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Stacy and David Raneri of Oracle Patio Cafe and Market
Over the past four years, the Oracle Patio Café and Market has evolved into the local in-place to enjoy good food and meeting friends and neighbors.
A great success from the start, the café’s interior has undergone continuous changes in accordance with its mission and purpose.
These days, we enter the establishment through the Market. Essential ingredients, such as dry goods, meats, vegetables and oven-ready meals-to-go are displayed all over the store.
Patrons of the café have a choice of various dining areas. There is outdoor seating on the patio or street-side. Then there are the cozy rooms by the windows on the inside, one room with a large round table is in the back, plus the garden room for individual and larger groups.
Owners Stacy and David Raneri can usually be found working in the kitchen.
Customers include local residents and patrons from surrounding areas. Bicyclists and motor bikers make their way to the restaurant from as far as Tucson and the Phoenix areas.
“Everybody likes homemade food, fresh vegetables, free range meats. You will not find any processed food in this establishment” says Stacy Raneri. “Sandwiches, pizza, pies and scones are also offered with an additional gluten free option.”
Good Food, Happy People
Great emphasis is placed on obtaining fresh organic produce from local farmers whenever possible, to name a few: Jojoba steak and chorizo meats in the market are supplied by Gregg Vinson. The Gourmet Girls supply the gluten free items used in the kitchen; herbs and plants from Linda Leigh, vegetables and fruit from Coralee, range free eggs from Natalie Huntington.
Sky Island Coffee Roasters provide a nice assortment of freshly roasted coffee beans and ground coffees by Deb Breen.
In addition, the market offers natural lunch meats. Stacy Raneri explains that she only buys food items she personally likes.
The restaurant’s policy is to have nothing go to waste. Unsold cooked food items are donated to the Oracle Community Center for their weekly luncheons. Vegetable peelings are passed on to the Vermillion Wormery for composting.
The restaurant is open 7 AM to 3 PM Tuesday through Sunday. Stacy Raneri stresses the importance of the whole family sitting down together for dinner at home. Daughter Annalisa is 16 and son Max is 10. Thus evening hours are reserved for family and school matters.
Annalisa’s 16th birthday. Annalisa Raneri, 16, and Max Raneri, 10.
The children were 12 and 6 years old when the restaurant first opened, and Annalisa worked as the first dishwasher at the store.
The owners have adopted a circumspect budget that allows maintenance of staff during leaner months, thus providing regular income for their employees.
Raneri feels they have been blessed with good fortune and she attributes the restaurant’s steady growth to their hard work, the efforts of loyal employees, and a close relationship with the community. Awareness of the establishment has been created by patrons’ word of mouth. And rather than investing in marketing, the Raneris prefer to give back to the community by supporting the local Spats Theater and the Oracle Piano Society in their own way.
Parts of the profits have also continually been funneled back into the business, including redecoration of rooms and furniture. The chairs in the front room originated from a sell-off at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. They were recently painted by Valeska Cromer with adorable chicken and heart pictures.
‘Welcome’ signs in the parking spaces have been created by local sculptor Jerry Parra, and the paper flowers adorning the restaurant walls were made by wife Sue.
Local artists are invited to display their works on a rotating basis on the café walls. This allows for an ever changing ambiance, and at the same time serves to introduce local painters to dining patrons.
Appetizer display for a catered wedding at El Rancho Robles Spring 2016
The restaurant has regular catering commitments in and outside of the site. Some include retreats at El Rancho Robles, weddings at the Oracle State Park, lunch boxes at the Arizona Zipline, and private catering at peoples’ homes.
Another popular feature of the Patio Café is the monthly ‘Dinner with Dave’ by reservation only. The concept of these intimate soirees stems from people’s curiosity about what it would be like to dine with a chef. Thus ‘Dinner with Dave’ serves as a recreation of any private dinner party where you don’t know who will be seated next to you, or what food will be served by the host. Those dinners, Raneri explains, include a four course meal and customers may bring along their own bottle of wine. According to her, these are Dave’s favorite nights!
The next ‘Dinner with Dave’ has tentatively been scheduled for Nov. 11. The cost for the four course dinner is $35 plus tax and tip, prepaid. For reservations please call 1-520-896-7615.
The restaurant will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, but pre-ordered pies and other items may be picked up until 6 p.m. in the market store the day before. Last year, the store sold no less than 386 pies for Thanksgiving, just to give you an idea about their popularity!
The Patio Café is located at 270 American Avenue in the town of Oracle, Arizona. Exit Hwy. 77 at milepost 100.
You are always welcome! Good food makes people happy.
Salads lined up for the first course for the “Tucson Tasters Guild” June 2016
Skylar Khan lives on a vortex in Oracle. She is a Master Graphoanalyst and has been contributing articles to The Oracle Towne Crier about personality traits revealed through Handwriting Analysis. Her book “Handwriting Rocks” is informative and entertaining. For more information, please visit HandwritingAuthority.com
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