Portside

The world’s first Ohlone restaurant closed after a one- year pilot. Now it’s coming back

Ohlone people and owners of Cafe Ohlone, Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino, see the restaurant as an unprecedented opportunity to educate about native traditions through food.

Native American chefs and food producers are taking the U.S. dining scene back to its true roots. Native American cuisine focuses on the “pre-contact” or “pre-colonization” foods that naturally existed in this country before Spanish and other immigrants introduced new crops and other goods, which in some areas changed the agricultural landscapes and natural ecosystems dramatically.