On January 10, we hosted a wheat tasting in the Oliveto dining room. Our plan wast to begin establishing some basic vocabulary for how to talk about the flavor components of wheat and flour as well as discern how those components vary between different varieties.

In attendance were some of the most highly-tuned palates we know including: Randall Grahm (Bonny Doon Vineyard), Oliveto co-owner Maggie Klein, Manresa sous chef Jessica Largey, author Harold McGee (Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen), journalist Michael Pollan (The Botany of Desire), Master Baker Craig Ponsford, Oliveto Restaurant Executive Chef Rhodehamel, food historian and author William Rubel (Bread: A Global History), Manresa pastry chef Avery Ruzicka, and distiller Lance Winters (St. George Spirits/Hangar One).

Also in attendance was farmer Matt Taylor who grew the wheat we were tasting for Front Porch Farms, a small organic (soon to be biodynamic) farm, in Healdsburg, CA. As well as Community Grains founder, Bob Klein.

The group tasted three different varieties of wheat: Bolero, Christallo, and Desert King in five different forms/applications: straight seeds, whole-milled flour, porridge, pasta, and bread baked by Chad Robertson of Tartine Bakery in San Francisco.

Panel members were gracious enough to let us collect their notes at night’s end and we are now in the process of compiling a first draft of a wheat/flour directory of terms which we will continue to add to and expand on as we become more fluent. There was definitely the consensus that this was a great first step, but that more tastings with additional variables and applications should follow. We’ll keep you posted…

Vocal Rush, from the Oakland School for the Arts stopped by. They’re raising money to get to the International High School A Cappella Championship competition in Portland, later in January. Find them at facebook.com/osa-vocal-rush

Add to that the fact that we are roasting chestnuts & serving mulled cider on the sidewalk (3:ish-6:30ish every afternoon except Thursdays through Dec. 31), the appearance of eggnog ice cream on the dessert menu, and having sufficiently decked the halls…it’s beginning to look (and sound & smell & taste!) a lot like Christmas.

Just five months after Chef Jonah began creating his kitchen and a menu that reflected his vision at Oliveto, Michael Bauer wrote a review in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled “Oliveto: Oakland Restaurant Bounces Back.” It was the first of a number of laudatory articles. Jonah’s most recent review, a feature article by Stephen Buel in the latest (December 2011) Oakland Magazine, was titled “In Good Hands: Get to Know Oliveto’s New Chef.”

Preceding that article were Diablo Magazine’s Best Restaurant in the East Bay award for 2011, and an accompanying article by Susan Dowdney Safipour and Ethan Fletcher in the September 2011 edition which stated that Jonah Rhodehamel has taken Oliveto’s passions and turned them into “creative, cutting-edge food.”

Patricia Unterman, who’s seen and experienced the whole of Oliveto’s 25-year existence, titled her October 2011 piece in the San Francisco Examiner, “Old-World Values Cultivate Exquisite Dining at Oliveto,” and returned not long after the article ran to enjoy Jonah’s spit-roasted sheep, one of her husband’s favorite dishes.

Three cheers for Chef Jonah! Toot toot. Pat pat.

…and Chef Jonah wasted no time concocting a menu item that exemplifies everything that is fleeting (as in, we sold out with a quickness last night) & wonderful about it:

Dungeness crab salad with persimmon and chervil

]]> http://www.oliveto.com/ourcommunity/this_just_in/this-just-in-dungeness-crab-season-finally-begins/feed 2 http://www.oliveto.com/ourcommunity/this_just_in/this-just-in-magruder-sheep http://www.oliveto.com/ourcommunity/this_just_in/this-just-in-magruder-sheep#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 22:34:55 +0000 Bob Klein http://www.oliveto.com/ourcommunity/?p=9097

starting this week, we've got some delicious sheep on the menu from Mac Magruder. Mac got his stock from "as old guy across the valley. He didn't do anything for them, they're organic by neglect." He lucked out though, because they turn out to be of a hardy Suffolk cross-breed. This is the same sheep Patricia Unterman described as "particularly succulent...

