Thursday @ Berkeley

A day in Berkeley: Agrodolce

Thursday March 12th, 2026

Today’s enrichment week event took us on a more local adventure to one of Berkeley’s gems: the restaurant Agrodolce where we enjoyed a family-style, Sicilian meal with some of the faculty and staff of Saint Mary’s College High School 😊

Our students dressed in their Sunday best and we were hosted by Mr. Angelo Dalo, father to two of Saint Mary’s beloved students. Mr. Dalo was kind enough to open his restaurant outside of normal working hours to feed us and talk to us about the logistics behind running a restaurant. 

What we learned from Mr. Dalo about having a career as a restaurant owner:

• Mr. Dalo cooked for his restaurant for 32 years before focusing more on running his business.

• Mr. Dalo emphasized that running a business is very hard. Having a restaurant is one of the hardest businesses to operate, but if it’s operated well it will be successful! In fact, Mr. Dalo’s work consisted of cooking 6 days a week for 60 hours per week for 32 years! His dedication and love for his work is reflected in how delicious his food tastes. 

• What sets Mr. Dalo’s restaurant aside from Italian restaurants in Berkeley is that his cuisine is Sicilian! Mr. Dalo’s hometown in Sicily is Palermo. He was born and raised there, but has lived in the United States for a while. 

• Mr. Dalo’s family has a history of owning restaurants. His great-grandfather started a restaurant in Palermo in the 1800s. His son (Mr. Dalo’s grandfather) owned a Hotel with a restaurant in downtown Palermo - a famous one at that

• All of Mr. Dalo’s ingredients are organic! He gets the ingredients himself from two different markets!  

• Agrodolce means sweet and sour. The name was given to the restaurant because they have a certain way of cooking certain foods that involves the use of vinegar and sugar together which helps the food not need refrigeration. This was especially helpful for Sicilians in the past when refrigeration was hard to come by. 

We then enjoyed a 6 course meal: Caesar salad, fried seafood, two different pastas, swordfish and Cannolis! 

All in all, it was a wonderful Thursday and we are extremely grateful to Mr. Dalo for his generous hospitality! 

Warning: EVERYONE enjoyed Mr. Dalo’s food so please don' be surprised if your children ask that your family and friends eat at Agrodolce. In fact, we at Saint Mary’s are big fans so we highly encourage it! :)