After 10 years, Cosecha, a Mexican cafe popular among downtown Oakland office workers, is leaving the historic Swan's Market.
"We’ve lost 80% of our regular business because of COVID," said Cosecha owner Dominica Rice-Cisneros, chatting with me as she peeled cabbages.
It's about 1 p.m., and people are filtering in the market here and there to order crispy fish tacos, but it's certainly not the bustling scene of pre-pandemic weekday lunch hours she describes.
"The line for our cafe would be right here, this whole front area at lunch crunch," she explained, gesturing across the entirety of the food hall. "We're used to that five days a week of lunch activity down here from the offices, and then at dinner for people going to the theater or sporting events, but we don't have that anymore. Nobody has that right now."
Some other businesses inside Swan's, like izakaya B-Dama, remain temporarily closed, their tables and chairs stacked up in a corner. Others are gone for good: The Swan's location of Rosamunde Sausage Grill closed permanently back in September.
Cosecha's lease is up at the end of the month, as first reported by Berkeleyside, so their last day will be March 27 — but this isn't the end for Rice-Cisneros. On April 27, she is planning to open her new restaurant, Bombera, in a long-closed fire station in the Dimond District.
"Bombera means female firefighter," she explained. "The project is in a location that used to be a firehouse, but it was only built for men to stay there. It wasn't built for women and men. This is one of the reasons why it was shut down like 25 years ago. ... I think it needs my full attention, especially right now more than ever because there's no wiggle room for mistakes."
Rice-Cisneros bought the property back in 2017, initially planning to open Bombera in 2020 while still keeping Cosecha open. But then COVID-19 delayed permitting and renovations for the new restaurant by months, and meanwhile, business was down at Cosecha.
Cosecha, at 907 Washington St., Oakland, is closing at the end of March. In late April, owner Dominica Rice-Cisneros is opening her new Oakland restaurant, Bombera.
Angela M. via Yelp"I still haven't received my PPP loan," she said. "We applied in February and we're still being told to reapply. And so I don't know how we can maintain both properties. So moving into the back garden of the new project is going to be our best bet long-term, so that we're not paying more rent."
Bombera is better designed for COVID-era dining, with both a back garden and a front patio. The full Cosecha team will move over, as well as many favorites from the Cosecha menu, like the Cosecha Market Salad, the aguas frescas and some of their cocktails. With all the extra room, Rice-Cisneros will also be able to bring in some new equipment that never fit in the small Swan's space — a mesquite grill and a wood-burning oven, for example, which she worked with often in her days at Chez Panisse.
"I did that for most of my working career until I moved into this space where it was kind of cut off from that live fire," she said. "So that's why there's never been a carne asada taco here. Because if carne asada can't be grilled over mesquite, you know, why eat it?"
She's looking forward to introducing new seafood options from the wood-burning oven to the Bombera menu, as well as working with more corn-based recipes — think sopes and gorditas.
"We're going to definitely be stepping away from tacos a little bit and adding these other street food and lunchtime Mexico City-style snacks onto our menu," she explained. "That's something we've been striving for. And we love tacos, we eat tacos every day, but we're just kind of wanting to show people more."
Rice-Cisneros used to live in the Dimond District, so moving to the new, more neighborhood-y spot feels like a homecoming.
"We have a lot of love for Oakland and our staff has been a tight-knit crew here, working together every day for five years. Some of the team members have been here for nine, so we're really blessed," she said. "But we all need a change. The shiny new restaurant sounds really great. So it's going to be bittersweet."
Cosecha, at 907 Washington St., Oakland, is open Thursday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through March 27, the restaurant's last day at Swan's Market.
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