Oakland has become a high end dining destination over the past couple of years with a stream of upscale and high profile restaurant openings. Many chefs with roots in San Francisco crossed over and opened up restaurants here – as did restaurant owners like Kiri Eschelle. The Oakland native was the co-owner of Levende in San Francisco, but had always wanted to open a restaurant in Old Oakland. Three years ago, she did just that with Levende East. And recently, she and her partner, Dirk Kahl, opened up yet another business in Oakland – a lounge called Liege.
“We wanted to open a second property in Oakland – we’re natives of Oakland, not San Francisco,” says Kiri. “We feel strongly about Oakland.”
And they managed to get the space they’ve had their eye on for four years now – the space where they originally wanted to open Levende East. It’s just a few doors down from the older, well established restaurant, which makes it easy for the owners to shuttle between the two places.
When Kiri and her partner started out with the concept behind Liege, they were thinking of a place that served just wine and cheese, but in the two years or so that they worked on developing the idea, they decided to go “for the full deal.”
And it sounds like quite a deal worth checking out. They change the regional focus of the menu every 8 weeks. In the first 8 weeks of Liege’s life, it has been serving Latin American cuisine, and in the middle of May, the food turns Japanese. There’s always a fondue component to the menu, as well as a sauce component. They offer 12 handmade sauces, which also will change with the regions. The specialty cocktails and wines follow the regional direction of the menu as well -- except for the farmer’s market cocktail on Friday, which is a constant.
Kiri isn’t a chef and doesn’t have a culinary background. But she does have a background now in running successful restaurants. Before getting into the restaurant business, she worked in the entertainment industry as vice president of Om Records. “I pay attention to food,” she says of her move into the food industry.
And she understands the power of ambience. She loves a comment from a consumer that describes Liege as an upscale version of Cheers. “It’s a relaxed vibe in here,” she says. And to keep that relaxed vibe going strong, Liege does game nights on Sundays. If you visit, you’ll find chess and dominoes - and even a wii. Last Sunday, people were bowling and playing tennis -- all with the wii.
If you get hungry playing, it might be good to know that the food’s relatively cheap Sunday nights -- between $5 and $8 for a full meal. Liege dishes out its “Sunday stew” on Sundays, and keeps serving until it runs out. This coming Sunday, there’ll be a grill outside and you’ll get jerk chcken and homemade German potato salad. The Sunday after, Kiri’s going to whip up something special. It’s the fun food component to go with the games.
Liege Spirits
|