by 
Maggie Miller and David and Stacey Raneri welcome diners to the newest restaurant in Oracle. (John Hernandez photo)
By John Hernandez
The Patio Café has been open for a few weeks now and word about the new restaurant and its food is spreading around Oracle.
“Best Mediterranean salad ever.”
“Healthy food options.”
“Scones and their baked goods are great.”
“I tried their filet mignon chili and it is excellent.”
These are just a few of the comments flying around Oracle.
The quaint little café was named for their patio out back which will be the focus area of the café along with good fresh food. It is located on American Avenue across the street from the Oracle Inn. The building once housed Dora’s Café and Mother Cody’s. The three partners that will share cooking and other duties at the restaurant are David Raneri, Stacey Raneri and Maggie Miller.
Chef David Raneri has been cooking for more than 30 years. He said he can remember as a kid rolling lasagna noodles and stirring pudding in a pot over the stove with his mom. This was in the days before instant pudding. He started working in a small place similar to the Patio Café back in the 1980s in Menlo Park, California. He then ended up in the Napa Valley working for renowned chef Joachim Splichal for three years at the “Pinot Blanc” restaurant. Splichal is an award winning celebrity chef known for his restaurant Patina which has been named as one of the top 40 restaurants in the United States and has catered the Oscars. Splichal is also listed in the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. After a series of family events, David moved to Arizona.
David went to Wickenburg to help his sister who owned the Cowboy Café. When they came to Oracle, a part time catering business David and Stacey were operating led them to the C.O.D. Ranch. They were looking for a chef and six months later he received a call from them. Raneri has been the chef at the C.O.D. Ranch for the past five years. The C.O.D. Ranch is becoming a popular retreat center and is noted for its food.
“No other retreat center serves food like at the C.O.D.,” said David. “While working at the C.O.D., I got to refine my ideas about food. I hope it comes through on our menu. We would like to bring it here to the café.”
“It’s fresh, honest and made here,” he added. “Eating local keeps money in the community. The community has been great in supporting us and helping us out.”
What is David’s specialty?
“I can’t answer that,” he said. “There is no one particular thing. We do a lot of regional cooking. I like the theme thing. I want to look at themes such as Asian take out and maybe change the menu each week.”
He continued, “We have a simple basic menu but daily additions will be posted on a blackboard.”
The Patio Café will also do catering.
David said, “I like to hand the people a blank piece of paper and ask them what they want. We are not locked into any one thing. We will work with the client and tell them what we can do within their budget.”
Stacey Raneri says that she learned from her husband David that cooking is an art.
“You don’t always have to follow the exact recipe,” Stacey said. “I came from a family where my father was an excellent cook. When I was looking for a spouse, one of the requirements was that he had to be a good cook.”
Stacey has worked with David in owning a mobile kitchen in Congress, Arizona and having a café in a day spa in Las Vegas.
“Cooking for others made me love food,” she said. “I always loved to eat but for all of us the most important thing is putting something delicious in front of someone and when the rave about or compliment us on the food, it is worth it.”
Maggie Miller learned her way around the restaurant business in New York City. Maggie is an actress and while living in New York worked in a lot of restaurants between acting jobs. Maggie worked in television, movies and off Broadway theatrical productions. She played Dr. Cassandra May in the soap opera Port Charles and Lorraine Hawkins in Loving and The City. Her movie roles include being in the Spike Lee movie Girl 6 and Juice with Tupac Shakur.
“Every actor works in restaurants sometime in their career,” Maggie said. “I worked in a lot of restaurants, working in all facets of the business”.
After 17 years in New York, Maggie came back to Oracle to raise her kids. She started taking cheese to farmer’s markets and did some catering for Oracle Land Trust. She has also been working with and learning from David Raneri at the C.O.D. Ranch.
“I just love to cook,” she said. Maggie is known for her pies and has served them along with other home cooking at events at Linda Vista Ranch. The pies are popular at the Patio Café also. Customers have been asking if she can bake their favorite pie so she is having them write it down on a piece of paper and placing the papers in a basket. Each week a paper will be drawn from the basket and the pie selected will be baked and put on the week’s menu. Maggie says that the café is a place to come and relax, enjoy a good fresh meal, have some pie and coffee while you read the newspaper or browse the internet on your lap top. WiFi service is available and the café interior is air conditioned.
The food at the café is different than the fare served in most of the restaurants in the Tri-Community area. For example the breakfast menu has frittatas and quiche available as well as a gluten free oatmeal. Biscuits and gravy are served but with a southwest flavor courtesy of Chef Dave Raneri. The gravy is made with chorizo in it!
The lunch menu includes a variety of salads and sandwiches with daily added specials posted on their blackboard as well as the soup of the day. They make individual sized pizzas with toppings such as kalamata olives and artichoke hearts. Whole fruit smoothies and specialty coffees are available. The desserts include fresh baked daily pies, banana bread, brownies, and scones. (blueberry pie with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream is my favorite)
The Patio Café offers good food, a nice dining atmosphere and friendly service.
Try it, you will like it and be back for more.
by by