For many who have mourned the tip of Oliveto, the 35-year-old Oakland restaurant that closed final yr and was instrumental in establishing the Bay Space as a pacesetter in farm-to-table delicacies, you may be happy to know that the brand new ACRE Kitchen & Bar shares many similarities with Bob and Maggie Klein’s Cal-Ital establishment. It is recent however acquainted.
ACRE, which focuses on Cal-Med delicacies, opened quietly in mid-December in Oliveto’s iconic two-story Market Corridor Rockridge area. The house owners, Government Chef and Oakland resident Dirk Tolsma and Managing Companion Pete Sittnick, gave the inside a much-needed facelift, however have in any other case retained a lot of what made Oliveto memorable, from the progressive sound system to the cafe downstairs, which is popping out some superb stone-fired pizzas.
![Chef David Jacobson, left, watches as Saul Alvarado takes a Margarita pizza out of the oven at Acre Kitchen & Bar in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SJM-L-ACRE-01XX-11.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
The dedication to seasonal and sustainable cooking is there, too, with a dinner menu that highlights farms in California and past. From a service standpoint, our expertise was stellar, which is uncommon for a restaurant in its second week of operations. Listed here are different impressions from our latest dinner:
AMBIENT: Cozy and heat, with the fireside downstairs and the BBQ upstairs fueling a lot of that hygge. Cream and inexperienced hues, wooden accents, and heat leather-based tones actually contribute, as does a brand new 17-seat soapstone bar overlooking Faculty Avenue. The partitions are lined with framed recipe playing cards from the Kleins, a considerate contact, drawings by native artists and enormous work, together with a 10-foot black-and-white of overlapping faces, like totem poles, maybe a nod to the group, for the nice San Francisco artist Donald Mitchell.
![Customers dine at Acre Kitchen & Bar in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SJM-L-ACRE-01XX-10.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
FOOD: The ACRE menu is accessible. It is divided into entrees ($Eight-$28), shareables ($13-$27), and bigger plates ($28-$63), with about six choices every. General, the distinctive prospers, methods, and substances elevate dishes you have possible tried elsewhere and forgotten about.
The burrata is seasoned with Moroccan spices, the garlic shrimp are completed with a sherry mix, and the aged Tennessee smoked ham is scraped like paper skinny and nestled between cubes of persimmons in a intelligent tackle prosciutto and melon. That dish, Persimmon & Benton’s Nation Ham ($16), is completed with a pomegranate sauce and crispy mustard greens. It is a gorgeous steadiness.
![Chef and co-owner Dirk Tolsma pours olive oil onto a plate of ham and persimmon at Acre Kitchen & Bar in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SJM-L-ACRE-01XX-6.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
Equally, the savory taste of a broth-focused saffron risotto ($21), an typically single-note dish, is balanced by surprising candy kumquats and spicy ‘nduja. Pounded with do-it-yourself paprika and sizzling honey with chili and Mama Lil’s pickled goat horn peppers, a Hobbs pepperoni pizza turns into a sizzling, candy and spicy favourite, one which drew groans from our desk.
Oh, how we wished to know the regenerative agriculture discourse behind ACRE’s heritage, pasture-raised Arkansas chickens ($36). One thing about many years of parenting. However we have been too busy absorbing Meyer’s lemon-tinged black pepper broth and marveling on the taste and tenderness of the fowl. Costly for half a rooster, however price it.
![Saffron risotto dish is one of the menu items at Acre Kitchen & Bar in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SJM-L-ACRE-01XX-5.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)
DRINK: Just like the meals menu, the wine record is simple to navigate, with a concentrate on small producers in Italy, France and California and a number of glasses for $15 or much less. Cocktails are available “low” and “full” ABV, a wholesome mixture of appetizer-driven spritzes and craft cocktails impressed by the classics.
TO JUMP: TCHO salty chocolate pudding ($10). Whereas the darkish chocolate flavors have been completely current, conventional Italian pudding is meant to be sinfully thick, creamy, and served chilled in a glass. This one was skinny, room temperature and surprisingly served as a blob on a plate.
DETAILS: Open for dinner from 5 to 9:30 p.m. every day; the all-day cafe is open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. every day at 5655 Faculty Ave., Oakland; www.acrekitchenandbar.com.
![Customers dine at Acre Kitchen & Bar in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)](https://i0.wp.com/www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/SJM-L-ACRE-01XX-15.jpg?fit=620%2C9999px&ssl=1)