Sabor del Barrio: An article series exploring the Latino food scene in the East Bay ---
Walk into Rumbo al Sur on a Friday night and the bar is packed with patrons sipping margaritas while samba music sings through the speakers, and plates of ceviche, empanadas, and churros dot the tables. Opened in 2011 by the team of A Cote restaurant, Rumbo al Sur offers a tapas-style menu of dishes and wine from Mexico and South America, and cocktails made with fresh juices and Latin American spirits.
Head chef Matt Colgan is very passionate about Mexican food— he even cites the beginning of his career as a cook and delivery boy for a Mexican restaurant. Since then he’s come a long way: after restaurant work in Europe and San Francisco, Colgan has kept Mediterranean tapas restaurant A Cote busy since it opened 11 years ago. I sat down with Colgan to ask him about Rumbo al Sur’s menu, and how he thinks Latin American cuisine is making its mark on the culinary scene in Oakland and beyond. Colgan’s answers have been edited for clarity and length.
Visión Hispana: How did your background in cooking lead you to opening Rumbo al Sur?
Colgan: We’ve had the same team at A Cote for 11 years, and we kept asking ourselves if we could do anything else in Oakland, what would it be? What we do here is Latin American but we all have this love in particular for Mexican food and culture— we all have different connections to it. My general manager grew up in San Diego, our pastry chef has a Mexican grandmother, and I’ve always loved the food. I’ve been cooking it from the beginning, and working in California I’ve had so many opportunities to work with people from so many different regions of Mexico. Mexican food is the thing we eat for lunch every day. Someone makes tacos, someone makes barbacoa, someone else makes birria - everyone brings something different to the table, so we thought this would be it and we decided to start Rumbo al Sur.
Visión Hispana: For people that haven’t had your food, can you describe a dish that reflects what the restaurant is about?
Colgan: There are certain dishes that have been on the menu since the very beginning. One that has stayed on from the beginning is the baby back ribs. We do this rub with canela and cloves, ancho chile powder, some brown sugar and salt, we let that sit on them overnight, we smoke them for about four hours, and then we make a tamarind guava base glaze, that comes with a simple jicama slaw on the side.
Visión Hispana: When you’re not cooking, where do you go to eat?
Colgan: Chefs are a funny group of people. Sometimes you just really want a taco from a taco truck. You want the simplest, most casual, broken down kernel of goodness. You just might go down to the Sinaloa truck and get a few al pastor tacos and be thoroughly satisfied. And sometimes my favorite thing is to go to Japanese food because it’s just so different from what I prepare.
Visión Hispana: What role do you think Latin American food plays in the Oakland culinary “boom”?
Colgan: I think it’s playing a really fun role in the culinary scene of Oakland, because it’s a cuisine and a culture that lends itself to great music and a great atmosphere, like when it’s busy in here and this bar fills up, people are really having a good time. I mean, the margarita may be the best drink ever invented. I want people to come in and have a sense of discovery, a sense of fun. I think that when people go out to have good food, they want to have a good time too, and that’s what you have to provide people with.
Visión Hispana: What do you hope that people have learned or experienced after having dinner here?
Colgan: Hopefully people come away with an open mind about this type of cuisine. Things have popped up that are out of the mold, it’s not just enchiladas, rice and beans anymore. Mexico, just to take an example of one of the cuisines we do, is on a regional level just as diverse as Italy. We started getting into this Italian regional diversity about 15 to 20 years ago and I think now people are starting to realize the same thing with Mexico. It is that complex, and there are that many differences between regional cuisine. That alone gives you such a broad spectrum of flavors and techniques to play with.
Walk into Rumbo al Sur on a Friday night and the bar is packed with patrons sipping margaritas while samba music sings through the speakers, and plates of ceviche, empanadas, and churros dot the tables. Opened in 2011 by the team of A Cote restaurant, Rumbo al Sur offers a tapas-style menu of dishes and wine from Mexico and South America, and cocktails made with fresh juices and Latin American spirits.
Head chef Matt Colgan is very passionate about Mexican food— he even cites the beginning of his career as a cook and delivery boy for a Mexican restaurant. Since then he’s come a long way: after restaurant work in Europe and San Francisco, Colgan has kept Mediterranean tapas restaurant A Cote busy since it opened 11 years ago. I sat down with Colgan to ask him about Rumbo al Sur’s menu, and how he thinks Latin American cuisine is making its mark on the culinary scene in Oakland and beyond. Colgan’s answers have been edited for clarity and length.
Visión Hispana: How did your background in cooking lead you to opening Rumbo al Sur?Colgan: We’ve had the same team at A Cote for 11 years, and we kept asking ourselves if we could do anything else in Oakland, what would it be? What we do here is Latin American but we all have this love in particular for Mexican food and culture— we all have different connections to it. My general manager grew up in San Diego, our pastry chef has a Mexican grandmother, and I’ve always loved the food. I’ve been cooking it from the beginning, and working in California I’ve had so many opportunities to work with people from so many different regions of Mexico. Mexican food is the thing we eat for lunch every day. Someone makes tacos, someone makes barbacoa, someone else makes birria - everyone brings something different to the table, so we thought this would be it and we decided to start Rumbo al Sur.
Visión Hispana: For people that haven’t had your food, can you describe a dish that reflects what the restaurant is about?
Colgan: There are certain dishes that have been on the menu since the very beginning. One that has stayed on from the beginning is the baby back ribs. We do this rub with canela and cloves, ancho chile powder, some brown sugar and salt, we let that sit on them overnight, we smoke them for about four hours, and then we make a tamarind guava base glaze, that comes with a simple jicama slaw on the side.
Visión Hispana: When you’re not cooking, where do you go to eat?
Colgan: Chefs are a funny group of people. Sometimes you just really want a taco from a taco truck. You want the simplest, most casual, broken down kernel of goodness. You just might go down to the Sinaloa truck and get a few al pastor tacos and be thoroughly satisfied. And sometimes my favorite thing is to go to Japanese food because it’s just so different from what I prepare.
Visión Hispana: What role do you think Latin American food plays in the Oakland culinary “boom”?Colgan: I think it’s playing a really fun role in the culinary scene of Oakland, because it’s a cuisine and a culture that lends itself to great music and a great atmosphere, like when it’s busy in here and this bar fills up, people are really having a good time. I mean, the margarita may be the best drink ever invented. I want people to come in and have a sense of discovery, a sense of fun. I think that when people go out to have good food, they want to have a good time too, and that’s what you have to provide people with.
Visión Hispana: What do you hope that people have learned or experienced after having dinner here?
Colgan: Hopefully people come away with an open mind about this type of cuisine. Things have popped up that are out of the mold, it’s not just enchiladas, rice and beans anymore. Mexico, just to take an example of one of the cuisines we do, is on a regional level just as diverse as Italy. We started getting into this Italian regional diversity about 15 to 20 years ago and I think now people are starting to realize the same thing with Mexico. It is that complex, and there are that many differences between regional cuisine. That alone gives you such a broad spectrum of flavors and techniques to play with.
Sabor del Sur is located at 4293 Park Blvd. Oakland, CA 94602.