New Oakland French Restaurant Occitania Delivers a Lesson in Food, Art, and History | Eater SF

"I’m excited that Occitania, Chef Paul Canales’s new southern French restaurant, debuts Wednesday, June 1 in the Kissel Uptown Oakland hotel (422 24th St, Oakland). Canales — who honed his craft at East Bay Italian stalwart Oliveto and at Spanish-focused Duende — has obsessively shaped every detail from recipes to artwork to introduce diners to the wide-ranging cuisine of the historical Occitania region, which touches parts of Italy and Spain. The ambitious menu ranges from time-intensive house-made sausages, pates, rillettes and a luxurious lamb shank slow-cooked in red wine and garlic then grilled and served with spring vegetables, to smaller plates like asparagus and leeks topped with egg, Parmesan, walnuts and vinaigrette, squid braised in red wine with aioli, escargot, and pigeon prepared three ways with olive tapenade; a seafood bourride provençale features petrale sole and shrimp. Canales plans rotating items and has already tested a bouillabaisse made with scorpion fish and a grand aioli with salt-cured cod for vegetables and poached shrimp. Still, he keeps recognizable bistro classics for hotel guests: steak frites with a prime New York strip, onion soup with croutons and Gruyere, a Lyonnaise salad, and a carefully researched French burger inspired by his childhood favorite at Cafe Midi — garlic-buttered bread, a 50/50 parmesan and grain-Dijon spread, caramelized onions, mushrooms and Gruyere. The beverage list emphasizes an extensive selection of French wines (with a few Italian, Spanish and California options), French aperitifs, local beers, and classic cocktails such as a spritz of Aperol with charred cara cara orange, rosemary blanc vermouth and cava, and the Waking Joseph, which pairs vodka with lemongrass, ginger, pineapple, mata bianco, lime and cilantro. The dining room, shaped by Arcsine, features suspended ceramic pieces by Peter St. Lawrence with gold leaf nodding to mistral winds, Ramona Downey’s Rothko-like red textiles, and a mural by Sam Strand in the private dining room. Canales frames the whole project as a personal, historical and daily creative compulsion — he calls himself an amateur historian "engaging in history" through the restaurant — and I can see he’s built Occitania to be a place he wants to show up for every day. The restaurant opens Wednesday to Sunday 5–9:30 p.m. (extended to 10:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays) and plans to add lunch and weekend brunch." - Dianne de Guzman