Cafe Ohlone Explained

Cafe Ohlone
Current-Owner:Louis Trevino
Vincent Medina
Food-Type:Ohlone cuisine
Street-Address:Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology
City:Berkeley
State:California
Country:United States
Coordinates:37.8697°N -122.2551°W

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]

History

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]

Architecture and design

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]

Menu

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]

Honors

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]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dianne . de Guzman . How The New Cafe Ohlone Honors Indigenous Food and Family on a Grand Stage . Eater . 18 July 2023 . 19 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230719012358/https://sf.eater.com/2022/9/6/23339152/cafe-ohlone-indigenous-restaurant-open-berkeley . live .
  2. Web site: Brown . Patrick Leigh . Indigenous Founders of a Museum Cafe Put Repatriation on the Menu . The New York Times . 18 July 2023 . 18 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230718173551/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/11/arts/design/hearst-museum-ohlone-cafe-repatriate-medina.html . live .
  3. Web site: Mindess . Anna . Reservations are now open at one of Berkeley’s most anticipated restaurants . Berkeleyside . 18 July 2023 . 30 May 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230530083500/https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/08/30/cafe-ohlone-open-uc-berkeley-reservations-indigenous-food . live .
  4. Web site: Tsai . Luke . Embracing a Painful History, the World's Only Ohlone Restaurant Finds Unlikely New Home . KQED . 18 July 2023 . 19 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230719013900/https://www.kqed.org/arts/13899524/cafe-ohlone-restaurant-hearst-museum-berkeley-opening . live .
  5. Web site: Kadvany . Elena . The world’s first Ohlone restaurant is opening soon at UC Berkeley. Can it overcome the location’s painful history? . San Francisco Chronicle . 18 July 2023 . 9 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230209190440/https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/uc-berkeley-cafe-ohlone-17117764.php . bot: unknown .
  6. Web site: Schuler . Timothy A. . Terremoto designed Cafe Ohlone to be an Indigenous refuge in a colonial world. . Landscape Architecture Magazine . 18 July 2023 . 19 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230719012359/https://landscapearchitecturemagazine.org/2022/11/23/a-cafe-is-a-country/ . live .
  7. Web site: Tsai . Luke . At the World’s Only Ohlone Restaurant, Even the Trees Will Sing in Chochenyo . KQED . 18 July 2023 . 19 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230719013900/https://www.kqed.org/arts/13912976/cafe-ohlone-hearst-museum-opening-singing-trees . live .
  8. Web site: Simmons . Krista . Meet the Founders of This Groundbreaking Indigenous Restaurant at UC Berkeley . Sunset Magazine . 18 July 2023 . 19 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230719012358/https://www.sunset.com/food-wine/restaurants/cafe-ohlone-berkeley . live .
  9. Web site: Burton . Nylah . This Indigenous Community Was Deemed 'Extinct.' Its Food Culture Destroys That Myth. . Huffington Post . 18 July 2023 . 18 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230718101455/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cafe-ohlone-uc-berkeley-indigenous_n_636a4428e4b0eb51ab1407ee . live .
  10. Web site: Rao . Tejal . California Cuisine, Long Before Chez Panisse . The New York Times . 18 July 2023 . 18 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230718173553/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/dining/cafe-ohlone-review-berkeley.html . live .
  11. Web site: Kadvany . Elena . The world’s first Ohlone restaurant opens this week in Berkeley . San Francisco Chronicle . 18 July 2023 . 29 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230329182313/https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/restaurants/article/cafe-ohlone-berkeley-17405782.php . bot: unknown .
  12. Web site: Birdsall . John . In Berkeley, Cafe Ohlone brings back the Bay Area’s first foods . Los Angeles Times . 18 July 2023 . 15 August 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220815190316/https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-bay-area-ohlone-indians-first-foods-20190515-story.html . bot: unknown .
  13. Web site: Campbell . Eileen . Cafe Ohlone opens in Pacifica for one delicious day . Pacifica Tribune . 18 July 2023 . 19 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230719012358/https://www.pacificatribune.com/news/cafe-ohlone-opens-in-pacifica-for-one-delicious-day/article_410fffde-1d97-11ed-94af-dff4bc4b7e8f.html . live .
  14. Web site: Rao . Tejal . Five Bay Area Restaurants Where Sustainability Shapes the Menu . The New York Times . 18 July 2023 . 19 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230719012358/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/30/us/five-bay-area-restaurants-where-sustainability-shapes-the-menu.html . live .
  15. Web site: Zavoral . Linda . James Beard 2023 semifinalists: Berkeley’s Cafe Ohlone, SF’s House of Prime Rib among nominees . Mercury News . 18 July 2023 . 9 February 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230209092834/https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/01/25/james-beard-2023-semifinalists-berkeleys-cafe-ohlone-sfs-house-of-prime-rib-among-nominees/ . bot: unknown .
  16. Web site: The Best New Restaurants in the World: 2023 Hot List . Condé Nast Traveler . 18 July 2023 . 28 June 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230628161904/https://www.cntraveler.com/story/best-new-restaurants-in-the-world-hot-list . bot: unknown .

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