Cosecha Restaurant By Chef Dominica Rice

In old Oakland, revitalization comes in the form of chicken mole.

Ever since Tamarindo opened a few years back, this part of town has become known for fresh, well-prepared Mexican food.

Now, with the opening of Cosecha, Dominica Rice's new restaurant located in the Swan Market, the area's reputation as a destination for ingredient-driven Cal-Mex is cemented.

Rice's food tips a hat to her former employers, Chez Panisse and Eccolo. The breezy open kitchen hides nothing.

Not that anything need be hidden. At Cosecha, everything, from the tortillas to the salsa to the aguas frescas, is freshly prepared using vegetables and meats from the same farms as her alma maters' kitchens.

To eat: a brothy, light posole, afloat with hominy and generous shreds of chicken ($6.75); tacos on warm tortillas, filled with Becker Lane braised pork ($3.50) or wild shrimp ($5); and sides like grilled sweet corn slathered with lime, chile and cotija cheese ($3), or a salad ($6.50) of Sungold tomatoes, avocado and cucumbers, dressed in cilantro vinaigrette, that is more Cal than Mex.

For now, Cosecha is open only for breakfast, lunch and Saturday-evening family-style suppers, the first of which, on August 20, will include a mezcal tasting and Oaxacan mole.

Cosecha, 907 Washington St., Oakland; 510-452-5900 or cosechacafe.com