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 making balanced wine using “natural” methods.
De Conciliis specializes in white wines from the ancient white grape ‘Fiano’, and full-bodied, fruit-forward reds from the ‘Aglianico’ variety. His high-altitude vineyards face the Mediterranean. In this warm climate, De Conciliis produces reds that are notably more accessible than wines of the same age 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.
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