ice cream with caramel

By Dawn Adams


Photography by Bob Kusmeski


Alameda is growing and changing, and its restaurant scene is no exception. The past years have seen a bumper crop of new restaurants opening all around the Island, and Pappo Restaurant is one of the newest stars.

Owned and operated by restaurateur John Thiel, Pappo (from the Latin verb for "to eat") offers high-quality food in a comfortable setting perfect for enjoying dinner with family and friends. The decor is muted, with one wall of exposed brick and dark wood. "Pappo is an extension of my living room, an extension of me," Thiel says. "I want this to be as nice as my home, and this [restaurant] will be successful if I can achieve that."

The menu is seasonal, with ingredients dictated by freshness and market availability. Whenever possible, Thiel uses organic products, sustainably raised meats and environmentally harvested fish from local vendors like Paul's Produce, Feel Good Bakery, Baron's Meats and Tucker's SuperCreamed Ice Cream. Each day, before Pappo opens for business, Thiel shops for ingredients and spends time in the kitchen cooking with his team of chefs. Weather plays a large role in determining his menu. "In the winter, we've got dishes like cassoulet on the menu," he says. "When it gets warmer, people will want to have the pleasures of taste but not [want to] be weighed down by the food."

Thiel's special is braised duck legs (the duck comes from a local farm in Petaluma)--a menu staple. Another popular item is the rib-eye steak with garlic herb fries. The entree portions are good-sized, with sides like mushroom bread pudding and pumpkin-pomegranate risotto, chosen to complement the main dish.

His signature dessert is the "Pappogato," an appellation that plays off the sound-alike affogato, the traditional Italian treat in which steaming espresso is poured over vanilla ice cream. The Pappogato is, essentially, a root beer float--draft Thomas Kemper flooding a scoop of Tucker's ice cream. Thiel says his secret is allowing simple ingredients to work together. "We try to do as little as we can to our food and let the ingredients shine in their own way," he says. "I got lucky working in some really great restaurants where I fell in love with good, delicious food."

Thiel has wanted to own a restaurant since he first walked into his uncle's New York restaurant at 11 years old. At 14, he started washing dishes at the Ice House in Montclair, and has been in the restaurant business in some capacity ever since. At the Ice House, he worked his way up through the ranks, eventually flipping burgers on the grill. The California Culinary Academy was a natural move, although he initially considered pursuing a university degree. While at the CCA, Thiel started working at Oakland's Bay Wolf, where he began to develop his approach toward food. "School was great for learning techniques and acquiring the skill set," he says. "But Bay Wolf is where I learned the craft and art of food."

With an eye toward eventually opening his own restaurant, Thiel garnered management experience at several San Francisco restaurants, including Enrico's, Tavolino and Delfina. He also toured Europe, eating and drinking his way through France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Ireland with a corkscrew and pocketknife in hand. When he returned to Alameda, Thiel opened a catering business, which gave him the flexibility to develop a business plan for his restaurant venture. "Catering was good experience for having a restaurant," Thiel says, adding that Pappo caters corporate luncheons at the restaurant and occasionally hosts dinners for local shops when it is closed to the public on Monday nights.

Thiel took over the Skylight Cafe space in July 2005, financing the new restaurant on his own. The doors opened in October, gaining local fans since day one. Pappo offers a stellar wine list, with excellent selections by the glass, and also practices a corkage policy, enabling diners to bring in their favorite wine for an opening fee. Says Thiel, "I got introduced to the wine world at Baywolf and really dove into it when I was the maitre d' at the Huntington Hotel in Nob Hill."

As an Alameda resident, his goal is to offer customers another option for dining, bringing Rockridge- and Berkeley-caliber cuisine to the Island. "I live on the Island, and I don't like to leave it if I don't have to," Thiel says. "I had the opportunity, saw what I wanted and made it happen."

The Details: Pappo Restaurant. California, Mediterranean. Open for dinner 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Sunday. 2320 Central Ave., (510) 337-9100, www.papporestaurant.com. CC $$