On Friday I finished the last of my spring semester school work, which means I am free from school until August 25th. Stacey and I celebrated with a weekend trip to the Berkeley area, our primary goal being dinner at Chez Panisse.
We started with a slight detour to a couple of favorite wineries in the southern part of Sonoma County. We had wine to pick up from our Gloria Ferrer wine club, so we had a few glasses of bubbly and then, needing whites for summer, bought some Viognier and Pinot Gris at Cline Cellars.
Next stop: Berkeley. Arriving early at our hotel and finding it un-air-conditioned (one of many unpleasant surprises), we walked a couple of blocks to explore Telegraph Avenue, which was admittedly kind of icky. Maybe I am too old to appreciate several blocks full of tie-dyed t-shirts, incense, hemp necklaces, used merchandise, and many hole-in-the-wall restaurants (one hole-in-the-wall is fine though! We stopped at tiny Top Dog for hot dogs. Good, but no match for Puka Dog). Next we hit the Berkeley Art Museum, which was across from our hotel. It was also not air-conditioned (what is the deal with Berkeley?) and the art was, well, not very good. We ended up watching TV in our stuffy hotel room until it was time for dinner.
I've wanted to eat at Chez Panisse for a long time, but Berkeley is about an hour's drive for us and reservations need to be made a month in advance. My first weekend of freedom seemed like a proper occasion. I was a bit nervous that I would be disappointed; the Chez Panisse name carries such weight that it seemed likely that our dinner wouldn't live up to our high expectations. In the end, everything was delicious: the bread, the butter, my little gem lettuce with green goddess dressing and roasted beets and Stacey's brandade toasts with frisee. For an entree, I had spaghetti with Hog Island clams and marjoram (simple but delicious, which is the Chez Panisse MO). But what really blew us away was Stacey's halibut. We have both had plenty of halibut in our time, but I have never had anything this tender and pure-tasting. It was served with snap peas, mushrooms and chervil butter. Yum.
This morning we went to the cafe at Oliveto in Oakland for breakfast. Oliveto was founded by a Chez Panisse alum, and has the same seasonal/local food focus, so it was on my list of Bay Area restaurants to visit. Since we are not in the East Bay very often, I was glad to see the downstairs cafe is open all day, including for breakfast. After polishing off (with a great deal of my help) an excellent wood-fired breakfast pizza with pancetta and topped with two eggs, Stacey declared it the best breakfast she has had in a long time. I enjoyed a bowl of rib-sticking polenta served with milk and poached fruit.
On to Berkeley's Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory. Scharffen Berger is one of the few first-tier chocolate makers in the United States (meaning they oversee every step of the chocolate-making process, from bean to bar). We enjoyed our free tour, from the chocolate samples to the hair nets to the intoxicating chocolate smell that hits you when you walk into the factory. All of the chocolate is made in a small, hundred-year-old building with antique European machines. We picked up some bars to go.
Last stop: Fourth Street in Berkeley, mostly because I wanted to go to Sketch Ice Cream, which I read about recently in a New York Times article. In order to make room in our tummies, we did a little shopping. We bought fresh asparagus-chive ravioli to cook for dinner, browsed home boutiques, and Stacey bought me the most beautiful deep red peonies. I love peonies, but I have never seen them in this color.
We ended our trip at Sketch, with cups of cardamom and rhubarb ice cream, swirled. Success.
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