Two Valley food-industry heavyweights are joining forces to bring artisanal pizza, Italian cocktails and curated market goods to the former Santo Arcadia space on 44th Street and Osborn Road this fall.
And we have a feeling “olive” you are gonna love it.
Described by chef Bernie Kantak as an all-day restaurant-market hybrid with “a cool little Italian speakeasy for folks in the ‘hood,” the project – dubbed The Olive Farmer – is a joint effort of In Good Spirits Hospitality (The Gladly, Citizen Public House and Beginner’s Luck) and Queen Creek Olive Mill, the massively popular farm and dining playground in the East Valley.
Construction on the Arcadia spot is currently underway. Kantak and his co-owners are aiming for a September opening, he says.
The project was conceived about a year ago, when Kantak (a two-time James Beard Award semifinalist who co-owns In Good Spirits with front-of-the-house maestro Andrew Fritz) and Queen Creek Olive Mill CEO Perry Rea met through a mutual friend and vibed on their mutual love of focaccia, slow-fermented dough and highly-refined olive oil. “Perry is a bit of a mad scientist when it comes to flour and bread,” says Kantak, who hasn’t made pizza commercially since “doing a flatbread at [defunct Old Town wine bar] Kazimierz” more than a decade ago.
The partnership also made sense for Rea, who runs a robust pizza program in Queen Creek but had recently closed QCOM’s Kierland Commons location when he and Kantak had their meet-cute. “It’s amazing how close Bernie and I are on food,” he says. “He truly understands our philosophy and how to take [QCOM] products and incorporate them into an elevated menu.”
To that end, expect to find QCOM olive oils and balsamic vinegars throughout the Olive Farmer menu, its tapenades and caramelized onions on sandwiches, and its mascarpone cheese in desserts, among other product and menu combinations. “Perry’s products will go into 99 percent of the plates going out,” Kantak says.
The division of labor at The Olive Farmer will be novel and well-defined, Rea says. Working with QCOM’s Agostino Trentacoste, a Palermo-born pizzaiolo and certified flour technician, Kantak and his kitchen team will manage a “flour lab” that will produce bronze-extruded pastas, slow-fermented dough, bread, focaccia and pastries.
“Bernie and his team will come out to [Queen Creek] and spend time at the Mill to get up to speed with the process we use,“ Rea says. “[But] he’ll take the lead on the food side, Andrew will take the operations side and I’ll lead the marketplace with my son.”
According to Rea, the market will feature QCOM’s full line of food products in addition to its assortment of Olivespa skincare products. The market will also feature “take & make” meals like fresh pasta and oven-ready lasagna and ziti, along with a bottle shop for wine purchases. Coffee, house-made pastries and quick breakfast options will available in the A.M.
The aforementioned Italian back bar, ISSIMA, will specialize in “reimagined classics built with fine oils, vinegars, citrus and a focused selection of vermouths, aperitivos and amaros,” according to the owners.
Kantak says he’s excited to start slinging artisanal pizzas and traditional Italian panuozzos (a baked Campanian sandwich made from pizza dough) at the new restaurant – his fifth original concept and possibly his last, the 50-something culinary star intimates. “We’ll see if [I have another in me],” he says. “Making pizza and great food with Perry seems like a nice way to go out.”
