This Dallas Restaurant Takes Farm Fresh to New Extremes: Chef Opens His Own Produce Palace

Ryan Olmos, executive chef at CiboDivino Marketplace in Oak Cliff’s Sylvan Thirty district, has a passion for organic produce that is hitting close to home — literally.

Olmos recently unveiled an organic farm where he lives in Midlothian, Texas, to provide fresh and healthy ingredients for dishes available at the market.

Cheekily named Olmos Famous Organics, his farm grows zucchini, cherry and heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, acorn squash, purple cauliflower, okra, Swiss chard, arugula, and bell peppers.

Simply using non-GMO seeds, sunshine, and water, Olmos grows more than five pounds of crops every other day. He plans to add bok choy and cabbage when winter arrives, and also to expand his farm to include a fruit-tree orchard within the next year.

Inspired by the Mercati di Piazzas in Italy where visitors shop for fresh produce, CiboDivino offers authentic Italian fare. The market’s zucchini bread, summer salads, and vegetable medley (acorn squash, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes tossed with salt, pepper, and olive oil) all feature produce grown at Olmos’ farm.

“We take pride in serving dishes with honest and whole ingredients,” he says, “just as it is done in Italy.”

CiboDivino Marketplace, 1868 Sylvan Ave., 214.653.2426.