At the end of 2021, as pandemic lockdown restrictions were slackening and interest in natural wine reached an all-time high in the Bay Area, Snail Bar was the place to be in Oakland. Lines of people willing to wait hours for a table crowded the restaurant’s sidewalks. They sought additive-free wine, but also audacious cooking in the form of small plates that exhibited astonishing technical finesse without veering overly precious, such as best-in-class crudités with vegetables ethereal enough to make Alice Waters weep; pan con tomate veiled in translucent ham, ready to unleash a torrent of glutamates; and a virtuosic Colombian hot dog with a snappy-skinned link, a crumbling of potato chips and a line of quail eggs.
Snail Bar’s palate was seasonal but kaleidoscopic, stitching together Latin American, Japanese, Korean and Spanish flavors with French training reflective of chef-owner Andres Giraldo Florez’s experience working at Michelin-starred kitchens, such as Mugaritz in Spain, wd~50 in New York, Alinea in Chicago and Saison in San Francisco. Its attitude was chefs-with-arm-tattoos defiant and chronically online. Much more than a popular restaurant, Snail Bar helped make Oakland’s dining scene a national fixation.
Florez had a hit restaurant, but his neighbors weren’t happy. Within a year, Snail Bar, operating inside a two-story building on the corner of a cul-de-sac, was the subject of noise and sidewalk access complaints from residents. Perhaps a reflection of the same streak that animated his cooking, Florez gained a reputation for flouting city laws, and Snail Bar received multiple city code violations in 2022. Eventually, the restaurant’s upstairs neighbor sued Snail Bar and the building’s management, alleging in the suit that it failed to address his complaints, causing him to move out in 2024. Florez took over the two-bedroom apartment lease, and converted it into a café. Dubbed Upstairs, the café opened in 2025, but closed within days, due to permitting issues, to put it generously. Florez maintained at the time that he worked to address neighbors’ complaints and attributed some of the problems at both businesses to city bureaucracy. Upstairs hasn’t reopened, though Florez said it’s still in the works.
Last October, Florez announced his move to France and plans for a successor at Snail Bar. In February, he named a new chef de cuisine: Zachary Breaux, a 26-year-old self-described “Katrina baby,” originating from Lafayette, La. Breaux’s cooking talents earned him a scholarship to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, after which he went on to Atelier Crenn and Verjus. Last year, he committed himself to Left On Madeline, his “New Louisiana” popup, which pays homage to his upbringing. In June, he landed a residency dinner series at Cafe Colucci in Oakland. Florez, after three visits to the popup, offered Breaux, then 25, the job. “It was very out of the blue,” Breaux said, but he accepted…