Chef profile: Rick Hackett of Bocanova

Even if you didn't come out to Oakland's Eat Real last weekend, you can't have missed the buzz about Jack London Square's waterfront revitalization. And at the forefront of its restaurant grand openings is Bocanova, new this week with Chef Rick Hackett at the helm. But how did Hackett, an East Coast chef with classical French training and a California-Mediterranean repertoire, come to open a Pan-American kitchen adapting the raw materials and cuisine of Central and South (as well as North) America?

It all started with the "staff meal," informally dished up to staff members before every shift. "My Peruvian sous-chef and his mostly Hispanic staff started making dishes for staff meal inspired by the food of their homelands," Hackett explains. "The meals were fantastic! I realized that what we were eating in the kitchen was every bit as good as what we were preparing for our guests.

"I started researching recipes and ingredients from Mexico and Peru, which led me to other regions of Central and South America, which in turn brought me to understand how much the exchange of ingredients and techniques between Old World and New had contributed to the way we eat. The more I learned, the more excited I became about creating a restaurant that would celebrate the foods of the entire hemisphere. That restaurant is Bocanova." Read the review of Bocanova here.

Dominique is a writer and editor based in Oakland. She reviews restaurants for Lonely Planet Publications, and her articles have appeared in national and international newspapers. You may contact her at dchannell@channelledit.com or follow her on Twitter at oakland_eats.