Oakland Brings the Heat

Oakland has spice. Here's where to find it.

If you like spice, you’ll find lots of options to choose from in Oakland—whether in the Latino neighborhood of Fruitvale or in the many different Asian cuisines you can find across the city, like Indian, Korean, Thai, and Chinese. Oakland is also home to a thriving Ethiopian and Eritrean population, so if you love sopping up spicy meat and vegetable stews with injera, you’ll have options. The city’s long history of southern Black migration brought soul food to the Bay Area, and one of the recent additions to Oakland’s food scene, World Famous Hotboys, serves Nashville hot chicken. Given the city’s history of welcoming Americans from other parts of the country as well as immigrants from many continents, Oakland is the perfect place to get your spice on.

Spices 3 serves Sichuan food, known for its heat and heavy use of garlic and ginger.

A relatively new joint and the first Trinindadian restaurant in Oakland, CocoBreeze offers curry goat, jerk chicken, and roti wraps.

This Nashville-style hot chicken spot serves the spiciest fried chicken in Oakland, as well as wings and bone-in chicken—you can choose from five spice levels.

Enssaro is one of Oakland’s most popular Ethiopian restaurants. Ethiopian food has lots of vegetarian options, and it’s one of the best cuisines to enjoy “family style.”

Korean food is known for its spice, particularly in the quintessential dish of kimchi. Oakland’s small Koreatown, along Telegraph Avenue, offers plenty of options.

A hole in the wall Indian restaurant manned only by a husband-and-wife team in deep east Oakland, Masala Cuisine serves incredible food at unbeatable prices.

It’s hard to pick just one taqueria in Oakland, as almost all of them serve amazing tacos, burritos, tortas and quesadillas, but Taqueria El Paisa@.com has a legendary salsa bar that ranges from spicy to stomach-scorching The more adventurous can try tripa (tripe), cabeza (head meat), or nopales (grilled cactus).  

Southern Thai food tends to be spicier than other regions, with influences from India and Malaysia. Daughter Thai serves both street food and more filling dishes.