Fried chicken that made a buzz in the East Bay before its restaurant shut down has resurfaced in North Berkeley.
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Hopscotch Chicken, from local restaurateur Kyle Itani, opened in late August serving both fried and rotisserie birds in the Epicurious Garden in North Berkeley. It’s the latest in the chef’s ever-changing deck of restaurants, with Itani Sushi located in the same food hall and Itani Ramen and a sushi pop-up in downtown Oakland.
Hopscotch was a former Itani operation in Oakland that closed in 2023. Among its Japanese-fusion fare was fried chicken, which became so successful that it was sold by the bucket. Itani outlined the intensive labor process that led to the crunchy-juicy final product for Eater San Francisco, way back in 2015:
“To achieve chicken nirvana, the chicken is first marinated for three to five days in a mixture of buttermilk, whole milk, Japanese mustard powder soy sauce (Itani prefers Usukuchi Shoyu, which is less salty than others), and ginger, that has been blended ’til smooth. Then, the chicken is dredged in equal quantities of all purpose flour and potato starch, allowing lots of the marinade to remain for a solid crust. After that it’s eight minutes in the fryer for golden-brown perfection, followed by a healthy sprinkling of sea salt and Korean chili flakes.”
The restaurant Hopscotch Chicken opened in Aug. 2025 in the Epicurious Garden in Berkeley, Calif. (Nicola Parisi)
Hopscotch Chicken also does rotisserie birds by the quarter/half/whole, wings and tenders, fried-chicken sandwiches and Asian-inspired chicken salads. For dipping there are sauces like Fresno chile aioli, yuzu yogurt and ranch. And to round out a meal is a smorgasbord of side dishes: roasted potatoes with chicken drippings, collard greens with miso sofrito, kimchi fried rice, waffle fries and cheddar-chive biscuits.
Details: Open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. daily at 1511 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley; hopscotchchicken.com