Employee ownership of Oakland’s mezcal mecca takes front stage
In 2009 I was working on a totally new concept for a food festival in Oakland that was all about sustainable ingredients, food craft, and food as theater – think noodle pulling and butcher contests. It was during this time that I met Chris Pastena who had just opened Chop Bar and was also doing whole pig roasts. He jumped right in to supporting the Eat Real Festival because he was all about supporting projects that brought attention to Oakland and helped small businesses. More importantly, a great friendship was formed as we found so much common ground in our love of good food, good conversations, and good mezcal. So, naturally when he opened Calavera in 2015, we found all sorts of ways to continue working together.
Over the years he has appeared at Mexico in a Bottle San Francisco as a restaurant participant and he’s always been there among the first in line to try all the new mezcals and hang out with the mezcal world. He has hosted the roving carnival of mezcal makers and luminaries, lunches with Ulises Torrentera, tastings with Erick Rodriguez and small brands like Maestros del Mezcal looking to get a foothold in the market, and even co-hosted a mezcal/Lucha Libre collab in the patio behind Calavera. And that’s all second to the wall of mezcal that looms over Calavera because that puts agave spirits at the center of the restaurant’s identity. As you walk in, you can’t help but think about getting a mezcal.
When I found out that changes were afoot at Calavera and that Chris would be retiring at the end of 2023 I felt this immense sadness. Not only was this coming on the heels of other dramatic personnel changes in the mezcal industry, it also meant an end of an era of doing events together. I remember almost bursting into tears when he announced at last November’s mezcal dinner with Almamezalera’s Erick Rodriguez and Calavera Chef (and now co-owner) Omar Huerta would be his last one. Change is hard.
The new team, same as the old team
Retirement was not a sudden decision. It had clearly been on Chris’ mind for some time but it really picked up momentum in 2021 when he saw that the group running the restaurant had gelled into a team. When I’ve talked to this group – Chef Omar Huerta, Desiree Maese, Sara Ryan, Ryan Dixon and Geovanny Miranda-Radilla (who is at Chop Bar)
– it is abundantly clear that they are a strong unit. They see things the same way, work together and bring each of their strengths to the table.
Desiree has been with Calavera almost since the beginning, Sara for several years though with a break during Covid to stay home with her kids, Chef Omar came on board just before Covid hit and Ryan for 5 years. Desiree oversaw the operations, a role she continues with today and Sara came back in 2021 to take over the front of house duties as indoor dining began returning. And Chef Omar was becoming accustomed to the complete freedom Chris gave him while simultaneously pushing him “to get out of his comfort zone.”
Always focused on the next thing
Chris has always been focused on giving his staff responsibility because they’re the people who see diners day in, day out, and know all the tiny details about what needs fixing, what needs cleaning, and all the tricks of the trade. The strength of the staff behind Calavera is a major reason it and sibling Chop Bar were able to weather COVID so well. They were able to adapt to take out all the time, using as much outdoor space as possible, and dealing with the vagaries of each new COVID variant. Like many restaurants, they also built partnerships with World Central Kitchen and Eat Play Learn which subsidized free meals for people in need, thousands of meals through 2020.
As restaurants opened back up, casual conversations began about an ownership transition. Casual became formal in 2022 with the full ownership changes taking effect on January 1, 2023.
The transfer has been remarkably smooth, no doubt because the four new owners are known entities with the rest of the employees. And it has been transparent, with open communication about the changes. As an outsider who frequents Calavera, it is clear that this is a team that works very well together.
What’s next?
The hospitality industry was already in flux but those who came out the other side of the pandemic still in business have some real questions to answer. There are all the conversations about what dining should look like, how to pay employees equitably, and make hospitality professional. And then there is inflation which has raised costs across the board: Everything from the price of a clove of garlic to a therm of gas. Given all of these issues it seems counterintuitive to jump from employee to owner right now.
But the new ownership group thinks that the pendulum is swinging back in their direction. Chef Omar told me that, “For so long, people were afraid to get out of their comfort zones and they thought only about themselves and eating at home. Now we are transitioning back to eating out and more specifically to eating around other people and learning to enjoy that once again.”
The good thing for the team is they have taken over with a solid foundation. Operations are smooth, the menu is delicious and existing programs include the mezcal pairing dinners and the regional menus that feature a different state each month and three dishes that are featured every Thursday. For Chef Omar, it is an opportunity for people to really explore the vast flavors and styles of Mexico and to get to understand its history.
And it’s not just food that is getting this regional focus, there is also the bar program which creates a cocktail to match the monthly feature.
As for those mezcal dinners, the plan is to do six a year. I had the pleasure of attending the first one in 2023 which featured Mezcal de Leyendas. The previous dinners I have attended have been so impressive in their attention to pairing dishes with each individual mezcal that it is impossible to imagine how they can get any better. This – I think – is where the genius of the infinite flavors and styles of each region in Mexico shows its strength – there is just no end to the variety of dishes.
This most recent dinner was so perfectly balanced and featured a refreshing melon gazpacho paired with a cocktail of Leyendas Verde, Verjus, Campari, Elderflower liqueur, and a cilantro/coriander tincture. That course was followed by a salad of mixed greens with raspberries and almonds paired with the Leyendas Tobalá; Chiles en Nogada stuffed with duck confit paired with the Leyendas Pichumel– a side note here, Chef Omar has previously done delicious things with duck, from duck carnitas to a mind blowingly delicious duck fat sale; black cod with a bone marrow-chile negro salsa, huitlacoche, sun dried tomato farro, grilled corn and green garbanzos paired with the Vinata Solar. The final dish was a delicious pastry of jamoncillo, guava and cinnamon paired with the Leyendas Jabali. I cannot wait to see what the next dinner holds!
And finally after what seems like forever, the Oakland Airport’s long advertised dining renovation has finally opened and includes Calavera in the lineup of local restaurants. Once more, the team was challenged to create a menu that not only held up the values of the restaurant, but also could translate to the high speed and volume demands of an airport.
As the whole team told me, step by step, the idea is to create a solid foundation and then introduce new things. They are off to an incredible start!
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