Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe » News Feed

Now serving Peet’s Coffee in Emeryville and Oakland!

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:54:03 +0000

We had previously served Peet’s for 7 years in Emeryville and now it's BACK! Peet’s Coffee and Espresso is also now being served at the newest location Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe Oakland. So stop in for great food and PEET'S Coffee and Espresso being served ALL DAY LONG!!

Best of the East Bay 2011 Q&A with Mike Dirnt

admin — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 16:19:11 +0000

Editor Pick: rockin’ restaurant Most know Mike Dirnt as the bassist for legendary East Bay rock band Green Day. Fewer know that the 39-year-old Oakland resident is one of the original four founders of the popular Emeryville diner Rudy’s Can’t Fail Café and a die-hard foodie (his favorites include Picán, Le Cheval, and Dopo). We asked Dirnt about the just-opened second Rudy’s right next to Oakland’s Fox Theater.

Diablo: How’d you get involved with Rudy’s?

Mike Dirnt: One of the reasons was I couldn’t go anywhere with my six-year-old without waiting 45 minutes to get her a friggin’ waffle. It was ridiculous. I’d also cooked in high school at a place called the Nantucket in Crockett, so when [founding Rudy’s partner Jeffrey Bischoff] was thinking about starting Rudy’s, I was the first person he called.

What’s the idea behind the restaurant?

It’s just a good place to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We tried not to overthink it. We just tried to put our own rock ’n’ roll spin on it, give it some good aesthetics, and see what would happen. And serve good coffee.

Why the new Uptown location?

I love that area: The bars are incredible, and I frequent all the restaurants. With the Paramount and the Fox reopening, there’s a pulse that’s pretty cool. But there’s no good coffee shop where you can go late at night and get a bite with your buddies and just order fries.

What can people expect?

We’ll have some new menu items, and we’re also going to have a full bar. One thing I was pretty adamant about was having a killer Bloody Mary. We want to serve the needs of the customers: Sometimes you need coffee, and sometimes you need a Bloody Mary.

—Ethan Fletcher

Article From: Best of the East Bay

NBC News Video: Revival of the Very Cool Uptown District

admin — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 16:17:08 +0000

When Oakland's Fox Theater reopened several years ago after a 40 year hiatus, it kicked off a Renaissance in the uptown neighborhood. Now the parade of restaurants and bar openings is getting sort of a punk rock infusion. The tour guide for the new Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, which opened this week, is a bit famous himself. Co-owner Mike Dirnt also has a little side job playing bass in a band called Green Day. And now he's proudly showing off the decor of his new restaurant which shares a corner of the Fox.

Gov. Jerry Brown Eats At Rudy’s And So Should You

admin — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 16:18:14 +0000

And after last week's official opening of the second Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, which is next door to Oakland's Fox Theater, Gov. Jerry Brown and Anne Gust Brown came to dinner. The two-hour visit to the new restaurant was proof that Brown hasn't forgotten his old job, and still wants to support the Uptown Oakland renaissance he promoted as mayor of Oakland. Read full Article on: www.sfgate.com

Barbie showdown in Oakland: Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe versus the Stork Club

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 05:04:38 +0000

Imagine the confusion facing aliens about Barbie if they ever land on Earth without humans to explain why people project social obsessions and professional aspirations on an 11½-inch plastic doll.

Take the Doll Walk of Fame at Rudy's Can't Fail Café, which opened Monday. This will be either the second or third time that I begin this column with Rudy's. It's unavoidable this week because there is a ribbon-cutting ceremony 6:30 p.m. Friday which Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt will attend. He is an investor in Rudy's and a rock star. It made sense to put a rock-star event at the top of the column.

Along the wall at Rudy's, above a row of booths, in a chrome and glass case, stand dozens of dolls in blue shirts, black pants and white aprons wearing pins that read, "I am Rudy."

Most of them have real Barbie bodies stamped with "Mattel Inc." But the heads or clothes have been replaced on Cyborg Barbie, Bride of Frankenstein Barbie and others -- at least it looks that way. Xena the Warrior Princess might be original. It's hard to tell from a distance.

A Mr. Clean doll is at one end of the row near the bathrooms, a fitting location. MC Hammer is at the other end, near the entrance. His pants are also black, but they're the genie-style wraparounds he wore when he sang "U Can't Touch This."

Hammer and all the dolls are standing at attention, like an army of mutated miniature waitresses ready to take someone's order. Can I tell you that I was a little horrified that only the male dolls have joints in their arms?

Arms notwithstanding, co-founder, toy collector and music merchandising impresario Jeffery Bischoff said the dolls add a dash of playfulness and match the classic all-American diner theme with a punk sensibility that Rudy's is trying to pull off. Bischoff calls himself the guy that asked some people to "follow me off the cliff" by investing in his diner brainchild that began in Emeryville close to a decade ago.

The "I am Rudy" and matching uniforms are about being different but being welcome in our diverse culture, he said. "We're all in this thing called life together," Bischoff said.

Micky Chittock is said to have collected more than 600 Barbies. Some of them are on display at the Stork Club, a house of punk founded by Micky and her husband, Wes.

They are "overflow from the house, that's what I call them, or my inheritance "... besides this bar," their son Tom Chittock said. He runs the bar and watches over Harley-Davidson Barbie, Holiday Visions Barbie, Wedding Day Barbie, Cinderella Barbie, Irish Dance Barbie, Cleopatra Barbie made to look like Elizabeth Taylor in the movie, and "Gone with the Wind" Barbie.

I look up above me and the bar I am standing in front of to find Rhett Butler, Scarlett O'Hara and others whose names I don't remember. Next to them are Eliza Doolittle and Professor Henry Higgins, from the "My Fair Lady" Barbie collection.

Moonbeam Barbie is up there too, but does not look like Gov. Jerry Brown.

Tom said a thief stole the Wheelchair Barbie and the Elvis and Marilyn set. He still has a solo Marilyn Barbie and a Barbie Loves Elvis duo, but he moved them to a safe place above and behind the bar.

"Some of the Barbies are really old and some are new, but they're all collectibles," he said. All are in their original packages.

Besides Rhett, the Professor and Elvis, the only males are Big Brother Ken and the little boy he is holding. Entombed in plastic, they are forever separated from what could only have been their soul mates, Barbie and Ginger.

I count 24 dolls above the bar plus the Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Tom counted 31 behind the bar. We decide to call it an even 60 on any given day because some of them get swapped out. "I have seven sisters, so I grew up with all these," he said.

"Most of them are adopted."

"The Barbies?" I asked, revealing the signs of wear and tear on my brain even though it was only Wednesday. "The sisters," he said patiently.

Details: www.storkcluboakland.com.