Catching up

May 2 Wednesday: Chez Panisse

Berkeley, May 2, 2012—

THE WEEK'S MENUS look quite different: you can see there's been a slight shift in direction. There's a simple explanation: the May-November chef has taken over the downstairs kitchen. And it's a new May-November chef: David Tanis retired from the position, to take up new duties at the New York Times, and longtime ChezP cook Jérome Waag has stepped up to the plate.

We had to eat in a hurry, as we had an eight o'clock curtain to make. Too bad, because this was a springtime menu to linger over, starting with a truly delicious salad: Oregon King salmon, fava beans, and tiny fennel quarters, with fried capers and Meyer-lemon-and-shallot vinaigrette. Nice balance, fresh and pointed flavor.

Then cannelloni stuffed with chard, ricotta, and green garlic: an unusual dish, rustic in concept with a sophisticated technique, creamy and subtle.

Plat principal: spit-roasted porchetta, pork shoulder rolled around forcemeat, served with glazed carrots and onions in agrodolce — something FrancoItalian in the entire sequence of courses reminded me of a dinner years ago at the Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence. (Except that the dining room and service in Berkeley is much more comfortable, to my taste.)

Dessert: Almong meringata, almost a soft nougat, with tangerine gelato, garnished with sliced strawberries and kumquats — too bad we had to rush!

Fiano di Avellino, Ciro Picariello (Campania), 2009 (crisp and generous); Grignolino d'Asti, Cascina Tavijn (Piedmonte), 2008 (dry dry dry, a perfect chard wine); Rosso vigna, Paolo Bea (Umbria), 2007 (deep, rich, very sound)

• Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley; 510.548.5525

Leftover steak

Eastside Road, May 1, 2012—

SOME THINGS JUST get better with time: among them, the flatiron steak I'd grilled on Sunday. When we bought it, Saturday, at Café Rouge's butcher shop in Berkeley, I asked the counterman to salt it well before wrapping it up. The only other thing I did (other than grilling it over grapevine wood and mesquite charcoal) was squeeze half a Meyer lemon onto it, and drizzle a little olive oil on it, before slicing it into strips at serving time. Two days later it was even better, cold; tender and still juicy. (Maybe the previous day's fast helped make it so tasty.)