For many East Bay fans, Sequoia Diner is synonymous with biscuits. Located in Oakland’s Laurel District since 2015, the cult favorite was a collaboration between Sequoia and Andrew Vennari, partners in business and in life. This year, following a separation and a soon-to-be-finalized divorce, Sequoia Del Hoyo, who has celiac, is opening a new cafe that’s much more reflective of her sensibilities and heritage.
For the past year and a half, Del Hoyo, who stepped away from the beloved diner, has been operating a meal delivery service called Tarocco from the Sequoia Diner kitchen. In late February, she’ll open Tarocco as a permanent daytime cafe in West Berkeley, two blocks away from Third Culture Bakery and Standard Fare, in a space that was previously occupied by Westside Bakery and Cafe and a short-lived Nepalese restaurant that opened in the very beginning of 2020.
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The cafe will serve lunch and, eventually, breakfast, as well as wine and beer. It wasn’t the original goal, however — in the process of severing ties with Sequoia Diner, Del Hoyo was simply looking for a new commercial kitchen space. “The thing is, you get into the business because you love it, and I genuinely love serving people and creating an atmosphere,” she says. “Once I saw the space, it was so easy to fall in love with — pre-pandemic everyone wanted an intimate, small business, myself included, but having lots of space and a lot of windows is now an asset.”
The Tarocco menu will be inspired by Del Hoyo’s Catalan roots, and will include variety of meze and composed salads with a Californian-Mediterranean flair. They’ll be “plant-forward with a side of protein, like turkey feta meatballs with tzatziki, roasted salmon,” Del Hoyo says, an approach that she’ll carry over from her experience delivering meals. Examples include a tahini Caesar with crispy chickpeas, French lentils with confit leeks and broccolini, and chicories and beets with Castelvetrano olives and dates.
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The design, which Del Hoyo had conceptualized herself, will be “a bit more feminine” and reference the vibe of a faraway vacation to, say, Barcelona, where she has family. Having said that, Del Hoyo is aiming for a hyper-local experience, complete with an affordable price point; she wants Tarocco to be “a place you can come to once a week without breaking the bank,” she says. She’s planning to offer counter service, fueled by rosé, Champagne, and kombucha on tap — a.k.a. “all the things I like to drink,” she says.
Very much in line with Del Hoyo’s candid recap of her new journey on social media, Tarocco is truly a one-woman show. “Once I realized I’m sitting in here all by myself, I was literally sobbing,” she says. “This is a massive undertaking, but all of the weird skills I picked up in my life have led up to this moment.”
Tarocco will open in late February at 2570 Ninth Street in Berkeley.
Update: January 21st, 2022, 9:35 a.m.: This story has been updated with Andrew Vennari’s name.