Wednesday through Saturday, June 10 through 13

Appetizers and Salads

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

Various Salted, Marinated, and Smoked Fish

Platter of Oceanic terrines and preserves

Carpaccio of local swordfish with red miso maionese, Espelette pepper, and black mustard

Salade Niçoise:  classic Provençal salad of fish, vegetables, olives, egg, and herbs

Seaweed salads (red and green tosaka)

Chilled octopus soppressata with Castelvetrano olives, celery heart, and Monte Iblei olive oil

Shaved Oliveto tuna bresaola with chilled spinach, roasted beets, and pine nuts

Green sea urchin flan with old aceto balsamico

Charcoal-grilled Chatham haddock wrapped in grape leaves

Fritto misto:  soft shell crab, monkfish liver, steamer clam and wild fennel fritelle, and surf fish with Cecil Brunner rose vinegar sauce

Soup and Pasta

Maine lobster bisque

Hangtown fry omelet crêpe:  classic San Francisco gold rush omelet with oysters and bacon

Porcini gnocchi with little Tomales Bay mussels

Cannelloni neri with cuttlefish, breadcrumbs, and Parmesan cheese

Pasticcio di lasagne of Dungeness crab, fish ragù, and Porcini mushrooms

Spaghetti with whole-roasted Ronde de Nice squash stuffed with tuna confit alla puttanesca

Corzetti with fish sugo and Castelvetrano olives                `

Mostaccioli rossi with shaved tuna “bloodline” and zucchini crema

Wild nettle tagliolini with geoduck clams and Nocellino olive oil

Whole wheat bucatini and wild sturgeon polpettini with Sicilian wild oregano and wild fennel

Grilled, Roasted, Sautéed, and Braised Fish

Cioppino:  classic San Francisco fisherman’s stew of local rockfish, Manila clams, and Dungeness crab with garlic crostone

Maine sea scallops, Georgia white shrimp, and Monterey Bay squid poached in Regina olive oil with flageolet beans, fresh Ceci beans, and wild nettles

Grilled trap-caught green eel with panelle and salsa mora

Gratinata of sand dabs, new potatoes, and artichokes, salsa vasca

Triglia wrapped in pancetta with Bianca di Spagna beans, spinach, and amaranth al diavolo

Roast black cod in vin santo brodo with shaved tuna bottarga

Cornmeal-crusted deep-fried whole golden sea bream with spicy Calabrian pepper sauce and wild arugula

Wood-oven-roasted petrale sole with artichoke sauce

Charcoal-grilled Sierra mackerel with cherry tomatoes, Picholine olives, honey vinegar, and pine puts

Spit-roasted black bass stuffed with dried Italian sausage

Vegetable Side Dishes

Puglian Fava Beans

Gratin of new potatoes, leeks, and herbs

Garden lettuces

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*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.  The best Italian cooking shares many aesthetic values with the best Japanese. The most important of these are:

1. Clarity in conception, composition, and presentation.
2. Ingredients that express the best of what is happening in the moment.
3. Long traditions with raw fish and shellfish.
4. Impeccable execution.

That experience has proved to be a great inspiration for this year’s Oceanic menu, and to represent this, we will set up a station in the dining room where we will produce dishes from the very best fish and shellfish Tom Worthington (of Monterey Fish Co.) has to offer each day. In addition, each item will be paired with a sauce or garnish based on what is coming in each day from our local farms.

Call 510-547-5356

or reserve online

June 10 marks the beginning of our eighth annual Oceanic Dinner event, which our trusted co-conspirator Tom Worthington of Monterey Fish Company says is looking very good for all our fishery sources (except local salmon). Our Oceanic Dinners are the most spectacular of our special events. We will serve some sixty species of sea beings and plants, all absolutely fresh, harvested sustainably, and prepared deliciously, skillfully, imaginatively, and respectfully. [We’ve been taping “footage” about fisheries and fishermen, the dinners, and the fish themselves for years, and, with our new website, finally have a venue for showing that compelling material. Watch video of Tom Worthington and Chef Canales discussing the menu with Oliveto staff in preparation for the 2005 dinners and see a partial menu for this year's dinners.]

edited by Dallas Mark

Of special note: Chef Paul Canales just returned from a trip to Japan, where he traveled with Japanese chefs.  He got to experience Japan’s two great fish markets and participate in discussions on Japanese principles and concepts of cookery.  “The similarities between Italian and Japanese cooking are remarkable,” he says.  The foods are “right of this moment, without scores of ingredients.”  It is no surprise that after Japanese food, Italian is the favorite in Japan.

Some dishes at this year’s Oceanic Dinners will incorporate those values (and Japanese fish butchery techniques), making them Italianate–like black cod poached in, instead of miso broth, vinsanto sauce.  “Not fusion, but inspiration.”

Menu (partial)

Some new ideas for 2009: bresaola of big eye tuna with celery heart, capers, lemon zest, and Gerbino olive oil; carpaccio of local swordfish with red miso maionese, black mustard seeds, scallions, and Espelette peppers; mostaccioli with shaved tuna “bloodline” and zucchini crema; and Maine scallop, Georgia white shrimp, and Monterey Bay squid confit in Regina olive oil with Flageolet beans and green vegetables.

Favorites from past dinners will include: chilled octopus soppressata with Castelvetrano olives, celery heart, and Monte Iblei olive oil; wild nettle tagliolini with geoduck clams; pasticcio di lasagne of Dungeness crab, ragù di pesce, and Porcini mushrooms; wood-oven-roasted petrale sole with artichoke sauce, to name a few.

More than any of our other events, this paean to the oceans is a celebration of Nature–of wild creatures and plants not tampered with or hybridized by Man, and living in an entirely different medium from mankind.

June 10th – June 13th

MAKE A RESERVATION

Soft-shell crabs are available for only a narrow window of time while the crabs moult in the spring.  We’ve just started soft-shell crab season with a delivery from Monterey Fish Company of crabs from the Chesapeake Bay.

Wednesday, June 10th – Saturday, June 13th

Make a reservation

Our Oceanic Dinners are the most spectacular of our special events.  In collaboration with Monterey Fish Company and its co-owner, Tom Worthington, we serve some 60 species of sea beings and plants, all absolutely fresh, harvested sustainably and prepared deliciously, skillfully, imaginatively, and respectfully.  Because weather affects species availability, Chef Canales will finalize his menu only when he gets a confirmed list from Tom.  That menu will then be e-mailed and posted a few days before the event.

Here are some of the menu items from 2008:

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