Introducing the delicious dozen. These are the 12 most popular Nosh stories of 2025 covering the most exciting East Bay food news of the year.  Included in the stories below, you’ll find tales of hidden gardens, childhood friends teaming up to open a restaurant in their old neighborhood, and a two-mile, single-street culinary journey.

Bookmark this page, and come back to dig into one of these stories anytime you need a break from holiday treats, presents, or people over the final week of the year. Get your taste buds excited for 2026, and make a list of the spots you still need to try. Enjoy!

1. Loard’s Ice Cream is back — in the location where it all started 75 years ago

The rebirth of the original Loard’s Ice Cream location was slightly delayed for its cameo in the film Freaky Tales, but in June, the iconic ice cream shop returned with old favorites and new additions. This was the most-read Nosh story of 2025.

2. Popular Berkeley breakfast spot makes a surprising comeback after year-long closure

In early 2024, Berkeley’s Homemade Cafe abruptly shuttered. Thanks to a new business partnership the popular breakfast spot with a community-minded ethos was able to reopen in early 2025 with a  renewed focus on its most popular dishes.

3. Acclaimed Oakland home restaurant is moving to Jack London

Born in a Jingletown backyard and featured in The New York Times, Elvira Varela’s restaurant has built a following for its tostadas raspadas and other Jalisco, Mexico regional dishes. Now, in early 2026, Cenaduria Elvira will move into a traditional restaurant space.

4. Get to know Oakland’s newest Michelin-starred restaurant

In June, the Michelin Guide awarded Sun Moon Studio from chefs Sarah Cooper and Alan Hsu one star, making it the second Oakland restaurant (along with two-star Commis) to receive the honor. The West Oakland restaurant delivers seasonal, locally sourced, ingredient-driven tasting menus in an intimate 12-seat setting.

5. Nosh Awards

The 2025 Nosh Awards were the biggest yet. Nosh expanded to ten categories, and for the third year in a row, Nosh received a record number of nominations and votes. The winners include both old and news spots, and a couple of repeat winners. Be sure to check out the brand new categories introduced this year, Best Bakery, Best Coffee Shop, Best Wine Bar, and Best Breakfast.

6. Hyphy Burger is ready for its close-up

A team raised in West Oakland brought a new smash burger concept to the neighborhood, and it immediately took off. The first restaurant was so successful, a second one has already opened in East Oakland. 

7. Berlin’s beloved street food is settling down in the East Bay

Like many food businesses these days, Black Forest Kitchen started as a pop-up selling Berlin-style döner kebabs. This year, it moved into a permanent brick-and-mortar space and has shared the German street food with The Town. 

8. The Berkeley Thai Temple’s Sunday brunch is an institution. Meet the volunteers who make the meal

Every week 300 to 500 hungry visitors descend on the Berkeley Thai Temple at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Russell Street for its Sunday brunch service. Nosh profiled several of the members of the team of volunteers, including some with decades of service, who power the brunch.

9. A dinner party that got ‘out of hand’ has become the growing Berkeley Supper Club

Alon Yoeli works in tech but also pursues a passion for food on the side, and has recruited some culinary professionals to help with his latest project. The monthly Berkeley Supper Club is a multi-course meal that encourages people to come together over dinner and keeps on growing. 

10. Oakland’s ‘party restaurant’ reinvents itself as affordable, family-oriented dining

Finn Stern and Stella Dennig closed their celebrated, but financially-struggling fermentation-focused restaurant Daytrip in December 2024. After coming back this year in the same space with a new, more casual concept based around rotisserie chicken, Daytrip Counter, the duo have found financial stability and to go along with the praise-worthy fare.

Sometimes real estate transactions are more than just an exchange of money for property. Sometimes a mission and culture are transferred as well. Community, commitment and passion (fruit) can all be found at Laurel’s Fig Leaf Gardens, a backyard-turned-community-garden shaped by multiple generations of owners.

12. I walked all of 23rd Street in Richmond. Here are the best things I ate

Richmond’s 23rd Street is one of the historical business corridors in the City of Pride and Purpose, and today it’s peppered with a range of restaurants serving a variety of cuisines. From Mexico to Italy, then Thailand, take a global culinary journey in less than two miles.