Millennium chef Eric Tucker
Millennium is making the move east.
Eric Tucker, chef/co-owner at the popular San Francisco vegan restaurant, confirmed that he and general manager Alison Bagby have officially signed the lease to take over the former Box & Bells space at 5912 College Avenue.
It had been announced earlier this year that Millennium’s original location would be closing at the end of April after more than two decades in Nob Hill, while rumors floated about the Oakland move last month.
Tucker says that if all goes according to plan, Millennium’s new location will be open by early June. (They recently capped off a Kickstarter campaign in which they more than doubled their $50,000 fundraising goal.) For Tucker and Bagby, both Oakland residents who have worked together for the last eight years, the move to the East Bay simply made a lot of sense.
Purple Cauliflower Fritto at Millennium // Facebook
“We’ve always wanted an East Bay restaurant; I’ve been living in Oakland for 14 years and it’s just a good place to be, so I’d love to be a part of it,” says Tucker, who also helped open vegan restaurant Encuentro in Jack London Square. “And I think there’s a good scene here in Berkeley and North Oakland for a vegetable-based restaurant. We were looking for something that was a smaller size from our current venue, which is exactly what we found. We’re a destination restaurant, so it’s nice to be close to BART, plus there’s better parking here than in San Francisco.”
Expect a very similar vegan-centric menu, Tucker says, with the likely addition of a few simpler, more affordable options to complement the more “grandiose” entrees. They’ll be open for dinner only to start, with plans to phase in brunch, and possibly lunch at a later date. There is a full bar, so expect a full menu of vegan cocktails, and Tucker and Bagby aim to continue hosting special events such as winemaker dinners and cooking classes. The space also comes with a outdoor back patio, in which the two hope to put in a new herb garden.
“There’s not a whole lot to do to with that space. They did a lovely job with it,” says Tucker “So we’re hoping to get up and running as soon as possible.”
Millennium Restaurant: 5912 College Avenue, Oakland, millenniumrestaurant.com.
