Christmas stockings hang on the wall near the entrance of Rob Ben’s, Marshawn Lynch’s new restaurant in Emeryville.
Across from the stockings is a newly-built black bar surrounded by sleek wood and glass shelving. Above it all are new lights and a framed No. 24 Oakland Raiders jersey, giving the space a chic, sports lounge feel.
In the parking lot is a barbecue smoker, so large it has to be carried on a trailer. The piece of equipment was custom built by GStacks Custom Smokers, an local outfit that makes custom barbecue pits. The one at Rob Ben’s just so happens to be adorned with the Beast Mode logo.
Lynch’s new business will open on Friday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m., selling soul food — think ox tails and fried catfish — to the masses. Most importantly, the debut marks the end of an 18-month process for Lynch that began with the Oakland native simply wanting the community that raised him to have its own neighborhood restaurant and bar.
So how did we get here?
Before Rob Ben’s moved into San Pablo Avenue, this space was home to Scend’s, an East Bay soul food touchstone that had been around for decades. It was a no frills shop run by Cassie Nickelson. Her fried chicken and fish dishes earned her a cult following.
Lynch bought Scend’s last summer from Nickelson, who was 80 years old at the time and deciding to retire. The two had known had a relationship that traced back about 20 years, to a time when Nickelson was running a catering business out of her apartment in Oakland. Lynch lived nearby and often bought her 75-cent hamburgers and 25-cent fries.
The relationship was part of the reason Nickelson was so comfortable handing her business to the Oakland Raiders running back. (In subsequent months, Nickelson’s Scend’s unexpectedly found new life in San Leandro, and goes by the name Scend’s II.)
So Lynch closed Scend’s, rolled up the maroon shutters on the windows, and quietly began remodeling. Where Scend’s was once bright with its tan-colored dining room, Rob Ben’s is darker, with charcoal hues and shades of deep red and burgundy.
Lynch made the place his own, naming the business after his friend, East Bay native Robert Benjamin, who gunned down on Oakland’s 14th Street in December 2007. He was 25 years old.
Outside of a few social media posts and some new signage on the Emeryville building’s facade over the last few months, Lynch and his camp have been tight-lipped about the venture ever since he decided to pursue it back in 2017.
And though Rob Ben’s has a much more modern feel to it, the business is still meant to be a neighborhood gathering place. The fact was made evident by Lynch himself a few days ago as a light-hearted video began floating around on Instagram of Lynch walking through his Rob Ben’s dining room and, in so many words, encouraged people to stay off their cell phones while eating together. There’s even a sign on one of the tables in the video that reads No Phone Zone.
On Tuesday, the Rob Ben’s staff was answering calls from the public as word spread the business was getting closer to an opening date. That same evening, a few employees spent a portion of the night moving food, spices and oils and equipment into the kitchen and dining room.
With Beast Mode joining the restaurant world, he will follow on the heels of Ayesha Curry, whose husband Steph Curry plays for the Golden State Warriors. She opened International Smoke last year in San Francisco and has since opened multiple locations across the country, including in San Diego and Houston.
Lynch’s project in Emeryville appears to be more singular, personal rooted in the East Bay. And when it opens, it’ll be one of one — just like its owner.
Rob Ben’s: 3627 San Pablo Ave., Emeryville; Open daily from 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.
Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Marshawn-Lynch-s-new-restaurant-and-lounge-Rob-13461142.php 2018-12-12 23:38:00Z
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