Mac Magruder's sheep getting their graze on

Whole-animal-wise we’re currently in transition – the grass is gone, meaning beef is just about over for the season.
But starting this week, we’ve got some delicious sheep on the menu from Mac Magruder. Mac got his stock from “an old guy across the valley. They are a Suffolk cross-breed. He didn’t do anything for them, they’re organic by neglect.” He lucked out though, because they turn out to be of a hardy and delicious stock.

This is the same sheep Patricia Unterman described as “particularly succulent, whispering of pasture, and worth getting messy for” in her most recent San Francisco Examiner review. Mac’s sheep herd is rather small, so we were stoked to score three whole animals. This weekend the loins will be on the menu…if you need a break from turkey sandwiches.

And of course, come February, we’ll be getting into pork, in a big way.

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Those unusual black hedgehogs will be in an appetizer that screams late autumn:

Pan-roasted pigeon with Acorn squash purée and black hedgehog mushrooms

It’s hard to imagine mushrooms after this past weekend’s hot spell, but apparently the rainfall from a few weeks ago started things growing. Over the weekend we received some stellar Chanterelles from the Humboldt and just this morning some exceptional Porcini from Mendocino.

On the menu tonight & for the next few days.

When we first got involved with locally grown grains over four years ago, one of our long term goals was the pursuit of identity preserved wheat. By this we mean a particular variety grown by a farmer we know and trust, and milled into flour without being blended with other varieties or wheats from other farms.

That goal became a reality last spring when we were approached by Front Porch Farms, a 112 acre organic/biodynamic farm in Healdsburg, CA. Owner Peter Buckley and farmer Matt Taylor were eager to start growing grain but wanted to do some smaller trials of different varieties to figure out what would perform best in their area.  We (under the auspices of Community Grains) helped them select three varieties we were curious about and provided seed for a fourth. And lo & behold, just last week we received very small quantities of our first four identity preserved wheat flours: Bolero, Espresso, and Cristallo – all soft winter wheats, and Desert King, an amber durum variety.

The next step, which we are just now beginning, is to define each variety’s individual flavor components and create a language to talk about those components. We had an initial tasting with some of our best palates: Executive Chef Jonah Rhodehamel, Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards, and Lance and Ellie Winters of St. George Spirits. We intend to do a more in-depth assessment of characteristics over the next few weeks. And of course, we’d love to hear what our diners think.

So starting next week, we will be offering these unique pastas on our dinner menu.
We are excited about the potential of this first small harvest as it helps to bring us closer to the idea of a small-scale regional grain economy, which we believe is the best option for the health of our communities, our farmers, our food, and our selves. This is a rare and celebratory opportunity to taste identity preserved organic wheat grown and milled right here in northern California. Please join us.

Fourteen family farms and 70 restaurants, including Oliveto, have committed to participation in No Goat Left Behind, a new program developed by Heritage Foods USA (HFUSA), a meat distribution company dedicated to preserving endangered breeds. The company has pledged to their farmers that they will sell 500 bucklings to restaurants and their mail order base during the month of October, the prime season for goat.

In order to produce milk, a female goat has to have babies. The result is goat dairies with an excess of male goats. Without an end market the majority of male dairy goats are sold into the commodity market or killed at birth. Dairy farms are always struggling: with feed prices, with milk prices, and with weather. Goats usually have twins or triplets and for every female who will become a milker, there is a male buckling who will become a financial drain. It makes no sense that these males are sold into the commodity market or put to death when the United States imports almost 50 percent of its annual goat supply (17,000,000 pounds so far this year).

Goat is the most popular protein in the world. It is a lean, nutritious source of meat and has a lower carbon footprint than beef, pork or lamb. It makes environmental and dietary sense to utilize this readily available protein source in the United States.

As part of the No Goat Left Behind campaign, Chef Jonah will be spit-roasting two young goats, a traditional preparation commonly seen throughout Italy around this time of year. They will be on the menu starting Friday and through Saturday. this Friday for ONE NIGHT ONLY. Please join us to help support this worthy cause.

Some real beauties arrived from Martin this week. Fresh picked Borlotti, Cannellini, and some of the biggest Gigante we’ve ever seen.

Chef Jonah’s been doing a lovely salad that will be on the menu throughout the week:

Marinated pole and bush beans with Lipstick peppers, watercress, and sherry vinaigrette