Wahpepah’s Kitchen
Native American restaurant · Fruitvale Station ·
Indigenous cuisine with bison, salmon, corn, squash, and berries
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Indigenous cuisine with bison, salmon, corn, squash, and berries
"I watched Chef Crystal Wahpepah of Oakland's Wahpepah's Kitchen lead multiple demonstrations on preparing acorns, foraged mushrooms and squash using techniques passed down through generations; her sessions drew crowds eager to understand the origins of California's ingredients and the people who first cultivated the land. Wahpepah emphasized that “our foods are the first foods,” and she said the festival’s free, open format allowed her to reach many people, connect with local farmers, increase visibility for Native foodways and highlight the need for more education about Indigenous food sovereignty and native foodways." - Alexis Benveniste
"Wahpepah’s Kitchen is an Indigenous restaurant serving traditional Native American dishes in a colorful, mural-adorned space in Oakland’s Fruitvale. This year, they’re bringing three versions of fry bread tacos to the park: bison, vegan, and dessert with native berries." - julia chen 1
"The menu at Wahpepah’s Kitchen hopes to reclaim Native foodways and educate diners on the health benefits of traditional Native foods. There’s a wide variety of mains like green chili rabbit pozole, bison tacos, and wild native mushroom pumpkin seed mole, but you should definitely also get the charred buffalo or deer meat, which is super tender. They also sell and deliver snack bars made with ingredients like wild rice amaranth, traditional Mayan chocolate, and chokecherries." - anne cruz
"Opened in November 2022 near the Fruitvale BART Station and run by Crystal Wahpepah of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma (the first Native chef featured on Food Network’s Chopped), the vibrantly decorated Oakland restaurant serves regionally rooted dishes like blueberry-infused bison meatballs, wild native mushroom and pumpkin seed mole, red chili rabbit tacos, and ground Ute blue corn mush for dessert, emphasizing proteins such as bison, salmon, and venison selected to honor the diet of the Ohlone people." - Andrea Cooper, Mae Hamilton
"I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I ordered the bison frybread taco (miisiikwaa keetaheehiin, Kickapoo language), but it was a revelation: the frybread was soft and pillowy with a crisp exterior and served hot, topped with ground bison mixed with lettuce, tomatoes, pinto beans, pickled jalapeños, and cheese. Fast-food aficionados might think of a Taco Bell chalupa, but this bison frybread taco is in a league of its own—Taco Bell wishes its food tasted like this—and the dish was excellent and easily shareable among four friends listening to music in the cold; I can’t wait to visit Wahpepah’s in Oakland to have this again while sampling the rest of chef Crystal Wahpepah’s Kickapoo menu." - Eater Staff