A non-public tour of famed Winters farm Okay&J Orchards is basically reserved for Northern California’s most esteemed cooks. However quickly, you’ll be capable to catch a glimpse — and plenty of tastes — at its restaurant, Pomet, in Oakland.
Second-generation fruit farmer Aomboon Deasy is about to unveil the subsequent stage in her household’s agricultural legacy. It is not uncommon for restaurant cooks to start out farms, however for a farmer to start out a restaurant is just about unparalleled. Pomet, which suggests orchard in Roman, is Deasy’s upscale restaurant specializing in seasonal California-inspired dishes that honor and have a good time farmers.
And if the opening menu at 4029 Piedmont Avenue is any indication, it's an thrilling reversal certainly. To go the culinary aspect, Deasy introduced on Govt Chef Alan Hsu, who she knew from years of promoting fruit to him when he was a sous chef at San Francisco’s three-Michelin-starred Benu. Along with James Beard-nominated sommelier Paul Einbund, they honor the contributions of Deasy’s mother and father James and Kalayada, who based the orchard and year-round farm 40 years in the past in Yuba Metropolis and Davis. The French Laundry was amongst their first purchasers.
In the present day, Deasy and her husband, Timothy, run Okay&J Orchards, now in Winters, the place they develop greater than 180 styles of fruits and nuts, together with juicy melons, Chinese language dates and peacotums, a hybrid of peach, apricot and plum, for a roster of 150 high-end eating places. Right here’s a more in-depth have a look at Pomet, which is situated within the Julia Morgan-designed constructing that previously occupied Homestead.
THE VIBE: Intimate however spacious, with massive image home windows and a wood-burning grill and fireside from the Homestead days. The colour scheme is copper and navy, and there are two large black and white photographs of Okay&J Orchards on the wall together with hearth wooden from the orchard stacked within the personal eating room within the again. Additionally search for a butcher block desk with counter-height seating. Pomet has 50 seats indoors and, come March 30, one other 32 seats exterior on the adjoining patio.
THE FOOD: Hsu’s meals is approachable, with a myriad of flavors, layers and textures. As a Taiwanese-American and Bay Space native who has labored at Michelin-starred eating places in Oslo, Tokyo and New York Metropolis, his dishes have a good time the ingredient, to the purpose that you just’re left questioning why your roasted carrots by no means style this transcendent. (They arrive from Bolinas’ Star Route Farms, one of many oldest licensed farms in California, are sweetened with dates and served on a creamy sunflower seed purée.)
The menu is separated into heat and chilly starters ($10-$18), pastas ($20-$22), mains ($25-$45) and desserts ($12). A charred Brokaw Farms avocado will get its oomph from nori, Okay&J cara cara oranges and smoky trout slivers ($18). Housemade pasta is full of “ugly” mushrooms that may’t simply be offered and is wearing butter and honeynut miso from Shared Cultures, a San Francisco enterprise that makes use of koji, an historic fungi, to create fashionable fermented merchandise.
Smoked black cod from Half Moon Bay ($30) will get its brightness from lemongrass sauce and sunchoke puree. And, the desserts? They're fruit-forward, after all, and embody a Fuji apple tart and a creamsicle pie made with satsumas. Our favourite was a Tawainese-style Shinko pear snow made with Okay&J pears. Count on stonefruit and melon variations all summer season lengthy.
THE DRINKS: Consulting sommelier Paul Einbund, proprietor of San Francisco’s The Morris, is beind Pomet’s native and regional wine listing. We tried a crip gruner veltliner that paired fantastically with our veggie-centric sides, and moved on to a fruity gamay for our fish and lamb pasta programs. The restaurant additionally gives native craft beers, seasonal low-ABV and non-alcoholic cocktails.
DON’T MISS: Weekend brunch and a provisions nook promoting artisanal objects, like canned jams and pickles, and cheese from Petaluma’s Andante Dairy, are coming later this spring.
DETAILS: Opens March 16 for dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. every day at 4029 Piedmont Ave., Oakland; https://pomet-oakland.com
