18 hours Ago By Jessica Yadegaran
On the eve of Tax Day, as the evening breeze cast rippled across Oakland’s Lake Merritt , I calmed my jitters about that big payment with a meal at what might be the only Bay Area restaurant that can make a financially depleted person feel spoiled: Mama Oakland in the Adams Point neighborhood. In this uncertain time of tariffs and never-ending inflation , it appeared I wasn’t the only one looking for indulgence at discount prices: Mama’s tasting menu is a steal at under $40 a person. By the time I left the neighborhood gem, it was bursting at the seams with eager diners.
Mind you, I arrived on a Monday at 5:45 p.m. Most restaurants aren’t even open on Mondays — it’s just too slow.
But the small Italian nook on Grand Avenue operates differently than most of its contemporaries, offering something unique but familiar — and it might just be recession-proof. Mama is part of a wave of mid-tier Bay Area restaurants that have discovered the security in tasting-menu-only formats. But at $39.
95 for three hearty Italian courses, it is by far the simplest and most affordable . You may think hyper-seasonal, ever-rotating dishes made at the whim of a genius chef are the way to success, but it’s really the opposite. Give people what is familiar — what they crave — at a reasonable price, and they’ll be lifelong patrons, Mama’s research shows.
“Your favorite restaurants are the ones you go back to again and again because you want that one thing,” co-owner Stevie Stacionis told me in a phone interview after my visit. She met and fell in love with her husband and co-owner Josiah Baldivino in the early aughts while working at Il Fornaio in Pasadena, which they credit for teaching them the ropes. When they moved to the Bay Area and dove into upscale dining and wine — Baldivino worked for Michael Mina; Stacionis ran their wine shop, Bay Grape, which they recently sold — they’d often ask people what their favorite spots were and why.
“It was always Zuni Café for the chicken and In-N-Out for the burger,” she continued. “They wanted the comfort and familiarity. Nowadays, so many things are so novel and challenging.
Just give me what I crave.” There is definitely a palpable comfort, even romance, to Mama, which is barely 1,000 square feet, with the kind of green walls, pink chairs and golden light fixtures you’d find in your grandmother’s apartment. Stacionis’ feisty Italian American grandma actually inspired the restaurant.
Maria Germano Stacionis was a 4-foot-10 powerhouse. She spent her whole life working in hospitality. A restaurant hostess into her 90s, Maria’s happy place was feeding people huge bowls of pasta and absolutely delighting in their company.
Her sugo — thick, garlicky and loaded with pork — was so comforting that at first, the couple considered building the entire restaurant solely around that sauce. Instead, they opened in 2019 with a simple three-course menu in what was, at the time, a densely packed residential area that lacked enough restaurants and shops. They brought the manager from Il Fornaio Pasadena up to Oakland to help open Mama.
Even the meal’s price back then — $29 — has a Maria story. “She was standing in line at the butcher counter, waiting for her number 29 to be called,” Stacionis recalled to SFGATE. “When they skipped her, she ran through the shop yelling ‘29! 29! You skipped 29!’ and waving her number.
” When it came time to decide what to charge for the meal, of course it had to be $29. While some things have changed — namely, the cost — the menu is much the same. You pick a starter — usually soup or salad — an entree of pasta or risotto and one of two desserts.
Drinks are not included. Neither are tempting add-ons such as herbed focaccia, pan-fried meatballs or shareable mains. Obviously, the drinks and add-ons hike up that $39.
95 very quickly. But I can tell you that the three courses are plenty filling. I added the meatballs ($10) — they’re Mama’s recipe, after all — and took two of the three home.
History | The incredible implosion of the Bay Area's biggest pyramid scheme Food | Tragedy almost shuttered this Berkeley brunch institution Culture | Inside the Bay Area’s cult-like obsession with Beanie Babies Local | The world's last lost tourist thought Maine was San Francisco Get SFGATE's top stories sent to your inbox by signing up for The Daily newsletter here. The first thing I appreciated is that they let me order half a glass of wine. It’s unbelievable to me how many restaurants say no to this.
The potato leek soups also delighted me, not only for its flavor and perfect temperature — hot, the way soup should be served — but for the presentation. My server poured it from a kettle, over crispy fried gnocchi, right in front of me. The Calabrian gremolata garnish added zing.
When Mama’s sugo arrived, its aroma enraptured me. Blanketing large tubes of paccheri, it tasted like the pork and beef had been braised for hours in onions and tomatoes. I turned around and smiled at Maria’s photo.
My neighbor’s bright green spring pea risotto looked like a fine dining dish, with a flurry of pancetta, pea shoots and lemon agrumato on top. I took a picture and told myself “next time.” My dessert, a strawberry crostata, was overbaked, making the edges hard to cut into, and would’ve benefited from fresh strawberries.
The lemon custard gelato on top was incredible — creamy and luxurious — but it hardened the thin layer of strawberry jam in the center, making it flavorless. If you like to watch cooks in action, I recommend the chef’s counter, where a portrait of Maria, with her large brown eyes and gray updo, watches over you. As the team plated smoked chicken salads and fried gnocchi, captain Trevor Baker told the cooks about riding his tricycle down to the corner restaurant as a toddler while his mother’s back was turned.
Everyone cackled. “We love our jobs,” sous-chef Roque Mendoza told me, still laughing, when he noticed me watching. Mama almost closed for good during the pandemic, despite its popularity.
The concept did not lend itself to takeout, Stacionis said, adding that the restaurant’s pivot to sandwiches and meal kits hardly made ends meet. She said Mama’s landlord is the reason the restaurant still exists: “They said, ‘If you’re not making sales, then you don’t have to pay rent.’” Still, like everyone else, Mama closed in March 2020, and the owners considered calling it quits.
At the time, they were driving back and forth from Oakland to Napa, where a second Bay Grape shop was opening and had a 3-year-old — and no child care. It was only after a conversation with longtime friend Ryan Cole of Hi Neighbor Hospitality Group that the future of Mama was sealed. “I told him we were thinking of closing, and he said, ‘Why don’t we run it for you?” she recalled.
Hi Neighbor owns Trestle in San Francisco and is majority owner of the Michelin-starred 7 Adams. But Cole and his partners also handle operations for other restaurants, like the Vault Steakhouse and BH Wood-Fired Grill in Walnut Creek. Since Cole and Hi Neighbor took over in 2021, Mama’s profitability has exceeded prepandemic levels.
They’ve added reservations and menu supplements like Mama’s meatballs, as well as increased the number of diners served — known in the restaurant world as “covers” — by 50%. He attributes Mama’s success to many factors. “It’s unpretentious in approach but with an extremely high level of service and hospitality,” said Cole, who started Hi Neighbor with Jason Halverson and Tai Ricci after working at Michael Mina’s restaurants and Hillstone in LA.
“It is a value proposition. An entire meal for $39.95.
Even when you factor in add-ons and a reasonably priced wine list, you have a nice meal for $65, including drinks. That is unheard of currently.” For Baldivino and Stacionis, who consider themselves creatives at heart, having someone with a business and operations mind has been the best thing that ever happened to them — and Mama.
“The way that having dinner at my Mama’s house made me feel like I was safe and nourished and loved is what we’ve tried to do with this restaurant," Stacionis said. “I think it’s what everyone wants.” As I dusted the grana padano from my lap and headed for the door, ready to face the hair-whipping wind and my financial advisor, I looked back at the portrait of Maria one last time and thought she’d be proud.
Mama Oakland, 388 Grand Ave., Oakland. Open Monday through Thursday, 5:30 p.
m. to 9:30 p.m.
; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, 5 p.
m. to 9 p.m.
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