Playing Darts with Marcella Hazan

From someone we greatly respect, we recieved some gratifying praise last week. Marcella Hazan and her husband Victor usually stop by for dinner when they visit the Bay Area, so we are thrilled that she’s included Oliveto as one of her Fresh Picks on the Daily Beast blog….

Oliveto Fisheries Forum

The idea for a forum on local fisheries was sparked by one of our regulars at the upstairs bar who came in one night excited that Obama’s new head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would be Prof. Jane Lubchenco, a prominent and well-respected marine biologist from Oregon State University. Our friend thought the appointment portended…

Chef Canales Gives a Tour of the Meat Locker

We installed a large meat locker a few years back that finally provided the space for some more ambitious projects such as receiving whole sides of beef, as well as hanging and aging meat….

A Visit From Two Piedmontese Friends

Essential to the Oliveto Wine in Time project is Aldo Vacca, Director of Produttori del Barbaresco. Beginning in 1998, he has helped shape our ideas about wine, introduced us to many other fine producers, found old wine for our list, been a great host and friend, and helped us acquire hours of video tape about the region. On June 25th and 26th, Chef Canales will offer…

Jenny Makes A Mess…the delicious kind

This week we got another 40 lbs of Red Cloud apricots from Terra Firma, as well as 40 lbs of dry-farmed Royal Blenheim apricots from Mercy Wong in Vacaville. It was way too much fruit to use, but the always superior Blenheim’s season is so short, I have vowed to buy everyhting that comes my way (I hate it when a fruit goes out of season before I feel I’ve really celebrated it fully.) So far…

Menu for Oliveto Oceanic Dinners 2009

Appetizers and Salads

Plates Expressing the Best Catch of the Day (Raw, Salted, Marinated, and Smoked)

This is a new section for our Oceanic Menu. It is inspired by my recent trip to Japan where I was exposed to many new ways of thinking about and preparing fish. It is no accident that after Japanese cuisine, Italian cuisine is most favored in Japan…

This Just In – PORCINI MUSHROOMS

Romano Isole just showed up with some beautiful porcini foraged from the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento.  We bought up a whole bunch and Chef Canales plans to have them popping up all over the menu, starting tonight, in such dishes as:
Gnocchi with porcini
an entree of Riverdog Farm pasture-raised eggs poached in olive oil and [...]

From the Field – Inaugural Post – Spring Has Sprung at the Oliveto Community


From Catalan Farm in Hollister:

-Long stem purple artichokes that we will caramelize with garlic and mint
-Young baby fennel bulbs and cauliflower that will find their way into a special spring vegetable antipasto with pistachios and orange
-Young, tender fava greens…