Located in downtown Oakland this 250-seat restaurant’s design and menu were heavily inspired by the Occitan linguistic region, which covers southern France, the alpine region of Italy’s Piemonte, and Spain’s Catalonia.  The Arcsine team worked closely with Chef Canales to replicate the sensation of this region, utilizing native poetry to guide the initial design concept. The exploration of color, iridescence, light, and the concept of movement served as central themes for the overall design—with the color palette taking inspiration from the golden wheat fields, purple pastures of lavender, terracotta tiles, and the untamed greenery of these captivating coastal and central cities.

The light-filled main entrance makes for the ideal backdrop for the eye-catching woven artwork by Oakland local, Ramona Downey, which appears throughout—adding utterly unique and tactile elements to the space. The main dining room continues with a practical pickup area located strategically by a second side entrance and the widely tiled window into the kitchen. Under the mezzanine, the interior architecture takes a turn for the curvaceous with a backlit curved ceiling cove adorned with a river rock-inspired Maya Romanoff wallcovering. Here, guests can discover two matching booths that serve as an exclusive chef’s table section. Beyond the ceiling compression, the space returns to its full twenty-foot height, while the Monarch Plank flooring Lago Moro flooring found throughout gives way to a lighter hexagon terracotta tile that feeds into the final private dining room of the restaurant. Shimmering textured metallic paint lines the walls and the room is punctuated by an exquisite mural conceived and painted by Sam Strand, with support from Emily Ritz.