Flea Street Cafe

Spotted: Leo Wurtz shucking oysters at Oysterette

by Linda Hubbard Gulker on June 6, 2018

The Oysterette at Flea Street Cafe has re-opened, sporting a new roof and added heaters for those sometimes chilly summer evenings. Leo Wurtz is once again on hand to shuck oysters and prepare seasonal small plates designed by Chef Charlie Parker that are different from the Cafe’s menu.

The night we stopped by we enjoyed, in particular, the Bay Shrimp & Sweet Corn Fitters (pictured below). Hard to make a fritter look pretty in a photo but, trust us, they were delicious. The oyster offerings were Drakes Bay Miyagi, Kusshi, and Beau soleil

The Oysterette is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 5:15 pm to close. There are no reservations.

Photos by Linda Hubbard (c) 2018

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Charlie Parker returns to his hometown as new chef at Flea Street Cafe

Growing up in Menlo Park, Charlie Parker would walk with his parents and siblings to Flea Street Cafe. “I remember some of [owner] Jesse’s signature dishes from the time I was 12,” he said. “Like ‘which came first the chicken or the egg’ and the sardines. There was always a good salad and a warm dining room.” After […]

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Jesse Cool and Mitchell Johnson share art, food and admiration for each other

Think of them as bookending the stretch of the Alameda in Menlo Park between Sharon and Walsh roads. One a restaurateur feeding the body. The other a painter feeding the soul. Jesse Cool, owner of Flea Street Cafe, and artist Mitchell Johnson are joined together in what has been a mutually beneficial partnership for about five years with the […]

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Things are peachy at Cool Café in Menlo Business Park

The Cool Café located on O’Brien Street in the Menlo Business Park is undoubtedly the most hidden of restauranteur and cookbook author Jesse Cool’s food “empire,” which includes the Flea Street Cafe in Menlo Park and an additional Cool Café at the Cantor Arts Center on the Stanford campus. But it’s the place she’s chosen to turn all […]

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Oprah Winfrey interviews Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg at Menlo Park’s Flea Street Cafe

Editor’s note: Jesse Cool, owner of Menlo Park’s Flea Street Cafe, hosted two well-known women – Oprah Winfrey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg – who engaged in conversation over the restaurant’s signature biscuits. The interview (and the biscuits) are featured in the just-released April issue of O Magazine and will be aired this Sunday, March 24 at […]

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Webb Ranch ACE tomatoes make their way from field to produce stand – and to the menu at Flea Street Cafe

With news that Webb Ranch’s Ace 55 tomatoes were ripening and available for purchase ($3.49 a pound), we wandered out for a chat with produce market manager Deano Lovecchi, who took us on a tour of the fields. About the Ace 55: An individual tomato can weigh about a half a pound. It’s round in […]

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Catching up with Jesse Cool about programs that give back locally and globally

Imagine sitting down with Jesse Cool and not talking organic food or sustainability or what was happening at her restaurant (Menlo Park’s Flea Street Cafe) or other eateries. Of course, when you’re at her home, it’s impossible to ignore the large organic garden and the chickens in the backyard. While we did drift out to […]

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Terma Costa talks about how women are changing the way we eat – and how we can all be advocates for sustainable food

It’s women who are changing the way we eat says Temra Costa, who is working hard to evangelize that fact. The sustainable food and farming advocate – and author of recent book, Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat, will be talking about just that at Flea Street Cafe in Menlo Park on Sunday, […]

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Jesse Cool – Menlo Park’s food matriarch

Can it be true?  Jesse Cool’s Flea Street Cafe – founded on the principles of local and organic – has been around since 1981, a very long life in restaurant terms. “It’s fabulously busy,” Cool exclaimed on a recent Saturday night. “We’re very, very lucky.” The almost 30 years haven’t always been easy for the […]

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