Really going WHOLE HOG in Berkeley!

This is where I wish I was!!!

This time every year Oliveto's restaurant in Berkeley goes whole hog.
Chef Paul Canales really goes all out.
Check out his menu below-


This year, Paul Bertolli, who left Oliveto.. is opening FRA'MANI artisan salumi's.

East Bay look out!

Here is the menu for this year's dinner


THE WHOLE HOG 2006
Tuesday through Friday
February 21 - 24

Reserve early for this exciting event. 510 547-5356.

In spite of our Whole Hog Dinners representing an enormous challenge for the kitchen at Oliveto (some of our dry-cured meats are prepared 18 months in advance!), this event has proved to be the most fun and the most rewarding.
The dinners recapture an old tradition among farm communities in Italy. A local norcino, or roaming pig butcher, slaughters and butchers the pig, then helps cure much of the meat for the farm family's use throughout the year. At Oliveto we follow in this tradition and take it further by using every part of this "most generous animal" in imaginative and delectable ways.
That includes making many different kinds of terrines, sausages, and pâtés, stews and long-cooked dishes, dishes with offal, a meatball dish, pasta sauces such as sugos and ragùs, cured, smoked, and aged cuts, and our choucroute garni, complete with house-made sauerkraut.
Our pigs come from Paul Willis' hog farm in Thornton, Iowa-our liaison to over 400 farmer-members of the Niman Ranch Pork Company. The pigs we prepare and serve roam free, socialize, eat well, and are fat and happy, raised under the strict protocol of the Animal Welfare Institute. To this year's event we will add another element, that of celebration, for it is in the first half of 2006 that Oliveto's past chef, Paul Bertolli will launch his new salumi business.






THE WHOLE HOG 2006
A la carte menu
Dry-Cured
Soppressata
Crespone
Felino
Chorizo fresco
Toscano
Fino
Lonza
Spicy coppa
Prosciutto

Potted and Formed
Pate capriccioso
Pork Liver and Black Trumpet Pate
Ciccioli
Coppa di testa
Mortadella
Salame cotto
Prosciutto cotto

Offal and End Cuts
Fried Pork Trotter and Brains with Blood Orange salsa
Terrine of Pickled Pork Ears, giardiniera
Classic boudin blanc-e-noir with Aged balsamico
Warm antipasto of Pork Tongue, Artichokes, and Herbs
Gratinata of Pork Tripe and fagioli tondini Beans
Crostone of Fresh pancetta with Bitter Greens and Chanterelle Mushroom conserva
Salad of Pork Kidneys, Watercress, and Mustard Vinaigrette
Blood Pudding with Dried Fruit mostarda

Soup and Pasta
Pork Rib and cavolo nero Soup with Garlic crostini and Cracklings
Gnocchi del Cosentino with Little Pork Meatballs
Risotto alla pilota
Pennone and Calabrese Sausages
Cannelloni of Pork and Green Garlic
Raviolone of Pork Shoulder "Cooked Around the Clock"

Hot Specialities
Braised Pork Belly Stuffed with Fennel and Green Olives
Pork Bacon Chop with Fava Bean Puree and salsa rustica
Spit-roasted Oliveto Fresh Ham with Marsala
Pork scallopine with Black Truffles and Polenta integrale
Zampone Braised in saba
Spit-roasted Pork "pastrami," Spare Rib, and Grilled Classic frankfurter with sauerkraut
Charcoal-Grilled cippollata a-punt-a-coltello with Fried Shoestring Potatoes and Two bagnets

Vegetable Side Dishes
Rapini
Potatoes Fried in Pork Renderings
Chicories with balsamico
Bianca di Spagna Beans cooked with Smoked Pork Hocks
Puntarella
Polenta integrale
Garden Lettuces vinaigrette

Sweets
Winter Citrus Compote with Blood Orange and prosecco gelee
Bacon Ice Cream
Sweet Potato Flan
Rosemary sorbetto
Sgroppino
Chocolate Banana Cream Pie