Saturday was a big success. $17,297 was raised for Haiti earthquake survivors. Seventeen-thousand-two-hundred-and-ninty-seven dollars! Wow. Thank you to everyone who came out & showed their support & gave so generously. A special thanks to Adelmise Warner for organizing the event & getting us involved.
East Bay Community Benefit to Help Haiti at Oliveto Restaurant
Saturday, January 30, 2010
11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Food and drinks (including wine) provided with your choice of donation from $25 (minimum per adult) to $300+ cash or check payable to “American Red Cross” (write “Haiti Earthquake” in Memo)
Featuring guest speakers Blaine Bookey, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) Legal Fellow and Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) Development Director and Walter Riley, prominent Civil Rights Attorney in Oakland and Chair of the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund in Berkeley
Adelmise Warner, a St. Teresa School parent, recently asked us if we would host a fundraiser to benefit Haiti earthquake victims. We agreed, and immediately started fielding offers of donations from cafe regulars to pig farmers. We’ve been moved by the outpouring & the event hasn’t even happened yet! That is to say, we’ve got some excellent prizes lined up for the silent auction, and some smaller, but also excellent prizes lined up for the raffle including: Continue reading ‘Haiti Earthquake Fundraiser’
Space is limited – Please call (510) 547-5356 for reservations
Working in the relatively uncharted Cilento zone on the Campania coast, Bruno de Conciliis is one of the most admired and innovative winemakers in Campania. An avid jazz lover, De Conciliis experiments, improvises, and has fun. Yet, he is deeply philosophical about understanding his role as a winemaker, and is truly committed to finding balance through natural wine making.
Grown in high-altitude vineyards facing the Mediterranean Sea, De Conciliis specializes in white wines from the ancient white grape Fiano, and full-bodied, fruit-forward reds from Aglianico. In this relatively hot climate, De Conciliis produces reds that are notably more accessible than young wines from nearby Taurasi.
Although Oliveto’s Whole Hog Dinners are still a few weeks away, the kitchen is already in full swine…er, swing. Sauerkraut is fermenting, prosciutto is curing, and orders are being placed. Five wild boar arrived on Thursday from Mac Magruder and a massive order to Niman Pork Company also goes in this week. There will be hogs coming from Riverdog Farm, Paul Willis, Mark Pasternak of Devil’s Gulch and Heritage Foods, totaling somewhere near twenty-five whole animals.
And Chef Paul Canales is ready. He’s already finalized some of the menu, including old favorites & some new favorites for 2010. We will, of course, offer numerous house-made cured meats and pâtés.
Favorites
Warm antipasto of pork tongue, artichokes, and aged black truffles
Pappardelle nere with pork heart and wild mushroom ragú
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Katy McLaughlin attempts to forecast fine-dining trends of the future, and gives a nod to the Oliveto Community Journal:
THE FUTURE? Mr. Chang predicts that in the future, more fine-dining chefs will replace waiters and serve the food themselves, as they do at his Momofuku Ko in New York. D’Amico Kitchen in Minneapolis splashes a live streamed video of the action inside its kitchen on an outside wall. Several restaurants, from Oliveto in Oakland, Calif., to L20 in Chicago, publish elaborate blogs about their ingredients and cooking.
The season may provide fewer options by way of available produce, but Chef Canales uses his skillful creativity (not to mention his supersonic hearing!) to devise a slew of excellent dishes for the winter menu. Add to that one of the best chanterelle seasons in a while, and you’ve got some serious deliciousness coming out of the Oliveto kitchen right now.
New Year’s Eve is a favorite time at Oliveto. The menu is spectacular, the atmosphere is festive, lively music is played, and when the mood strikes…there is dancing. This year will be no exception. In fact, the menu is shaping up to be even more tricked out than usual, now that Chef Canales has set his sights on a meal celebrating the wintry, soul satisfying cuisine of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
The food of this lesser known, north easternmost region of Italy is exceptionally opulent and alive. Influenced by its neighbors Austria and Slovenia, and inspired by the spice route from Trieste, the cuisine springs from a history of experimentation as well as tradition. Chef Canales’s has created a stellar menu worthy of taking us into the new year: Continue reading ‘New Year’s Eve 2009′
We stopped by the Derby Street Farmers’ Market in Berkeley yesterday to talk with some of our farmers about how they’ve been dealing with the recent mercury plunge. Both Riverdog Farm and Full Belly Farm in Guinda lost electricity, and had problems with irrigation lines freezing. There was a mad dash before the cold set in to harvest as much broccoli, cauliflower, and celery root as possible. Many recent transplants, too fragile to hold their own, didn’t make it through the freeze.
We are now ready to stop goofing around get seriously SEASONAL. And what’s more seasonal then chestnuts roasting on an open fire? Well, how about hot mulled cider? Because we’ve got that too!
Our expert chestnut roaster, Sarah, will be on Shafter Street in front of Oliveto roasting chestnuts through the holiday season: Wed-Sun, 3pm-9pm. Stop by & get your festive on.
