"Since its inception more than a decade ago, Old Oakland Filipino spot Cafe Gabriela has been a hotbed of culinary and revolutionary fervor. Named for Gabriela Silang, an 18th-century rebel commander of a Filipino independence movement, this small-but-mighty spot does a brisk lunch business serving Oakland workers, and it’s notable for devoting the time and labor to roasting their own small-batch coffees. With Filipino sandwiches like a pulled pork adobo cheek-by-jowl with American classics - turkey with cranberry, anyone? - this is an immigrant- and LGBTQ-owned enterprise with an altar dedicated to 60 ways to build community and a birdcage full of poetic affirmations. The first order of business is keeping everybody fed, body and soul." - Peter-Astrid Kane