Dominica Rice, founder and chef of Cosecha, is petite with
long glossy hair pulled back into a thick braid that makes her warm eyes stand
out--they sparkle with humor and what I like to call “mad food love.” When
asked about the roots of her passion for cooking, she explains that it started
with her grandmother. “I was born
in Chinatown (in Los Angeles) like my mother. She still lives there, and that
is where my grandparents have lived since the 50’s,” she shared before taking a
sip from her glass. “We were there every weekend with my grandmother--she was
this little old lady from Chihuahua, Mexico, and it was really nice hanging out
with her. She cooked all of the time, but after church she would take us out to
eat. Sometimes we would go to
Olvera Street for Mexican food, or Chinatown for a Chinese Won Ton soup brunch,
and she always wanted to try different places--it was a blast.”
Almost everyone in Dominica’s family is currently involved
in some aspect of the restaurant or farming industries, and it all began with
her grandparents who got their start as field workers in Northern
California. When they moved to
Southern California, her grandfather entered the restaurant industry, while her
grandmother stayed home to take care of their growing family.
Community Tables at Cosecha |
Christmas was a special time, and people would get
competitive about who made the best tamales. The little grand kids were put to
work cleaning the ojas, which are the cornhusks that are used to wrap the
tamales. There is a process to
cleaning the ojas--they are dried and then the remaining corn silks and any “little
critters” that crawl in between the drying and packing need to be removed. Afterward, the ojas are soaked, washed,
and dried again, and that is where the kids start to learn about and
participate in the cooking.
Gradually, they are invited to learn the next steps of tamale making and
some will eventually graduate to helping prepare other dishes. Dominica is continuing this tradition
with her niece and daughter, but most of her family is located in Southern
California, so she also enlists her husband and friends to help prepare for
parties, and everyone gets to learn how to make items like fry bread and salsas.
Dominica was 14 when she made her industry debut at what
she refers to as “...a silly job that was actually really fun...“ working at
Baskin Robbins making ice cream cakes and frosting decorations. In 1993, she moved to San Francisco to
attend the Culinary Academy, and when her training was complete, she worked for
a couple of small restaurants before getting one of her first big breaks--a job
at Stars Cafe (part of Chef Jeremiah Tower’s very famous, now defunct, Stars franchise). “I remember growing up in LA reading
Elle magazine, and they always had a great food section,” she says. “It was all
about Stars and Jeremiah Tower.”
When asked about her time at Chez Panisse, she remarks “I
don’t remember reading anything about Alice when I was young, but when I was in
cooking school in ‘93, I drew Alice Waters name out of a hat, and I wrote a
paper about her and Chez Panisse.” Dominica continued to explain, smiling as she
politely waved ‘hello’ to a passing customer, “After doing my research, I
decided that I wanted to work for her some day.”
“I heard about this mathematical master where if you
worked for him, or were a student of his, you were separated by one degree.” This is in response to my idea to
create a game called “Six Degrees of Chez Panisse, although I now realize that
it should probably be “Six Degrees of Alice Waters.” There was a time early on when Alice was in the front of the
house and a waiter, and since then she has moved around in a variety of
roles. “I worked with some of the
original sous chefs who worked directly with her (Alice), and now they have
gone off and opened their own restaurants and companies, but they remember when
she worked in the kitchen, so my degree of separation would be “two.”
Still in her early twenties, Dominica moved to Manhattan,
and worked two jobs for a year and a half. Her anchor job was a union gig at the Four Seasons
restaurant, but being passionately driven to excel and learn, she would work on
her days off at Restaurant Daniel, a famed traditional French establishment on
the Upper East Side. One of Chef
Daniel Boulud’s jewels, Restaurant Daniel is noted by the New York Times as
being among a handful of elegant restaurants that maintain the rituals once
synonymous with superior cuisine haute French, and it was a time Dominica found
exhilarating and exhausting. “The
labor laws in Manhattan kind of go out the window,” she explains. “Waiters that
earn no wage, just their tips, and a similar situation for dishwashers. There were no breaks, ever--never a
sit-down break.” The shifts were
13-hours long and if anyone was allowed to eat, they would do so standing
up. “There were people from all
over the world, from Haiti and London, Paris and LA, so it wasn’t like you
could complain about how you needed your 15-minute break--you would have been
cut immediately.”
Papel Picado at Cosecha |
She moved to Mexico City in 1995, and this is where the
glimmer of inspiration for Cosecha has its roots. Dominica was there for a year and a half, and she loved
taking the bus everywhere. “It was
great, you would get into work at ten, take a siesta in the afternoon, and then
work into the night.” She worked
at the French Restaurant Soleil in Mexico City and made the circuit to all of the farmer’s
markets, mercados and tianguis (an Aztec term for flea market). These types of
markets are located all over Mexico City--some of them are permanent, some
occur regularly at the metro stations, there are some that just pop-up, and
then there are the traditional farmer’s markets that occur once a week at a
specific time.
These markets, and their food stands are the true
inspiration for Cosecha. Dominica
wanted to create an experience that straddled California style and the fun
street food of Mexico City, something she has executed with the successful
precision of an inspired and seasoned professional. “Like our (Cosecha) quesadillas--they look like huaraches,
which are essentially huge corn tortillas, folded over,” and with this she
describes her experience at the Merced Market in Mexico City. “The way it came around is that I went
to a market stand, and asked this guy who makes huaraches to make a quesadilla
for me, but he gave me something totally different. He just folded over his
huarache, and that was my quesadilla.
It was fantastic, it was perfect!”
Fantastic and perfect...hmmm...just like everything
showcased on the Cosecha menu.
The menu and area where Cosecha is located appear deceptively simple at first glance. Dominca has transformed a warehouse space into a cheerful restaurant with a bright aqua wall, hip modern lamps, an amazing and intricate example of custom papel picado celebrating the idea of harvest, an open prep line and wide wooden communal tables that invite social engagement. They offer a daily a la carte menu, a Friday evening expanded dinner menu, a weekend brunch menu and occasional pop-up dinners that tend to occur on Saturday evenings and are reservation-only. Cosecha also supports quality up-and-coming local artisans during Friday night dinners by providing space for pop-up vending.
If you don’t like brunches, give Cosecha a chance, and it
will prove to be the exception to your rule. The mere notion of eggs and pancakes is elevated to a new
and lofty level. Their Chilaquiles feature scrambled eggs that are Paris tea
house perfect (think the little tea house on the Left Bank, hidden up a set of
unassuming stairs and packed with locals) transformed into moist, fluffy curds
atop crunchy house made chips that are sautéed with your choice of freshly
created salsas, and topped with a generous sprinkling of queso fresco and thick
slices of tender, ripe avocado. They make their own ‘Spam’ with Niman Ranch
pork and had the vision to marry this novel yumminess with airy pancake batter for a
sweet/salty breakfast delight.
The tacos on the a la carte menu, both soft and crispy,
are an absolute delight. Patrons
demand the constant presence of the ever-popular wild shrimp taco, but the fish
and pork belly tacos shouldn’t be missed.
There is a crispy butternut squash taco that appears occasionally, and
is a little slice of fried vegetarian heaven. In previous posts, I have rhapsodized about their Pozole,
braised ribs and coffee. I could go on and on.
The moment of truth is at hand—now is the time to swing by
downtown Oakland, check out the Oaktown Pop-Up neighborhood of shops, and
experience Cosecha. Prepare to be
surprised and delighted.
Cosecha Mexican Cafe
907 Washington Street
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 452-5900
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