Polarizing Proprietor of Excessive-Profile Oakland Restaurant Hello Felicia Declares Successor Venture

Lower than two months after the once-high-flying Oakland restaurant Hello Felicia closed in a quite spectacular style, proprietor Imana has introduced {that a} pure wine bar will take its place, opening July 13.

Hello Felicia morphed from a provocative pandemic-era pop-up with a cult following to an formidable brick-and-mortar in early 2022. All however annihilating any boundaries between workers and patrons, it served an expensive tasting menu that appeared to please as many individuals because it puzzled. 

Lower than a yr in, a housebreaking left the “vulgar nice eating” restaurant’s inside in ruins, and revelations of substandard working situations and accusations about bounced paychecks and store-bought elements added additional drama to its sudden closure. As a result of Imana, who works below one title, is a queer Black girl, there have been additional recriminations that she was held to the next commonplace than the straight white cooks and restaurant homeowners who typically win acclaim regardless of any abusive or exploitative behaviors.

On Friday, an Instagram publish revealed the opening date of Hello Felicia’s promised successor undertaking, a pure wine bar known as Jellybean that Imana had teased shortly after her restaurant’s remaining days. The account, @jellybeanthewinebar, took over Hello Felicia’s, with its 13,000 followers. All prior posts have been deleted, and the one different present photograph is of a scantily clad girl’s physique with the caption “I turned 27.”

The Commonplace has reached out to Jellybean for additional particulars.

In February, Imana opened the equally polarizing wine bar Sluts within the former Terroir house in South of Market. Serving wine alongside Flamin’ Scorching Cheetos and Chips Ahoy, its attractive inside has been one of many yr’s most storied openings in a neighborhood in any other case marked by closures. 

Jellybean’s innocent-sounding title is significantly much less in-your-face than Sluts’. Nonetheless, it’s unclear at current what—if something—will differentiate the 2 menus on both facet of the Bay, or in the event that they’re meant to be sister bars.

📍 326 twenty third St., Oakland
🗓️ Opening July 17