Located on Grand Avenue in Oakland, Almond and Oak is more than just a neighborhood favorite. It’s a reflection of its owner, Rico whose passion for food, culture and community runs deep. Let’s learn more about the journey that brought him here.
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From a Piedmont native, Emmy award-winning television journalist-turned-home matchmaker, part-time radio anchor, UCLA graduate, wife and mother of 3.
Meet Rico Rivera. The owner of Almond and Oak.
“I learned to cook by myself, being at home watching a lot of cooking programs, Julia Child, Yan Kan Cook, those came on weekends. That’s what I’d watch instead of cartoons and try all that at home.”
Rico: “My parents weren’t good cooks at all so by the time I was 12 or 13 I was always trying to have dinner on the table for them when they got home.“
Over the years Rivera has been an executive chef at top Bay Area restaurants and traveled the country to learn from the best chefs he could.
Rico: “I was at Flora for 8 years as exec chef, before that Pizzaiolo for about 5 years. Years prior I was at Lark Creek which was in Larkspur.”
Rivera describes the cuisine at Almond and Oak as New American.
Rico: “I draw from all my experiences, in all the restaurants I worked in and all the chefs I worked for and all the cooks that i worked with and all their experiences that they brought to the table that I liked that i do in my own way.”
His dream was to always open his own restaurant in his hometown of Oakland.
Rico: “I’m from here I’ve always cooked here I’ve travelled the country cooking and I’ve always wanted to come back home and do something here. I like to be here, in my city feeding my community.”
And when asked what he loves most about cooking, Rivera doesn’t hesitate.
Rico: “Everything. I like when people are happy. This is the hospitality industry and I think that gets lost on a lot of people. When people come here we need to do the food, drinks and good service for them to have a good time. If one of those things don’t work it’s not worth the money they paid and it’s important they leave here feeling they got their moneys worth and they enjoyed everything we did.”
Rivera says everything on the menu is personal for him but the gnocchi gets a lot of attention.
Rico: “I’ve been making it for years and years and years and it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to learn. It took a good year to get it down and hundreds of times to really get it down. So I’m very proud of that.
People love it so it makes me happy.”
Come enjoy a delicious meal at Almond and Oak — it won’t take long for it to become one of your favorite neighborhood spots.
Rico: “It’s a beautiful restaurant and we do really high end quality food but I really like to think of myself as a neighborhood spot where you can come 2-3 days a week which so many of our guests come that often and it’s like a big family. It’s pretty cool.”
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