Tada Ramen & Yakitori opens in Oakland with grilled skewers, squid-ink fried rice

You ever cast an eye around town and think, “There aren’t enough places serving food on sticks”?

Well, that pointy deficit has been partly countered by the arrival of Tada Ramen & Yakitori, a soup-slinging restaurant that offers skewers grilled over coals. Opened this July in Oakland’s Grand Lake neighborhood, Tada serves traditional as well as some rather unusual Japanese cuisine. Its name when translated means — sorry to any magicians out there — not “surprise” but “loyalty,” as in loyalty to fine ingredients and cooking.