Oakland
California, USA · Temescal · Piedmont Ave
1 places pinned — click any one for its story.
The place
Across the bridge to Oakland for Commis on Piedmont Ave — a two-Michelin-star tasting menu run by chef James Syhabout out of a room that seats maybe thirty. He trained at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and worked as chef de cuisine at Manresa under David Kinch before opening his own place in Temescal in 2009, and it picked up a star before the year was out. Two stars now, the only restaurant in Oakland to hold that. Tonight's menu ran Thai and Chinese — Syhabout was born in northeast Thailand and raised in Oakland, and that food, not a straight New American register, is what shows up on the plate alongside the French technique.
Places I visited
History & facts for each spot — with a “then & now” archival photo where one exists. Every one has its own page; open it for the full write-up and all the photos.
Chef and owner of Commis, born in northeast Thailand and raised in Oakland. He graduated the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco in 1999 and worked his way through some of the best kitchens in the world — El Bulli under Ferran Adria, Coi under Daniel Patterson, and chef de cuisine at Manresa under David Kinch…
Full history & photos →
Where we ate
Commis
Oakland — 3859 Piedmont Ave, TemescalNew American tasting menu, Thai and Chinese influences · A narrow storefront on Piedmont Ave that has quietly held a Michelin star longer than almost anywhere else in the Bay Area — Syhabout opened it in 2009 and it starred that same year, well before the East Bay had any other fine-dining pull. Food & Wine named him a Best New Chef the year after. Syhabout was born in Thailand and raised in an Isan-Lao Chinese household in the East Bay, and Commis' tasting menu leans on that background — French technique built around Thai and Chinese flavors rather than a straight New American register. The old-fashioned at the bar comes with a branded 'commis' ice cube, and James himself was working the pass tonight.
MichelinSeasonal tasting menuthe full page →
