Comal, the upscaled Mexican concept in downtown Berkeley that's been wildly well received in its first year, is going to get a sister restaurant soon in Berkeley's Elmwood neighborhood. The team of John Paluska and Andrew Hoffman are looking to convert a vacant retail space at 2635 Ashby Avenue into a new 3400-square-foot restaurant serving Northern Californian cuisine and craft cocktails, as Berkeleyside reports.
The design will take some cues from the raw-wood aesthetic of Comal, but the food will not be Mexican, they promise. They actually want to emulate restaurants like Nopa and Zuni, and they have not yet named a chef.
Paluska, formerly the manager of the band Phish, brought some of his sound-production knowledge to the space at Comal, and Michael Bauer praised the ample use of noise-dampeners to keep the volume in the vast space to a tolerable level.
There's still a change-of-use permit to get for the unnamed new spot, so construction has not yet begun. An ETA on the restaurant would not likely be until next year, if we had to wager a guess.
