Benchmark Pizzeria, Kensington

Owners Peter and Melissa Swanson make their years of food-service knowhow and commitment to locally sourced ingredients the hallmarks of Benchmark Pizzeria. Peter is a self-taught chef who has worked in restaurants since he was a teenager—most recently at Dopo in Oakland—and Melissa has played many roles in the food industry, most recently as a server at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Over their careers, the two have realized the effect that local and sustainable ingredients can have on a menu and a community, and strive to inject those principles into each dish they serve.

Every morning, Benchmark Pizzeria's chefs roll out fresh dough by hand to create their speciality—wood-fired, personal-sized pizzas in a style they dub “Neapolitan” with crusts that stay soft in the middle even as they blister on the outside. After they are left to rise, each piece of dough is stretched and sprinkled with hand-pulled mozzarella and toppings, then placed inside a wood-fired oven, which blazes at 800 degrees. With the pizzas come complementary flavors of organic salads, toasty calzones, and antipasto platters brimming with local, seasonal foods such as Reyes Point porcini mushrooms, pomegranate, and persimmon. The eatery's entire philosophy nods to local sourcing, including its use of produce from organic and biodynamic farms in the area, beers from Oakland's Dying Vines brewery, a selection of small-production wines on tap, and linen napkins from locally grown napkin bushes.