Café Vivant

Heritage-breed chicken and an exceptional 3,000-bottle wine cellar from two sommeliers. One of the most distinctive new restaurants on the Peninsula.

Café Vivant in Menlo Park builds its menu around slow-growing heritage chicken breeds such as Brahma, Delaware, Wyandotte, Plymouth Rock and New Hampshire Red, treating poultry as the centerpiece of the meal. Chef Nico Russell returned to the Bay Area in 2026 to lead the kitchen, having opened Oxalis in Brooklyn, which held a Michelin star for five consecutive years. Produce comes largely from farms in the neighboring Santa Cruz Mountains. Star Wine List called the restaurant's list one of the most spectacular to debut in America in the last five years.