Tiyo Shibabaw, who spent roughly a decade as general manager at Burma Superstar, opened Teni East Kitchen on May 5 at 3770 Piedmont Avenue — the space Pomella left behind after five years.

Tiyo Shibabaw opened Teni East Kitchen on May 5 at 3770 Piedmont Avenue in Oakland — the 3,000-square-foot unit, outdoor patio included, that Pomella vacated a year ago.

Shibabaw, Ethiopian-born, spent roughly a decade as general manager at Burma Superstar before opening his own Burmese restaurant in Temescal in 2016. The Piedmont Avenue move is bigger in every way: more floor space, a bar program, outdoor seating, and foot traffic the original Temescal storefront couldn't match.

The space itself carries history. Pomella, Mica Talmor's California-Israeli kitchen, operated here for five years before closing May 26, 2025. Talmor was direct about why in interviews at the time: rising costs across every input, contracting customer spending, the math finally broke. The unit sat for nearly a year before Teni East signed on.

Piedmont Avenue has absorbed several closures since early 2025: Monkey King Pub & Grub in February, The Crepe Pan in April after a decade, and The Lodge in January — the last of those has since reopened under new ownership. Yet the corridor has continued to draw new tenants. The strip is walkable, neighborhood-anchored, and has two ends that hold foot traffic year-round: Commis, James Syhabout's two-Michelin-star tasting room at 3859 Piedmont ($165 for eight courses), and Fentons Creamery, 131 years old at 4226 Piedmont.

Seat count and price point for Teni East were not available at filing. One more room is on the way: Ajae, a Korean comfort food concept from chef Brian Shin — Benu and Alinea alum — and restaurateur Min Park (Itria in SF, Yeobo Darling in Menlo Park), is targeting a late-2026 opening on the avenue, no address disclosed yet.