Eating out

Eastside Road, October 6, 2011—

WE THOUGHT IT WAS TIME to try a nearby restaurant we've heard good things about. We'd been there before, months ago; it seemed promising, though not quite focussed. Tonight, as we stepped in from the parking lot, some of the problems began to come into focus. Fortunately, they were not culinary problems: they were architectural.

We were four, with a reservation. There wasn't an obvious host stand, but one clearly wasn't meant to grab a seat without first checking in. I looked toward the bar and caught someone's eye: he came forward, got our name, guided us to our end of a table capable of seating eight, with a couple already at one end.

I have nothing against common tables. I'd requested something quiet if possible, and these seats were in a corner of the dining room, relatively quiet. But I found the menu busy and confusing, and things just weren't dropping right. No one's fault but mine; but who wants to be put into that situation?

Still: we aren't here to criticize, or to complain, but to enjoy dinner. Lindsey and I ordered exactly alike: braised greens for an appetizer; roast chicken afterward. The greens were nice, with anchovy paste, Parmesan, and onions. The chicken was succulent and well flavored, nicely salted, plump; and served with nicely cooked little black figs and delicious duck-fat-sautéed potatoes.

Dessert: apple-quince "pie," cooked in a small ramekin — again, like the greens, slow-cooked and deeply flavored. The food was first-rate; the service intelligent and graceful; only something about the building itself kept this from being thoroughly enjoyable.

Arneis, Palmina (Santa Barbara county), 2009 (flinty, citric acid, thin at first but opening with food); Dolcetto d'Alba

• Peter Lowell's, 7385 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol; (707) 829-1077