Temescal’s oyster faithful just got a reboot. Ace Seafood quietly reopened this week at 5000 Telegraph Avenue, stepping into the former Small Change oyster bar space. The team kept the patio and raw-bar core but shifted to a casual, counter-service setup that pairs oysters with fried plates and sandwiches, aiming to draw steady neighborhood traffic instead of only hardcore raw-bar regulars.
New Operators, Counter Service And A Patio Game Plan
According to The Oaklandside, Ace Seafood is now being run by operating partners Tay Kennedy and Peter Gutowski, while owners Matt and Tiffany Lipelt remain involved behind the scenes. The crew has converted the room into a modified counter-service layout, kept roughly 18 seats inside, and held onto about 48 patio seats that are shared with next-door Poppy Bagels. They also plan to start programming events on that patio beginning in March. As Gutowski told The Oaklandside, “we needed to expand our horizons and go beyond just seafood.”
From Small Change To Ace Seafood
Small Change landed in Temescal after a string of pop-ups and built a reputation for shucked oysters and over-the-top micheladas, as reported by Berkeleyside. That earlier project was financed in part by partners Matt and Tiffany Lipelt, who, per reporting, stayed connected to the space as the concept evolved into its current Ace Seafood iteration.
What’s On The Menu And Where The Oysters Come From
Ace Seafood has stretched the former raw-bar-focused offerings into a fuller, casual spread that now includes wings, fish and chips, chowder, oysters by the dozen or half-dozen, a fish sandwich, and a shrimp po' boy, per The Oaklandside. That coverage also lists oyster varieties on deck, including indigos, Kumamoto, Shigoku, and Sweetwaters, and notes that most of the shells are coming from Taylor Shellfish and Baywater Shellfish Company.
What The Change Means For Temescal
Local openings roundups have already flagged Ace Seafood as one of several recent additions along Telegraph Avenue, framing the reboot as part of a small wave of more casual options in the neighborhood. Richmondside included the new name in a February roundup, and local listings now mirror the lunch-to-evening hours, suggesting the team is positioning Ace Seafood as a reliable, everyday neighborhood spot rather than only an occasional oyster destination.
