{"id":393991,"date":"2026-07-10T22:28:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393991\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T22:28:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:28:28","slug":"bay-area-micro-restaurants-are-serving-outdoor-backyard-meals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393991\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay Area micro-restaurants are serving outdoor backyard meals"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re lucky \u2014 and a bit patient \u2014 Chef Kellie Joe might just let you into her backyard for an invite-only dinner at her custom-built venue, the Patio Oasis.<\/p>\n

After decades of working to make it a reality, the Pleasant Hill chef and former culinary educator says she\u2019s finally living her dream: offering fully legal food experiences from her backyard, where she cooks up fresh pizzas topped with eggs from her chickens and basil harvested from her herb garden.<\/p>\n

\"ChefChef Kellie Joe with a pizza on a wood board in the backyard of her home on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Pleasant Hill, Calif. Joe holds private pizza parties in her backyard space. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

The former Monte Vista High School culinary teacher pivoted to entrepreneurship around 12 years ago, but struggled with the overhead costs associated with running her online pizza store Queen of Crusts and her private pizza chef program Chicks and Love Pizza. At the time, the law mandated that she could only cook in a commercial kitchen, which was costly to rent. And even with a cottage food permit, she was allowed to prepare pizza dough to sell, but couldn\u2019t cook or slice the toppings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a small food business is not for the faint of heart,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

That all changed two years ago, when Contra Costa County first launched a pilot program to take advantage of a 2018 amendment to the state health code that allows cities and counties to grant permits to home chefs to make and sell their products in-house \u2014 essentially legalizing what\u2019s been an underground economy for centuries<\/a>. These permitted businesses \u2014 called Micro-Enterprise Home Kitchen Operations, or MEHKOs \u2014 are thriving across the Bay Area counties where they\u2019ve been permitted to operate, and are bringing expanded access to unique outdoor dining experiences.<\/p>\n

Joe went on to secure a license to serve beer and wine, and now offers \u201cpizza by the pond\u201d four-course meals and themed dinners featuring wine cocktails or mocktails, organic salad, garlic noodles, pizza and handcrafted gelato next to her backyard koi pond.<\/p>\n

\"LettuceLettuce grows in the back of Kellie Joe\u2019s home on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Pleasant Hill, Calif. Joe holds private pizza parties in her backyard space. (Aric Crabb\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like a restaurant. You\u2019re going to the chef\u2019s house. They are serving you. Most likely, they\u2019re telling you their story,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The MEHKO program, which now boasts nearly 80 such operations in Contra Costa County, has been so successful in its two-year pilot that the county\u2019s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on May 12 to make it permanent.<\/p>\n

About two-thirds of the MEHKO businesses in Contra Costa County are owned by women, and there are more Hispanic\/Latinx and Asian business owners than any other ethnicity, according to the county\u2019s Environmental Health Director Kristian Lucas. An interactive map operated by the Cook Alliance<\/a>, an advocacy group that supports informal home cooking businesses, shows hundreds of operations scattered throughout the Bay Area, each with their own approach to the micro-restaurant concept. They\u2019ve so far been legalized in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, but not in San Francisco. Los Angeles County has the most MEHKO businesses so far, at nearly 300.<\/p>\n

While Joe hosts diners in her own backyard for special events, another up-and-coming MEHKO business, Live Oak Kitchen, operates as a weekly pop-up barbecue micro-restaurant in Concord.<\/p>\n

Live Oak Kitchen<\/p>\n

Every Saturday, Concord residents Chef Douglas Richey and Ariana Faustini convert their home kitchen into the preparation zone for an all-day cookout, bringing out the smoker to their driveway.<\/p>\n

Richey\u2019s fine-dining culinary background includes work with the Thomas Keller Group and Bouchon, as well as the Culinary Institute of America. He grew up in Lompoc and specializes in Santa Maria-style barbecue, smoked over post or red oak, and spent three months traveling the South honing his barbecue craft.<\/p>\n

However, for this couple, the limitations placed on MEHKOs are already being felt. For instance, the law governing the program limits the number of meals<\/a> served to 30 per day and 90 per week, and has an annual sales cap of $100,000. Catering is not permitted, and food has to be cooked, prepared and sold on the same day.<\/p>\n

Still, says Faustini, \u201cThe MEHKO route was our only chance to take all the amazing skills Chef Douglas has and be able to have a business around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant, especially without access to generational wealth, is a challenge, she notes. \u201cWe are taking advantage of the pathway that is available to us financially.\u201d<\/p>\n

So each week, they wake up early and prepare the ingredients they store separately from their personal ones. Faustini gets to work preparing the sides, like cookies and slaw, while Chef Douglas gets the offset smoker going in the driveway. The sales limitations on MEHKOs mean that their dreams of a brick-and-mortar restaurant remain years out, but still possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the best feelings in the world, when people tell you how amazing the food is,\u201d Faustini says.<\/p>\n

Lovely Tea Parties
\n\"PaulaPaula Liebner, who runs Lovely Tea Parties, a micro-enterprise home kitchen operation in San Mateo County, prepares pop-up tea parties like this one in backyards and other venues all around the Bay Area. (Photo courtesy of Paula Liebner)\u00a0<\/p>\n

And while the people behind Chicks and Love and Live Oak Barbecue both cook and sell their products at home, across the Bay, entrepreneur Paula Liebner, operates her MEHKO, Lovely Tea Parties, a little differently. She prepares goods at home and then brings them to other locations as the chef and creator behind elaborate pop-up tea parties held in backyards and other venues all around the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

\"Macarons,Macarons, scones and other baked delicacies are among the treats on offer at a Lovely Tea Parties event run by Paula Liebner, owner and event planner behind the business, which is considered a micro-enterprise home kitchen operation, or MEHKO. (Photo courtesy of Paula Liebner)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Liebner, who\u2019s originally from Chile, started her business with two other Chilean friends in 2018, working to bring English-style tea experiences into people\u2019s homes, she says. During the pandemic, they began serving tea party boxes with full menus to people\u2019s homes, and when her business partners were drawn in other directions, she continued to operate the business solo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cook, decorate, organize, and design each event myself with a lot of care and attention to detail,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Operating as a MEHKO, she says, \u201chas made it possible for me to continue growing in a flexible and sustainable way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery tea party feels special to me because each one is different and personal for the client. I\u2019ve done birthdays, bridal showers, baby showers, celebrations of life, weddings, and corporate events,\u201d she adds. \u201cWhat makes me happiest is creating experiences that bring people together in a world that often feels too fast and disconnected.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more food and drink coverage
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