59 Grand Ave.
Oakland, CA
510-465-4600
The old Vo’s gets a spiffy redo. Red-and-taupe-hued walls, bamboo floors and room dividers, dark wood tables plus solid Vietnamese cuisine combine to create another stylish addition to Uptown. Claypot dishes, Vietnamese shaking beef and tamarind catfish soup are some of the tantalizing dishes on offer. A low-key former favorite of the power elite, this hip, reinvented Vo’s is banking on a busy lunchtime crowd as well as the hipster overflow from neighbors for reincarnation as a happening hangout, and so far, it’s on the right track. Lunch Mon.–Fri., dinner nightly. (Also: 277 Parrot St., 510-357-6600, San Leandro).