Most of Napa's food fame is measured in tasting menus. Contimo Provisions built its reputation at breakfast and lunch, on Randolph Street in Napa, where the signature is a biscuit sandwich and the rule is that everything on it is made in the shop: the meats, the preserves, the pickles, the biscuits themselves.

Ryan Harris and Kevin built Contimo without investors, growing it through a string of temporary homes, among them Napa Valley Traditions, the soft serve window at Miminashi, and Copia. Harris calls the pattern a hermit crab growth model. The Randolph Street shop is the first where the kitchen sits beside the people it feeds, and it has become part restaurant, part grocery and butcher counter. We asked Harris how those borrowed kitchens shaped the place, why from scratch is non-negotiable, and how a Saturday breakfast at his mother's table produced the Ham & Jam.

This interview was conducted by email and has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Your road to Randolph Street ran through Napa Valley Traditions, the soft serve window at Miminashi, and Copia. Four homes in about six years, in your own phrase a hermit crab growth model. What did each temporary kitchen teach you that a straight lease never would have?

The "hermit crab" approach was really about growing within our means. We wanted to build Contimo without investors, and each stop taught us a little more about what Napa wanted, what Napa needed, and what we could offer. Those lessons shaped the place we have today: part restaurant, part retail, part grocery and butcher shop, with community at the center of all of it.

The Contimo Provisions storefront on Randolph Street in Napa, with its blue and white facade and patio canopyPhotograph by Audri Hernandez
Contimo Provisions at 950 Randolph Street, the permanent home the hermit crab years were pointing toward.

Everything at Contimo is made in house: the meats, the preserves, the pickles, the biscuits. In an industry built on shortcuts and commissaries, why is from scratch non-negotiable for a sandwich shop?

Kevin and I want to preserve the craft of cooking. That conviction shapes Contimo just as our convictions shape the rest of our lives. We take inspiration from home cooks, great chefs, and culinary history, and we see real value in continuing that work as fewer people cook from scratch. There are plenty of reasons to do it, not least of which is that it tastes so much better.

The Ham & Jam is the signature: smoked molasses brined ham, seasonal house jam, a buttermilk biscuit. Walk me through how that sandwich came together, and what makes a biscuit worthy of it?

One Saturday morning breakfast pretty much created a career for me. Growing up, when my siblings and I had friends over, my mom would put together a feast: stacks of pancakes or waffles, or a pile of biscuits. The lazy Susan in the middle of the table would be loaded with every topping imaginable, butter, honey, maple syrup, chocolate chips, country ham, bacon, whatever felt right. She made strawberry jam every year, too. So one Saturday, there were biscuits, there was ham, and there was jam. It really was that simple.

The Ham and Jam biscuit sandwich at Contimo Provisions, ham and jam layered in a golden biscuitPhotograph by Audri Hernandez
The Ham & Jam: smoked molasses brined ham and seasonal house jam on a buttermilk biscuit.

Baller Biscuit Fridays bring a different one-off biscuit sandwich every week. Where do the ideas come from, and which Friday special earned a permanent argument from customers when it rotated off?

I have no idea where some of these come from. Often, it's Thursday, and Kevin, the team, and I are standing around asking "what if" a lot. Sometimes the ideas are nostalgic; sometimes they're progressive. The goal is always the same: make it delicious. Fried chicken biscuits, kimchi, and gravy are the recurring customer favorites. Those tend to disappear quickly. When we're finding our groove, we'll occasionally carry an especially popular one into Saturday. No promises, though.

The provisions side now runs to more than 150 rotating items, from hand made sausages and smoked hams to vegan soups and pantry staples. When did Contimo stop being a lunch counter and become the neighborhood's second kitchen?

Provisions have been part of Contimo since day one. We sold sausages, bacon, and more at the farmers market for years, but that side of the business really found its stride during the pandemic. Suddenly, those items were exactly what people needed. It was a forced introduction for many of our regulars, but luckily for us, they liked what they found. We've kept expanding the offerings with the seasons ever since.

A bowl of spring beans with sliced roast beef on a blue table at Contimo ProvisionsPhotograph by Audri Hernandez
Spring beans with roast beef. The provisions side has grown past 150 rotating items, from sausages and smoked hams to pantry staples.

Your biscuit kit landed in the SF Chronicle Gift Guide, and people order Contimo Roast coffee and pantry goods from across the country. What does that mail order demand tell you about how far a small Napa shop's reputation can travel?

I wish I had a better answer for this one, but the honest answer is that we seldom say yes to shipping. We regularly get emails asking us to send Salt-n-Spice, salsa morita, and biscuit kits around the country. The interest is there; the bandwidth isn't. Shipping adds a layer of bureaucracy, including dealing with taxes across state lines, that we can't yet justify.

Randolph Street is your first full kitchen. What does Contimo get to become with a real kitchen behind it that the window and pop up years never allowed?

We've always had a real kitchen. What we haven't had is a kitchen next to the people we're feeding! Bringing everything under one roof means we can offer meatball subs, chicken parm sandwiches, and more provisions with much greater efficiency. We've been able to take on more large orders, host great parties, and substantially expand our specials. A lot becomes possible when you remove the schlepping.

The Contimo Provisions dining room, long wooden tables with yellow and blue chairs under pendant lightsPhotograph by Jessie Clapp
The Randolph Street dining room, with the kitchen finally beside the people it feeds.

Napa's service industry eats at Contimo: line cooks, tasting room staff, the people who feed everyone else. What do you hear from them across the counter that a visitor would never say?

We're not much for gossip. We're more of a place where people can come and relax. What's been wonderful about having so many industry folks in the shop is meeting the guests they send our way and those we send to them. People come to us on recommendations from the French Laundry, Mayacamas, Frog's Leap, and others. The people who work here in the valley introduce us to people from all over the world, right across our counter. The number of countries represented is astonishing. That's the global draw of Napa, and it's pretty amazing to be part of it.

Inside the orange room at Contimo Provisions, three framed black and white portraits hang over a wooden dining tablePhotograph by Audri Hernandez
The orange room at Contimo, built for lingering. Industry regulars send their guests here, and the shop sends its own right back.

Contimo Provisions serves breakfast and lunch at 950 Randolph Street in Napa. See the menu and the provisions case at ContimoNapa.com.