One of the Bay Area’s most acclaimed restaurants is coming back — with a new menu, look and plan for long-term survival.
Oakland’s Daytrip, known for its punchy, experimental cooking and a worker-centric labor model, closed in December. Despite its accolades , including a spot on Bon Appetit’s list of the country’s best new restaurants in 2022 and a James Beard award nomination last year, the business was bleeding money .
So Daytrip Counter, which owners Finn Stern and Stella Dennig will open later this month in the same Temescal space, is a more casual, pared-down restaurant. It’s built around rotisserie chicken with a goal of maintaining affordability along with equitable labor practices and unusual flavors. It will offer counter service for lunch and dinner seven days a week — and, for the first time ever, takeout and delivery. While Daytrip used a 20% service charge that was split evenly among staff, the new restaurant will return to tips…