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"It's the peak of tomato season in the Bay Area -- mid-August through September -- and the Berkeley Farmers' Market is full of favorites, from bright yellow cherry tomatoes to odd-shaped heirlooms to big juicy beefsteaks. Another perennial fixture: chef Paul Canales, here to pick up about 1,000 pounds of tomatoes for his annual series of tomato dinners, for which every dish features tomatoes, even the desserts." |
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"The conversation began last January when Dellimore, a line cook at the restaurant, confessed that she struggled with cooking proteins. Canales responded by creating a curriculum to bring her up to speed. He had her read the chapter on protein coagulation in Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking and then, for her first assignment, Canales handed Dellimore six eggs. 'Cook these any way you can imagine, observe what happens, and tell me what you think. And, by the way, make them taste good.'" |
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"Tastes like chicken" is a phrase that plagues American cuisine. I've heard it used in describing seafood, crocodile, pork and veal. If memory serves, it also lassos in tofu and ricotta -- anything not immediately identifiable. . . Chef Paul Canales takes exception. Canales heads the kitchen of Oliveto, the well-regarded Italian restaurant in Oakland's Rockridge neighborhood." |
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"Sipping a $9 martini, I'm reminded how Hendrick's Gin promotes itself as appreciated by the very few. If you happen to like it — or tell yourself that you do — you join the elite. You get it. Oakland's Oliveto, celebrating 20 years this weekend, has a similar reputation. The cuisine blurs the
difference between rustic and refined, presenting fare so
uncluttered, it makes the plain white plate underneath seem ornate." |
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"The rise of celebrity chefs poses a quandary. Chefs who have proven their mettle on the line tend to move out of the kitchen and into the spotlight, often for good. Unbeknownst to many diners, the chef often has little to do with actually running the kitchen. The whole situation can become overblown, so there's something at once refreshing and stunning about the changes taking place at Oliveto in Oakland. Nationally renowned Paul Bertolli has left the kitchen. . .Chef de cuisine Paul Canales, who has been the mastermind in the Oliveto kitchen, taking care of menu planning, hiring, firing and ordering, now is the official chef." |
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"In the past 15 years or so, the olive, with its slightly bitter, salty, and soulful personality has made its way from its native land into American kitchens. This foreign fruit with a history as old as civilization, exuding the heat of the Mediterranean and the smells of the outdoor marketplace, has now taken root in American soil..." |
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"Common wisdom has it that the best white truffles come from Alba, largely because its PR machine has been going longer than those in other regions. But a bonafide fresh white truffle, just out of the soils of Tuscany or Umbria, can be every bit the match of a similarly fresh white truffle from Piedmont. You don't believe me? You can try it yourself. This most enjoyable pursuit is one the tour buses haven't yet discovered..." |
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"While chef Paul Canales and senior sous chef Pierre Harriet do the honors on the snake-like creatures, chef Paul Bertolli is in another corner, tossing a seaweed salad.
It is Day 1 of Oliveto's third annual Oceanic Dinners, three days in July dedicated to the diversity and bounty of the ocean, which means turning the kitchen over to freshness and timeliness.
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|  | | "Restaurants See Signs of Spring"
in The Wall Street Journal by Katy McLaughlin.
READ REVIEW |
|  | | "Oliveto -- All of It"
in S. F. Examiner by Patricia Unterman.
READ REVIEW |
|  | | "Classic Italian Sensibilities:
America's 10 Best Italian Restaurants"
in Wine Spectator by Harvey Steiman.
READ REVIEW |
|  | | "Best Pastry Chef: Julie Cookenboo."
in Diablo Magazine by Rachel Levin.
READ REVIEW |
|  | | "An Ancient Art"
in L. A. Times by S. Irene Virbila.
READ REVIEW |
|  | | "Sausage Aged for Three Generations"
in N.Y. Times R. W. Apple Jr..
READ REVIEW |
 | | Oliveto in Oakland, California, has only one flaw: It’s not open 365 days a year.
My test of a restaurant’s food is to ask “How soon after having a meal there would I want to go back?” If I lived in the San Francisco Bay area, I could eat at Oliveto in Oakland every day. Paul Canales, Oliveto’s chef, has found and taken unfailing command of what everyone who cooks struggles to discover: the straight road to pure, sincere, deeply satisfying flavor. I could choose from one of Paul’s menus by throwing a dart at it, knowing I could never make a mistake.
--Marcella Hazan
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 | | "Simply put, this contest was no contest. Our sometimes squabbling critics cast their ballots for Oliveto in such overwhelming numbers that they sent the competition to the showers before they were even in the game."
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| | WINNER, Critic's Reviews, Oakland. "Oliveto's place at the pinnacle of Bay Area Italian cooking remains essentially unchallenged. Chef Paul Canales accepted the torch ... and is advancing without losing the essence of the restaurant."
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 | | "You dream about finding a restaurant like this in Italy."
--Patricia Unterman
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| | "Many consider Bertolli's handmade cured Italian-style meats to be the country's best." |
 | | ". . . probably the most subtle and authentic Italian food outside Italy." |
 | | "[one of] The Finest Italian Restaurants in America." |
 | | "If you can’t make it to Tuscany for dinner, Oliveto is the closest thing this side of the Mediterranean . . . Pastas are sauced with restraint; soups are light and minimalist; an antipasto of squid and fava beans over garlic crostini lets the exquisite ingredients speak for themselves."
--Tori Ritchie |
 | | "There's no shortage of praise for Oakland's Oliveto around these parts--or throughout the nation. But now the recognition is coming from across the ocean. The Italian government has awarded the restaurant its 1998 Insegna del Ristorante Italiano Award. Described as 'an official recognition established to single out, certify and guarantee the true Itlian restaurant outside of Italy,' the award is given by the Italian Ministries of Agriculture and Ministry of Foreign Trade."
--Laura Compton |
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Recipes from this article (PDF)