Holy Cannoli! bakery-cafe opens in San Jose
They’re finally piping sweet fillings into the freshly baked cannoli shells on Santa Clara Street in downtown San Jose.
After months of planning and a November-december preview, chef-caterer Jamie Whitmire will hold the grand opening for her Holy Cannoli! bakery and cafe starting
Monday.
Why now?
“We tried to open multiple times and due to COVID or protests we’ve been boarded up and never stood a solid chance. Now that it’s a new year I’m going to give it my all,” Whitmire said. “I’ve spent everything and worked my whole life to build this dream and I refuse to let it fail!”
Whitmire, who says she comes from a family
of “amazing bakers,” had turned to this passion after working in the marketing and advertising world.
Her signature item is the Sicilian pastry. She and her team make their cannoli fresh daily, from baking the shells to piping the mascarpone-ricotta filling to order. Her lineup includes the traditional chocolate chip and pistachio versions, plus such specialty flavors as Nutella with hazelnuts, Grand Marnier with candied orange, Kahlua with espresso beans and Limoncello with white chips. The cannoli come in small and large sizes, and customers can mix and match fillings and toppings.
Also available for takeout will be breakfast wraps, brioche cinnamon rolls, focaccia pizzas, sandwiches, salads and coffee drinks.
Several varieties of 6-inch pies will be baked every day. The rotation lineup features pecan, lemon, peach-blackberry, apple caramel, blueberry, chocolate silk, banana cream, coconut cream, pistachio cannoli cream and butterscotch toffee.
In the next few weeks, Whitmire will add dinners to go via curbside pickup or delivery. And during the soft opening, Thanksgiving meals to go were a success, so she plans to offer Valentine’s Day and Easter dinners.
DETAILS >> The inaugural hours are 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 138 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose; www. holycannolisj.com
Oakland Restaurant Week returns — with a new focus
Oakland Restaurant Week is back, with a new emphasis for this coronavirus era.
With the pandemic hitting the food industry hard, the Visit Oakland organizers of the 11th annual event have added a new focus on the broader culinary community — roundups of caterers, food trucks, small markets, wine shops, breweries, cafes, pop-ups and coffee roasters that desperately need business to stay afloat. You can read, research and shop via the “where to find” lists at Visitoakland.com.
And, through Jan. 18, a number of restaurants, caterers and wineries are offering the traditional deals but in a nontraditional fashion. With pandemic restrictions ruling out on-site dining, these are valid for takeout and delivery only. Those promotions are also listed on the website.
As always, the array ranges from fastcasual to fine- dining options. Participants include Italian Colors, Alamar, Bacheesos, the Damel, Itani Ramen, Donut Farm, Belly, Eating Saigon, FOB Kitchen, Communite Table, Kitava, Nikkei Sushi, Daughter’s Diner, Free Range Flower Winery, Saucy Oakland, Perle Fine Wines and Cocktails, Robert Dorsey Catering, Brotzeit Lokal, Popoca and Prima Materia.
Again this year, customers’ dining dollars will pay dividends as many participants have pledged to donate a portion of proceeds to the Alameda County Community Food Bank.
Owners of Original Joe’s launch another restaurant
The San Francisco siblings who revived their family’s Original Joe’s tradition have now rescued another piece of their past.
Elena and John Duggan, owners of the OJ’S in North Beach and Daly City, have taken over the former Paradise Pizza in West Portal, their childhood neighborhood, and reopened it as Little Original Joe’s, a takeout eatery and retail market.
And they’re now making pizza — a first for Joe’s — using the Paradise dough recipe from original owner Sal Alioto.
But Sal probably never put smoked Gouda or truffle oil on a pizza. Joining a number of classics are such artisanal options as the Fun Guy (sauteed mushrooms, mozzarella, ricotta cream, truffle oil); the PB& A (prosciutto di Parma, burrata, arugula); and the Spicy Mike (soppressata, Calabrian chile peppers, Asiago and oregano).
Red-sauce traditionalists will find Joe’s house-made ravioli, baked lasagna and eggplant and chicken parmigiana available to go. New offerings include spicy rigatoni vodka pasta, polenta parmigiana and Mary’s free-range rotisserie chicken with house sauces (salsa verde, chile crunch, barbecue and honey dijon).
The market is stocked with Joe’s graband-go entrees, soups, salad dressings and desserts; cheeses and cured meats; condiments and sweets; and fresh bread from Boudin and Acme. In another nod to Paradise, the market/eatery offers Menabrea, the Italian beer sold by the pizzeria. Elena Duggan described the West Portal expansion as another way to honor their roots.
The Duggans are the grandchildren of Tony Rodin, who opened the first Original Joe’s on San Francisco’s Taylor Street in 1937. An early partner of Rodin’s, Bruno Scatena, opened Joe’s of Westlake, and the Scatena family operated that Daly City location for 57 years, until 2014.
But the scaloppine and calamari made a comeback when the Duggans, who had previously opened a flagship Joe’s in North Beach, renovated the restaurant, renamed it Original Joe’s of Westlake and reopened it in 2016. Both restaurants are currently offering takeout and delivery.
DETAILS >> The new Little Original Joe’s is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily at 393 West Portal Ave., San Francisco.
Salt & Straw ice cream coming to San Ramon this year
Salt & Straw, the gourmet ice cream shop known for its seasonal, chefdriven, small-batch flavors, will open its first Contra Costa County location at City Center Bishop Ranch in San Ramon.
The Portland-based ice cream company first arrived in the Bay Area with a splash back in 2017, opening two scoop shops in San Francisco before expanding to Palo Alto, Burlingame, Oakland and San Jose. Pre- COVID, it wasn’t unusual to wait in line for 30 to 45 minutes for a scoop of sea salt with caramel ribbons or vegan Freckled Mint TCHO- colate Chip.
Salt & Straw has also been known to do wacky holiday one- offs, like turkey ice cream for Thanksgiving or Dracula’s Blood Pudding for Halloween. We’ll stick to the chocolatier series, which usually rolls out in early February.
With its lease signed, Salt & Straw will join LB Steak, a modern steakhouse currently under construction along Bollinger Canyon Road, as another premium option for City Center foodies.
Until Salt & Straw’s San Ramon debut — estimated for spring 2021 — you can enjoy its flavors via pickup and delivery through one of six Bay Area locations or via its new monthly pint club subscription.