Fikscue Craft BBQ
Reka and Fik Saleh ran two popups out of their house, his Texas barbecue and her Indonesian cooking. Then one night she stir-fried his leftover brisket with a West Sumatran sambal. That dish merged the two businesses. All the meat is halal.
Why go
Fik cooks Central Texas barbecue and Reka wanted more people eating Indonesian food, so the menu runs in two halves that meet in the middle. Reka tosses smoked brisket with peppery sambal, or cooks it down in coconut milk into rendang. Beef back ribs come under a tamarind-infused peanut sauce, and there is a jalapeno-cheese beef sausage. The fried rice is nasi goreng with corned beef and shrimp paste in it.
The Alameda restaurant opened in autumn 2023, and the couple had five weeks to get it open once the landlord said yes. Cesar Hernandez reviewed that room for the Chronicle in February 2024. Eater named Fikscue one of its best new restaurants in America the same year.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the rendang plate. Creamy, potently spiced beef, with garlic chips, a boiled egg in sambal and a kale curry lifted with lime leaf and lemongrass.1
- Order: a dino beef rib if they have one. Eater's pick here is the one you hold in your hand.2
- Order: the cendol to finish, green pandan jelly in coconut milk over ice.2
- Avoid: the lean brisket. Ask for fatty.1
What locals & experts say
- Cesar Hernandez, San Francisco Chronicle, February 2024, reviewing the Alameda room:
What really sold me on Fikscue, though, was the exceptional rendang
.1 - Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF, on the essential-38 map:
it's a dynamic pairing of cultures you can't find anywhere else
.2 - MacKenzie Chung Fegan and Cesar Hernandez, in the San Francisco Chronicle's 2026 Top 100, at No. 41: they file it under the genre Indonesian-Texas barbecue and call it the Bay Area's greatest barbecue operation. The ranking covers both doors.3
Good to know
- Doors: this page is 7 Warriors Way, Suite 208, in the complex around Chase Center. The original is 1708 Park Street in Alameda.
- Ordering: they slice the smoked meats to order and sell them by weight, and the Indonesian dishes come plated.1
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Best new resto eater 2024"
Verdict
should-visit — Whatever else you order, take one Indonesian plate. That half of the menu is why this door exists.