Olivia's
Chef Ricardo Cardona By Tara Ryazansky Photos by Max Ryazansky
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hef Ricardo Cardona gives his staff at Olivia’s a motivational talk before dinner. He’s enthusiastic and funny, but he also challenges his team to do better. Maybe he picked up these coaching skills from his time as chef at Yankee Stadium where he fed the New York Yankees and their opposing teams. He says coaching is just as necessary in the kitchen as it is on the field. “You always have to take those five minutes for a meeting where you discuss what happened the day before, and you discuss the specials or additions to the menu,” Cardona says. He runs a tight ship. “There has to be some discipline from the kitchen in a restaurant. There’s only one name on the menu; it’s mine.” The menu is Mediterranean-Latin fusion. The owner is Mike Gallucci. “He’s also the owner of Grand Vin, the Italian restaurant,” says mixologist Roger Gonzalez. “He wanted to do something different. There are so many Italian restaurants in Hoboken. He wanted to do a Mediterranean restaurant with a Latin flair.”
A Li E@ers The restaurant is in a bright, newly renovated space on Garden Street that was for-
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merly Sasso’s Liquor and Delicatessen. The restaurant halted plans to open last year because of the pandemic. It began to welcome guests in April. Gallucci brought Cardona on as Executive Chef. “Ricardo Cardona is well-known in the Latin community,” Gonzalez says. “He cooked for the Yankees, plus he’s the personal chef for Marc Anthony, the list is super long.” Despite cooking for Jennifer Lopez and The Yankees, Cardona maintains that he didn’t connect J-Lo and A-Rod. “I didn’t get them together,” he laughs. Cardona does offer menu items at Olivia’s that are approved by his A-list clientele. “Marc loves skirt steak. Jennifer liked filet of red snapper. Marc Anthony always loved the octopus. After a concert, I would always bring the octopus for him.”
More Hoboken an Hoyw d “I’m not new to the neighborhood,” Cardona says. “I ran Lua restaurant in the shipyard for seven years. I also used to run City Bistro, and I consult with La Isla. I’ve been feeding Hoboken for a long time.” Tonight he serves up items from the For the Table section of the menu. Three-Beans Hummus and Olivia’s Guacamole. Cardona infuses Latin flavor into his hummus with aromatic sofrito. It’s served with lentil salad and a green salad. A bread-
basket includes everything from flatbread and breadsticks to multi-colored tortilla chips. Latin and Mediterranean pairs perfectly. “Mediterranean covers Spain, Italy, Greece,” Cardona says. “We have very similar ingredients. In fact, we were taught in Latin America to eat and use the ingredients from Spain and Portugal. Food is universal. “Guacamole is from Mexico, but my idea for the guacamole was to make it almost like an avocado toast. Instead of making it Mexican, I made it Mediterranean with Greek olives, mint, dill, basil, cilantro, onions, lemon juice, and I top it with goat cheese and pomegranate seeds.”
Salud! Gonzalez, who designed the drink menu, mixes up his favorite: Hoboken Life. “We’re in Hoboken,” he says. “It can’t get better than this. Families, friends, they all gather here, and you have the proximity to the city. That’s how we came up with the name.” The cocktail is made with Bulleit bourbon, house-made blackberry syrup, lime juice, and bitters. Down for the BOM was invented by bartender Noel Blanco. “BOM stands for Blood Orange Margarita,” Gonzalez says. “On one side we do a salt rim and on the other side, we do Tajin. People ask me if I can make it spicy, so sometimes we add
