SJ wrap-up
Aug. 7th, 2005 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furtechA few straggling thoughts from my recent SJ visit:
I had dinner at Chez Panisse with Gordon (to pay a very old debt). We visited Games of Berkeley (one of the best game shops I've been to in recent memory) and then headed off to dinner. Chez Panisse is somewhat famous for being one of the creators of "California Cuisine", but that term has become so cliché that I do the restaurant a disservice to describe it thusly. Yes, it's high-tone and falootin', but the food is as wonderful as I remembered from my last visit, years ago.
Unlike "gourmet" or nouveau restaurants go for the shock value of exotic and often clashing ingredients to show off, CP blends ingredients in an uncanny way where each complements and enhances the other-- with no single ingredient overpowering the dish. We ate at the café upstairs, which I prefer over the prix fixed menu of the restaurant on the first floor. I had a halibut with a corn salsa: the halibut was *fresh* and the corn salsa was buttery rather than spicy and together were a combination that was both delicious and something I'd never tasted before. John-- if you haven't eaten there yet, you should make an effort to go the next time you're up in the BArea (it's in Berkeley). Make sure to get reservations! See the website for the daily restaurant menus and weekly café menu.
I had dinner at Chez Panisse with Gordon (to pay a very old debt). We visited Games of Berkeley (one of the best game shops I've been to in recent memory) and then headed off to dinner. Chez Panisse is somewhat famous for being one of the creators of "California Cuisine", but that term has become so cliché that I do the restaurant a disservice to describe it thusly. Yes, it's high-tone and falootin', but the food is as wonderful as I remembered from my last visit, years ago.
Unlike "gourmet" or nouveau restaurants go for the shock value of exotic and often clashing ingredients to show off, CP blends ingredients in an uncanny way where each complements and enhances the other-- with no single ingredient overpowering the dish. We ate at the café upstairs, which I prefer over the prix fixed menu of the restaurant on the first floor. I had a halibut with a corn salsa: the halibut was *fresh* and the corn salsa was buttery rather than spicy and together were a combination that was both delicious and something I'd never tasted before. John-- if you haven't eaten there yet, you should make an effort to go the next time you're up in the BArea (it's in Berkeley). Make sure to get reservations! See the website for the daily restaurant menus and weekly café menu.
