Oakland Magazine – “Taste of the Town – Rumbo al Sur”

Last fall, Robin and I returned from a brief trip to Spain in a small plates state of mind. Barcelona was an endless stroll from one tapas spot to another, interspersed with visits to museums and Gaudi landmarks. San Sebastian was a two-day crawl through the old town’s infinite varieties of pintxos, as the Basque designate their often toothpick-stacked bites. And not long after getting back to Oakland, we learned that Rumbo al Sur, the long-awaited Latin-American spin-off of small plates institution À Côté, was opening in the Glenview neighborhood. We were so there, so fast.

We made our first pilgrimage only a few weeks after the much-anticipated debut. Under the guidance of owner Jack Knowles and À Côté chef Matt Colgan, Rumbo was ready to roll. They did have plenty of time to fine tune their menu and systems: It had been about three years since word got out that Knowles had acquired the corner space previously occupied by Los Compadres Mexican restaurant. Clearly, the neighbor-
hood — which had already sidled into dining-destination status thanks to the Italian bistros Bellanico and Marzano on the other side of Park Boulevard — was ready to embrace the new kid on the block (at least after overcoming some resistance by residents wary of an auto influx). During each of two weeknight visits, the place — whose name means basically directed toward the south or in a southerly direction — was hopping…………….