Toward the bottom of our Luxe Escape itinerary, there’s a gentle command: “Don’t leave town before stopping in at E.A.T. Marketplace.” This is not because the restaurant is fancy (though it is super cute) or sexy (unless you count those gorgeous donuts), it is because we don’t want you to miss out on some of the best food in Temecula from one of the town’s trailblazing restauranteurs.
Step through the doors of this casual eatery and you are immediately greeted by a tempting display of cookies, scones, muffins, and donuts. Brass lighting fixtures dangle overhead, and a tall menu on the wall offers coffee and tea drinks with a variety of milk options—it’s part of E.A.T.’s mission to support all diets. Along the back wall is a small market of lovely foodie gift items and an open kitchen where guests line up to order breakfast and lunch items like toasts, bowls, pancakes, smoothies, salads, and “sammies” made from fresh farm eggs, grass-fed beef, and organic fruits and vegetables.
E.A.T., as it is referred to locally, is the creation of Chef Leah Di Bernardo, who wanted to create a welcoming place where people could enjoy and gather over nutritious food—and in doing so, convince guests that healthy food could be delicious, that supporting local farms had meaning, and what we put in our bodies matters.
Raised in the world of food and farming, this passion was instilled at a young age. Di Bernardo’s grandfather was a chef and owned restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn, both of her aunts were chefs, and her father was a farmer, a butcher, and an engineer.
As a student, she was more interested in the politics of food than the making of it and went on to study film, learning from her “radical film teacher” how to use the medium to fight against deforestation, GMOs, and pesticides. After several years as an assistant film director and producer for MTV in New York and Los Angeles, she followed her family to Temecula in 2002, determined not to raise her baby daughter in the film industry.
In Temecula, Di Bernardo was moved by the beautiful agricultural region of Riverside County. “It was so storybook at the time. I was like, I’m gonna get this cute little cottage out near the vines, I’m gonna raise my daughter. It’s gonna be so organic,” she remembers. But her interest in changing people’s minds about food didn’t wane. She got involved with Slow Food San Diego and worked alongside Alice Waters and a few other groups to advocate for Slow Food USA. She even founded Slow Food Gardens Temecula, a group that kick-started 26 garden programs at local schools, many of which are still up and running.
When planning E.A.T., Di Bernardo dreamed of opening a Dean & DeLuca type of place that would “go all day.” But this was 23 years ago and there were only 30,000 people in the valley. Her family worried it was too risky, so she launched a catering business as a stepping stone following her brother’s advice. Her first client was the campaign for Riverside County’s current supervisor, Chuck Washington, back when he was running for Temecula’s city council. “Get on the Chuck Wagon!”
In 2009, she finally soft-opened E.A.T. with just a few “really good Italian-based sandwiches.” There was a “small little deli case with all of our favorite beautiful foods, like roasted salmon with fennel and, just off the vine tomatoes, and beautiful pasta salad—just everything that we loved in food.” It was her guests who convinced her to open full time, and in 2010 she did just that. There were only 3 pieces of equipment in the kitchen, and everything was handmade by Di Bernardo, her father, and her sister, with daughter Gigi at the register.
Today there’s a few more pieces of equipment and professional staff in the kitchen, but the restaurant is still supplied by local farms and women-owned businesses. The restaurant just celebrated its 15th anniversary, and Di Bernardo has earned awards for both E.A.T. and her contributions to the community.
A Gen X-er originally from Oregon, Di Bernardo describes her food as “freaking delicious” on her website, and drops phrases like “bomb.com” and “friggin’ awesome” and more than a few f-bombs when she talks about food she loves:
Love Leah? She’s just started a new series on Youtube, At the Table with Leah. Watch it here.
What’s the one thing guests must order when they stop in at E.A.T.?
It depends on where they’re at and what they want, but I tend to push our braised short ribs, because if you were to go to any formidable steakhouse, you’d probably pay about 85 bucks for that beef. Here, we get not only organic, but grass-fed and grass-finished beef. I love that dish for many reasons. We sear it off to get a nice crisp crust, and then we slow-braise it overnight and the meat just falls apart. I’m not going to tell you what we braise it in, that’s our [secret] recipe, but it’s so beautiful on a sandwich or in a bowl, or as a steak and egg plate. So I’m gonna push people that way, unless you’re vegan, and if you’re a vegan, my favorite thing is the Yam Tahini Burger — that yam hummus is so good. It’s so f***ing flavorful.
But I never let people leave without trying the donuts, and it’s because of that fallacy of “Oh well, it’s vegan, it’s not gonna be good.” Well, we didn’t create the donut to be gluten-free or vegan. We created a treat that everyone could eat because you don’t have a lot of money in this industry to have three sets [of donuts]. And so I give them a bite and they’re like, “Oh, this is really good, and then they buy a couple to take with them.”
What do you like to cook at home?
One of my favorite things to make is a really simple spaghetti: Spaghetti and egg. It’s one of the first things my father taught me how to make. You use just egg yolks, and then scramble them and finely minced garlic, pecorino cheese, not Parmesan, because you want the salt content, a lot of parsley, black pepper, and then, when the pasta is done, you slowly put it in the pasta water and you make a sauce and then you put your pasta in the sauce and anchovies on top. I love spaghetti in any f***ing form.
My other thing I like to make if I’ve worked really late is fried Mortadella (the kind with pistachios), egg, provolone cheese on toast. It’s one of my favorite things late at night. You get the fat, you get the egg, you get it all. It’s so satisfying.
What are some of your favorite Temecula wineries and restaurants?
I just took a few people to Corbeaux. I love what she [owner Regan Schneider] is doing, and I just love the vibe. It’s so kickback and relaxing. Editor’s note: The owner of Corbeaux Wine & Tea House, Regan Schneider, was an active participant in one of Di Bernardo’s school garden programs as a child.
I love going to Palumbo out in wine country. I think Nick and Cindy [Palumbo] are bomb.com and love them and love their wines. And Vindemia Winery, they’re just such cool people. I also love Alex Prestifilippo and Charity’s Bottega Italia. We met when he was first opening, because he knew my brother, and so we got to be friends. And, you know, he makes a fucking awesome pizza, so you gotta give it up. My gosh, there are a lot of cool things happening here.
E.A.T. Marketplace is open daily from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
