The owners of Benchmark Pizzeria in Kensington have expanded their Cal-Italian footprint with a new restaurant in Old Oakland.
Chef Peter Swanson and operations manager Melissa Swanson have taken over the historic 1876 building at Ninth and Washington streets that was formerly home to another Italian restaurant, Desco.
The couple had opened their first restaurant in 2012 after a career that included stints for both at Oliveto.
Their inaugural offerings at Benchmark Oakland build upon the seasonal, organic Kensington menu by adding a number of entrees (roasted halibut; braised short rib ragu with gnocchi; fried chicken) to the lineup of signature pizzas (salami/Calabrian chile; fried sage with fresh mozzarella and brown butter) and pastas (strozzapreti Bolognese; gnocchi with wild nettles).
Benchmark stretches its cheese in-house and makes the pizza dough from a wild-yeast sourdough starter.
The Oakland location also gets creative with 10 craft cocktails and a small-bites menu that leans Italian with anchovy toast and cacio e pepe popcorn.
Details: Benchmark Oakland serves lunch, a happy hour menu and dinner daily on weekdays starting at 11:30 a.m., and dinner on weekends from 5:30 p.m., at 499 Ninth St. www.benchmarkoakland.com