Bites: Truffle season is here, homebrew competition at Old Kan, Crave BBQ

BBQ IS INN A historic hotel in West Oakland will soon become a new spot for blues and BBQ. The California Hotel once hosted blues and jazz greats back in the day, but it fell under hard times and disrepair over the decades. Since 2011, it has been under the management of the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC), a nonprofit community development organization which has been working to bring the building, now a low-income housing and social services space, back to its former glory as a visual and performing arts hub. Late last month, EBALDC announced that it will be opening a new food incubator program at the California Hotel through a partnership with local chef Rashad Armstead, who previously ran Berkeley-based catering business called Artistic Taste 7 and Crave BBQ, a now-closed pop-up at a former gas station in West Oakland.