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Restaurant in Berkeley, California, U.S. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cafe Ohlone, also called ‘oṭṭoy, is a restaurant in Berkeley, California at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology. It was founded by Ohlone chefs Louis Trevino and Vincent Medina as a pop-up in 2018, and as a semi-permanent café in 2022. It features a seasonal menu of California Indian cuisine and is the world's only Ohlone restaurant.[1]
Cafe Ohlone | |
---|---|
Restaurant information | |
Established | 2018 |
Owner(s) | Louis Trevino Vincent Medina |
Food type | Ohlone cuisine |
Street address | Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology |
City | Berkeley |
State | California |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 37°52′11″N 122°15′18.47″W |
Website | www |
Louis Trevino and Vincent Medina, who are partners, first met at an Indigenous language conference in 2014.[2] The two began working together and founded mak-'amham — an Ohlone cultural organization — in September 2017. The following year, the two opened the first Indigenous restaurant in the state of California as a pop-up in the courtyard of the University Press Bookstore in Berkeley.[3] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the bookstore closed down in 2020, and Cafe Ohlone transitioned to a monthly meal kit program.[4]
Cafe Ohlone's move to the UC Berkeley campus began in January 2021, when Berkeley anthropology professor Kent Lightfoot wrote an article in the Daily Cal suggesting that the university — which was then renaming a building named after anti-Indigenous anthropologist Alfred Kroeber — should instead take concrete steps to support Ohlone people. Lightfoot suggested the university find a home on campus for Cafe Ohlone.[3]
UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ and Lauren Kroiz, the Hearst Museum director, helped push the Cafe through the approval process, and the Berkeley location opened at the Hearst Museum in 2022.[5]
The Hearst Museum cafe was designed by Terremoto and is meant to resemble an Ohlone village, with paths surrounded by native plants and flowers.[3] The tables and seats are made with reclaimed California redwood, with a long redwood table surrounded by mamakwa, wild ginger, and ‘enesmin reserved for Ohlone elders.[6] Native artist Jean LaMarr contributed a building-sized mural which depicts Ohlone ancestors looking down, with chipped glass to resemble stars in the night sky.[7]
Cafe Ohlone features a seasonal menu based on historic and recreated Ohlone recipes.[8] The first iteration of the cafe served rose hip tea, which was used by Ohlone historically to soothe the respiratory system during fire season.[9] The menu sought to stick to pre-colonial Ohlone cuisine, avoiding gluten, refined sugars, dairy, soy, pork, corn and legumes, and used salt from the shallow marshlands of San Lorenzo Creek.[10]
At the Hearst Museum location, Cafe Ohlone serves four types of meals: tea hour, weekend brunch, weekly lunch, and dinner.[11] Foods served are usually grown and collected locally, from the tidal marshes and hills in the East Bay, such as native rainbow trout and quail, rose hips, potato, and hazelnuts.[12][13] Dishes have included venison chile Colorado and walnut oil cake with candy cap mushrooms.[14]
In 2023, Medina and Trevino were semifinalists in the James Beard Foundation Award’s Emerging Chef category.[15] The same year, Condé Nast Traveler listed Cafe Ohlone as one of the forty best new restaurants in the world.[16]
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