A Life Worth Eating

Not too long ago, I happened to find myself in Berkeley, CA. If you had asked me what I was doing there, I’d have answered that I was on a little vacation. You see, ostensibly I was visiting to check out the school, but we all know the only things I was excited about were the restaurants this trip gave me an opportunity to explore. It was a dreadfully rainy, dreary, and chilly afternoon, and I decided there was no better way to spend such a day than to have a leisurely lunch at the Chez Panisse Café (a “light” lunch before dinner at Gary Danko). I’d already been to the downstairs restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I wanted to see how the upstairs experience would compare.

As usual, I was in no particular hurry, and several things on the menu sounded quite good, so I tentatively decided I would do four courses. I asked the waiter if he thought I had ordered too much, because I wanted to act like a person with a normal appetite was a bit concerned about the quantity. I’d ordered fairly light dishes, he thought, so it should be fine. While I waited for my first course to come out, the bread and butter arrived. Delicious Acme Bread and nice, soft room-temperature butter, no less. Very tasty.

Pretty soon, my first course arrived: Pizzetta with spring onion, sorrel, and egg ($12). With a beautiful wood-burning oven, and the phenomenal ingredients that the café has access to, it should come as no surprise that they make a mean pizza. This one was no exception. The almost lemony acidic tang of the sorrel and the bright flavor of the spring onion contrasted nicely with the rich creaminess of the egg as the yolk spread over each piece that I cut. The crust was crisp and nicely charred in places, with a pleasant chewiness and remarkable airiness throughout. Quite delicious.

Next up was a bowl of Wild nettle soup with pounded pine nuts and parmesan ($8). This soup had a vibrant green color, and a flavor no less bright. Toasted pine nuts were coarsely pounded and then spooned on top, along with a drizzle of fruity olive oil and delicious bits of parmesan cheese. This was a very tasty soup, and the perfect companion for the crusty bread I already had on the table.

My third course was Baked Sonoma goat cheese with garden lettuces ($9.50). There is something refreshing about the French tradition of having the salad course near the end of a meal rather than at the beginning, and this course served as both palate cleanser and cheese course in one. The goat cheese was delicious. Lightly breaded before baking, the warm, golden outside gave way to the creamy, pleasantly tangy center. The garden lettuces were dressed with a simple vinaigrette, tart and refreshing, and a nice foil for the cheese’s richness. A very simple dish, but a tasty one.

By this point, I thought about ordering two desserts was getting pretty full. But there is always room for dessert. I chose the Rhubarb tart with muscat sabayon ($9.50). Ah, two of my favorites: rhubarb and sabayon. The former, one of my favorite signs of spring; the latter, France’s answer to one of my favorite Italian desserts. This tart was pleasantly, well, tart. So often paired with sweeter strawberries and overloaded with sugar in pie fillings, it was nice to see more of rhubarb’s natural flavor shine here. The sabayon was light, eggy, and sweet. It was a perfect match for the tart.

“Hey, I could have cooked that meal!”, you ambitious home cooks out there might be saying to yourselves. And the truth is, you probably could. But odds are that you don’t have access to ingredients of this caliber in your local markets. And odds are that you haven’t built up relationships with the very best purveyors and farmers over the past thirty-five years. You certainly aren’t really paying for technical fireworks at Chez Panisse Café. But you are paying partially, as with all famous restaurants, for a name. For a philosophy. For something that was revolutionary back before you or I had even heard of the place. And, beneath it all, you’re paying someone to shop for you. But as long as they keep doing what they do so very well, that’s price is one I am certainly more than willing to pay.