quietly opened its doors to the public, offering "California rustic" cuisine to the Longfellow neighborhood of Oakland.

The 25-seat restaurant, which was originally slated for a June debut, has an official grand opening planned for August 20. The project is a collaboration between Jay Porter, who also owns The Half Orange in Fruitvale, Luis Abundis of Nieves Cinco de Mayo and Bradford Taylor of Oakland'sOrdinaire wine shop. And though the restaurant is technically open, Porter emphasized that this is a soft-opening period, during which they'll be implementing final touches on the interior and tightening up the menu as they go along.

In the meantime, chef Marcus Krauss (formerly of The Restaurant at Meadowood) will be warming up with a menu influenced by California seafood and flavors from the Baja region of Mexico. Dishes like an heirloom bean cioppino with Rancho Gordo beans, clams and Mendocino seaweeds, and an octopus melt bao with shrimp and cracklins sound particularly interesting and in keeping with a purposefully casual vibe, intended to evoke the atmosphere of a dinner party or backyard barbecue. There'll also be beers curated by Porter, a wine list from Taylor and desserts from Abundis. For now, the restaurant is open Tuesday-Saturday from 5:30 p.m.