EDIBLE: Cantinetta Luca ushers in a new era with new executive chef.

Brand-new Executive Chef Aaron Rayor stands in front of the brick pizza oven at Cantinetta Luca in Carmel (625-6500), massaging a ball of sourdough into a raw crust, easing it into a bigger and bigger circle, turning it over, gently stretching it into a more expansive shape. Which is precisely what he’d like to do with the menu and the restaurant he’s been charged with reenergizing.

Luca has a lot going for it. It enjoys a gorgeous high-ceiling dining room and bar flanked by the big brick oven and open kitchen, bread baked in house, one of the best house charcuterie programs in the area, habit-forming handmade pastas and all sorts of authentic arancini and meatballs to go with the massive bistecca fiorentinasteaks. Weekly readers have voted it Best Italian Restaurant and Best Restaurant in Carmel at least once each. Owner David Fink’s managers have gone on to start other popular Carmel restaurants Il Tegamino and la Balena.

But turnover has presented challenges. The menu hasn’t seen many updates. Outgoing chef Jason Balestrieri, called back in to hold things together after announcing his departure, has other projects on his plate. (The city of Seaside is currently reviewing his final plans for a 2,200-square-foot gourmet butchery and deli at Fremont and Broadway called The Meatery.) In other words, you could make a convincing case that, as good as it has been for a decade, there is no Carmel place with as much potential as Luca.

Which is why Rayor is here with the restaurant’s new pizza dough recipe in his hands (one with which he’s still tinkering). His resume enjoys two world-class properties that have become foodie favorites. One is Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a working four-season farm and educational center 30 miles north of New York City, one of the seminal farm-driven spots in the country. The other is Bestia, the urban Italian hot spot that’s become one of the toughest reservations to make in Los Angeles. He also has graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and Art Institutes for Baking and Pastry.

But something else might have provided better preparation: time serving in the United States Marine Corps, where his deployments took him as far afield as Djibouti, Africa, and the challenges included clinging to a platform for four or five hours to cure him of his fear of heights.

He comes in as GM Janet Elarmo is finding her stride after a year in her position and Nicholas Mattson comes over from San Jose cocktail nirvana Paper Plane to revamp the bar’s concoctions.

“We’ve been a leader in Italian for 11 years,” Elarmo says. “We’re going to be a trendsetter for fresh Italian again.” She cites a major reason why: Fink’s ability to recruit out-of-town talent like Justin Cogley (at sister spot Aubergine), Mattson and Rayor.

The pizza, by the way, enjoys an expert amount of char and salt, the new dough a good chew. Rayor’s all-new pizza menu debuted as this was going to press, and includes a yummy one with squash blossoms, burrata and fermented Fresno chilies. Elarmo and Rayor are both careful to emphasize other menu transitions will be gradual, honoring the foundation of popular Cantinetta classics by Balestrieri.

Here’s what Rayor had to tell the Weekly, in his soft-spoken way, about that and the opportunity in front of him.

On Blue Hill: Blue Hill is definitely as farm-to-table as you can get. It would be great to do that, while balancing what’s reality if you don’t have your own farm. I learned to really appreciate vegetables.

On Bestia: I learned a lot about attention to detail. It’s not just the sourcing. Chef [Ori Menache] cooks and he tastes. The cook next to you cares as much as he does and that’s a hard thing to find.

On the culture he wants to cultivate: That’s one of the hardest things to create. I want to keep pushing people to do well and build each other up. You can be intense, yell and scream, but I got that in the Marine Corps. I don’t feel like I need to do that. It’s more about, “How do I get people that like cooking as much as I do?”

On why he loves it: It was part of growing up. We cooked pretty much every day, and I was the little sous chef.

On the Marines: I never thought I would go into the Marine Corps. I’m really happy I did. I was never the skinny kid or the ripped kid so it was a mental thing. I couldn’t think, “I can never do this.” I had to know I would figure out a way… In the [54-hour test called] The Crucible – you don’t become a marine until you complete it – you’re going on little to no food, and at some point everybody wants to quit. Doesn’t matter who you are. I don’t remember when I asked myself “What am I doing?” but I’m sure there was one.

On how Marine life translates to restaurants: The people that make it have to be very disciplined. The hours. The structure. Working with people all the time, building that bond.

On chef life: You go through that aspect of “Wow this is really hard, I work a lot, I don’t get to have a personal life.” There’s a lot of things you sacrifice. You ask yourself, “Am I really OK with that?”

On being OK with that: Well, I’m here. (Smiles.)

On food in the area: There’s a lot of Italian restaurants here. How do you differentiate yourself? Looking around town, there are a lot of similarities. One way to really make this place different is bringing a different vibe and a different type of Italian food. I think people will have to come here and eat to understand.

~ QUICKBITES ~

• Wrath Wines has introduced its inaugural vintage of AL, a high-quality Sauvignon Blanc in aluminum cans that hold 375 ml (a half a bottle) for about $8 a can. “We have nothing against corks or bottles,” the can reads. “But the aluminum can—now that’s the future.”
• The Tour de Fresh three-day bike ride up the Central Coast is raising funds to put 50 salad bars in schools this year. Sponsored by Tanimura & Antle, Ocean Mist Farms, Taylor Farms and other ag firms, the ride wraps at The Wharf Marketplace 2pm Thursday, July 27.
• Smith Family Wines (formerly Paraiso), the largest grape grower in the Santa Lucia Highlands, has released new wines including a Picnic Pinot by the winemaking team of industry veteran Larry Brooks and third generation Smith Family vintner Justin Murphy and a No Worries White, a dry white blend under Murphy’s Irie label.
• Jacks Monterey (423-4421), Portola Hotel & Spa’s new lobby restaurant and bar, has received the 2017 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.
• Pastrami and corned beef take-out fundraiser from Temple Beth El in Salinas rolls 10am-4pm Friday, July 28, at 1212 Riker St. (424-9151 or templebethelsalinas@gmail.com); $18 gets you a pound of meat, a loaf of Jewish rye and four kosher dill pickles.
• Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be here faster than a sprinting Simone Biles. London and Rio did a world-class job sourcing only sustainable seafood for the athletes and at onsite restaurants, with help from Seafood Watch, which is now working with other seafood ratings organizations around the globe in a coalition called the Global Seafood Ratings Alliance to nudge the Tokyo Olympics to go for what GSRA calls “Sustainable Seafood Gold.”
• Bakai Wine + Tapas Bar (324-0590), at 420 Tyler St. behind Golden State Theatre, reopens softly this week after a delay held up its scheduled relaunch.
• Nacho Bizness’ recent Saturday specials include Korean pork belly with kimchi slaw and an edition with brie-and-caramelized-onion cheese sauce, bacon and honeycrisp apple chutney.
• Norman Vincent Peale: “Change your thoughts and you change your world.”