Welcome to Ojai Rôtie
Meet the Team
Larry (Lorenzo) Nicola and Claud Mann began working together in Los Angeles more than 25-years ago. In 1992, they were asked to lead a team to revamp all food outlets at the Palmilla Resort in Los Cabos, Mexico. Long before farm-to-fork was adopted as a marketing phrase, Larry and Claud forged relationships with local farmers and food producers with the goal of developing a world-class food program that allowed the hotel to free itself from out-of-season and unsustainable ground shipments from far away.
Picnic Style
Nestled in the center of Ojai’s historic downtown, Ojai Rôtie is a chef/farmer-driven, fast casual patio-restaurant offering extraordinary French-Lebanese style rotisserie chicken, freshly-baked, handmade sourdough, an array of innovative side dishes plus a wine and beer list highlighting Ojai Valley agriculture, viniculture and the “Ojai Appellation”.
The feel is fun, energetic, and evokes a perfect picnic. Everything from the simply crafted food and exhilarating local wine selections to the the shaded landmark patio is suggestive of relaxed living and unfussy pleasure – more or less what people have come to think of as an Ojai state of mind.
Hope to see you soon!
Lorenzo and Claud
Our Food
Our cuisine is a Lebanese French Picnic. Casual yet elegant, it reminds you of a Lebanese guy in Paris with a small store serving Chicken Rotisserie, fresh made sides, salads, sandwiches, fresh boule, sweets, wine and lemony things that you could pick up on your Vespa and take to the country for a picnic with your special friend. Our cuisine is hand-made, authentic and organic when available. Many of our dishes are made in house: Toum, Zahtar, Pickled Turnips, Pickles, Dressings, All Breads, Olive Blend and Rubs. We support local farmers and un-manipulated foods. We use many French and Middle Eastern techniques and spices with a hint of the local Latino, Chumash and California. Our cuisine is also inspired by the Ojai Farmer’s Market and the local agricultural scene, which is amazing and abundant. Our chicken is from Rocky’s, Free Range, raised without antibiotics, 100% vegetarian diet and Non-GMO. Chickens are hatched and raised in and around Sonoma County and packed in Petaluma.
Our Bread
The bread we make at Ojai Rôtie is a mixture of old world and new world techniques. Our bread is made without commercial yeast using only our own sourdough culture or “mother”, plus filtered water and sea salt. We hand-stretch the dough numerous times over a 3-hour period, and then shape each loaf twice by hand. The loaves cold-rise for a minimum of 20 hours and are baked in a steam-injected deck oven which creates our signature thick, chewy/crunchy crust. Our proprietary flour blend is sourced from Giustos’s Vita Grain and includes organic wheat, spelt and rye of which 30% is whole grain. The naturally occurring acidity from the fermentation makes for a longer shelf life and of course, superb flavor! It is the best bread that we know how to make. (Although we’ll keep trying to improve.
Wine Box
The Wine Box program focuses on small wineries from Ojai and Santa Barbara that practice sustainable viticulture and winemaking. We feature Rhone varietals such as Syrah, Grenache, and Viognier since they preform well in our local wine regions and pair perfectly with Ojai Rôtie’s cuisine. Our name, Ojai Rôtie, is reminiscent of Côte-Rôtie – a star wine region within France’s Rhone Valley. Because of this connection and our love of French wines, we also offer wines from Côte-Rôtie, the Rhone Valley and other regions of France. Our selection of beers, kombucha and cider represent and local talents or breweries and ferments from our neighborhood.
469 East Ojai Ave. in the 30's, 40's and 50's
Visit Us
469 E Ojai Ave.
Ojai, CA 93023
Hours
Wednesday–Friday
4pm–8:30pm
Saturday + Sunday
12:00pm - 2:30pm, 4pm–8:30pm
Phone
+1 805-798-9227
