Oakland: This new restaurant’s pampered $36 chicken is destination-worthy
For those who mourned the end of Oliveto, the 35-year-old Oakland restaurant that closed last year and was critical in establishing the Bay Area as a leader in farm-to-table cuisine, you’ll be pleased to know that the new ACRE Kitchen & Bar shares many similarities with Bob and Maggie Klein’s Cal-Ital institution. It’s fresh yet familiar.
ACRE, which specializes in Cal-Med cuisine, opened quietly in mid December in Oliveto’s iconic, two-story Market Hall Rockridge space. The owners, executive chef and Oakland resident Dirk Tolsma and managing partner Pete Sittnick, gave the interior a much-needed refresh but have otherwise retained much of what made Oliveto memorable, from the innovative sound system to the downstairs café, which is churning out some impressive, stone hearth-fired pizzas.
The commitment to seasonal and sustainable cuisine is there too, with a dinner menu that highlights farms in California and beyond. From a service standpoint, our experience was stellar, which is rare for a restaurant in its second week of business. Here are other impressions from our recent dinner:
VIBE: Cozy and warm, with the downstairs hearth and upstairs rotisserie driving much of that hygge. The creams and greens, wood accents and warm leather tones certainly contribute, as does a new 17-seat soapstone bar overlooking College Avenue. The walls are covered with framed recipe cards from the Kleins — a thoughtful touch — drawings by local artists and large paintings, including a 10-foot black-and-white of overlapping, totem-like faces, perhaps a nod to community, by the great San Francisco artist Donald Mitchell.
FOOD: ACRE’s menu is approachable. It’s divided into starters ($8-$28), shareables ($13-$27) and larger plates ($28-$63), with about six options each. Overall, flourishes, techniques and unique ingredients elevate dishes you’ve probably had elsewhere and forgotten about.
Burrata is spiffed up with Moroccan spices, garlic shrimp is finished with a blend of sherries and aged Tennessee smoked ham is shaved paper thin and nestled among cubes of persimmons in a clever take on prosciutto and melon. That dish, Persimmon & Benton’s Country Ham ($16), is finished with a pomegranate sauce and crunchy mustard greens. It’s a lovely balance.
Similarly, the savory flavor of a broth-centric Saffron Risotto ($21), an often one-note dish, is balanced by unexpected sweet kumquats and spicy ‘nduja. Hit with housemade paprika-and-chile hot honey and Mama Lil’s pickled goat horn peppers, a Hobbs pepperoni pizza becomes a spicy-sweet-tangy favorite, one that elicited moans from our table.
Oh how we wanted to understand the speech about regenerative agriculture behind ACRE’s heritage, pasture-raised, heirloom Arkansas chickens ($36). Something about decades of breeding. But we were too busy soaking up the Meyer lemon-tinged, black pepper broth and marveling at the flavor and tenderness of the bird. Pricey for a half chicken, but worth it.
DRINK: Like the food menu, the wine list is easy to navigate, with a focus on small producers in Italy, France and California and several glasses at or under $15. Cocktails come in “low” and “full” ABV, a healthy mix of aperitif-driven spritzes and craft cocktails inspired by the classics.
SKIP: Salted TCHO Chocolate Budino ($10). While the dark chocolate flavors were absolutely there, traditional Italian pudding is supposed to be sinfully thick, creamy and served cold in a glass. This one was thin, room temperature and, strangely, served bloblike on a plate.
DETAILS: Open for dinner from 5 to 9:30 p.m. daily; the all-day cafe is open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily at 5655 College Ave., Oakland; www.acrekitchenandbar.com.