Chez Panisse
Okay, we all know about Chez Panisse. Nothing else can be added
that you haven’t read elsewhere, even from stories that
I have written along the way, five, ten, even 20 years ago.
Alice Waters has become a national, gastro-cultural icon.
Lunch upstairs at the Chez Panisse café is as good as
the urban myth would have you believe. Dinner in the more refined,
more formal, dining room downstairs provides memories that you
will share with your grandchildren. The entire menu changes
nightly in the dining room and the menu for the week is posted
Mondays so you can decide which night you wish to book.
My most recent meal downstairs was with food and wine friends,
including Bob and Margrit Mondavi. Because of the revelations
shared after many bottles of wine, I would have to say that
in the 20 years I have been dining at Chez Panisse, this was
the only time when the stories swapped outshined the food, as
good as it was. But that’s a rarity. The food here is
truly as good as it gets in the Bay-area. Or beyond. This is
one of those Run, Don’t Walk, restaurants, whether you
choose the informal upstairs, or more formal downstairs.
Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley.
Café (upstairs) reservations: 510-548-5049, Restaurant
(downstairs) reservations: 510-548-5525. Closed Sunday. www.chezpanisse.com
O Chame
Here’s a local spot maybe you don’t know about.
One of my favorite, worth-a-detour restaurants. O Chame is
a sweet, small, half-indoor, half-outdoor fusion eatery on
Berkeley’s trendoid 4th Street. Just down the block
from Peet’s and Cody’s, same side of the street.
Often “fusion” cooking is “con-fusion”
cooking, a mix of flavors that don’t work. Not the case
with David Vardy’s fare, which takes ingredient and
presentation cues from Japan and marries them to California
tastes.
I LOVE the white corn and green onion pancake appetizer. On
many occasions, when I know that I have to head to San Francisco,
I make the decision to go via Berkeley – so that I can
include a pit stop at O Chame – strictly to have this
dish. I also love the focused, hauntingly simple, blanched
spinach dish, tossed with a home-made sesame dressing. I almost
always order both appetizers.
On cooler days, a large bowl of O Chame’s home-made
soup is in order, served with your choice of soba (buckwheat
- supposedly healthier) or udon (flour - I like these better)
noodles. There are usually five soups offered. Examples include
roasted pork tenderloin with mustard greens and takuan (pickled
daikon radish), or tofu skins with shiitake mushrooms and
spinach (one of my favorites).
O Chame, 1830 4th Street, Berkeley. Open lunch and dinner
six days, closed Sunday. 510-841-8783. www.themenupage.com/ochame.shtml
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