Steak and salad

Glen Ellen, May 30, 2012—

WELL, ACTUALLY, it was salad and steak: in a restaurant it's almost impossible to have salad after the main course. Excuse me: the Savor. At this restaurant the courses are not First, Second, and Third; or Appetizers, Entrees; or Entrée, Plat principal. Here the menu falls into three categories: Nosh, Middles, Savor. The names put me off, of course: nothing sillier than self-deprecating cuteness. The dishes, too, in many cases, seemed overly complicated, with too many ingredients; and the service was oddly hesitant and slow. I ate my first course, for example, with the three-ring binder of a wine list awkwardly resting on my lap, the edge quite visible above the table, for lack of a place to put it; waitress and busser came by every now and then, but never offered to relieve me of it.

But it's a pleasant room; the chairs are comfortable; a party of four can converse easily. And the food was really quite good. I began with a revisionist Caesar salad: no raw egg for dressing, a thinned mayonnaise in its place, and torn butter lettuces, not leaves of romaine; and chunks of bread, not croutons; and only one whole anchovy: but plenty of anchovy and garlic flavor, and nice lettuce.

My beefsteak was grilled to exactly the rare degree I'd hoped for, served on a bed of beautifully sautéed baby artichokes, fingerling potatoes, and wild mushrooms, and napped with a buttery sauce that whispered something about marrow, probably deceptively. I was hungry: I'd walked fifteen miles earlier in the day. But it probably would have tasted as good even if I'd done nothing but sit in front of this computer.

The wine list is extensive and runs almost exclusively to California wines, most of them from the Sonoma Valley vicinity. I know virtually nothing about California wines, which I still find in general too alcoholic, to complicated, and too expensive; but I found a white I trusted, and a red that seemed promising, and both bottles suited the four of us perfectly:

"Cigare Blanc" (Roussane/Grenache blanc), Bonny Doon Vinyards, 2008 (dry but full of varietal character);
Zinfandel, Deux Amis (Healdsburg), 2007 (rich and deep but not overpowering — though high in alcohol: 14.8%)

• Olive & Vine, 14301 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen, California; 707-996-9150