Casa Boriqueña, a popular Puerto Rican cuisine pop-up noted for its all-vegan menu, is slated to open its first brick and mortar sometime in early August at 6211 Shattuck Ave. in North Oakland, according to Eater SF.
Chef Lourdes Nau claims to have started the first vegan Puerto Rican restaurant in the United States when she flipped her original pop-up, started in 2018, from traditional boricua cuisine to the current vegan version in 2020. Typical Puerto Rican cuisine usually features pork, such as pernil, roast pork with extra crispy skin; and mofongo, fried plantains mashed together with garlic and pork bites. Chicharrones de pollo, deep-fried chicken pieces, is also a popular dish.
The brick-and-mortar menu will feature the same food people have come to love at Nau’s pop-up. Pastelon, which is thin blankets of sliced plantains layered over a protein and cheese (it reminds me of lasagna), mofongo and canoas (a whole, fried plantain sliced lengthwise and typically stuffed with ground beef), will all feature meat substitutes.
In an effort to help nourish those in need and enlighten folks who might not be interested in vegan Puerto Rican cuisine, Nau will be offering a “pay what you can” option once a week (at this time, there is no set schedule), as well as providing food on a donation basis every Tuesday.
The new spot will be small, only 750 square feet, but there will be some indoor seating and tables outdoors. Nau hopes to build a parklet, too, and apply for a beer and wine permit soon after opening.
“I like that it’s small,” Nau told Eater SF. “I won’t lose the personal touch I have with my customers.”
Casa Boriqueña, 6211 Shattuck Ave., North Oakland.
