Too much to eat

Berkeley, then Santa Rosa, June 4, 2012—

TOO MUCH EATING today, no doubt about it. Oh well: tomorrow's a fast day.

Lunch in the Café, where I had a fine salad: arugula leaves lightly dressed, cucumbers in a light creamy dressing, and spicy chickpeas. Then local halibut with escarole, peas, Meyer lemon, toasted breadcrumbs, sprinkled with summer savory — a favorite herb. (Saturday I had my first peach of the year; today's were my first peas of the year. How nice to savor these things.)

Then dessert: stracciatella ice cream, beautifully smooth and nicely balanced between the chocolate chips and the cream, with both caramel and chocolate sauce, and a chocolate cookie sprinkled with crystal sugar. Wow.

We'd planned on a very light supper, but friends called to suggest going to a favorite local of theirs for the Monday night special: "Moroccan barbecued" goat, with tzatziki, Meyer lemon potatoes, and flatbread. Interesting resonances between this dinner and the lunch we'd had only a few hours earlier: the tzatziki and the cucumbers; the oven-fried wedges of lemon-flavored potatoes and the whisper of Meyer lemon on the halibut. I celebrated with another dessert, this time in liquid form, a curious aqua vita called Gioiello, distilled from bitter chestnut-blossom honey by Nonino, an acquired taste which I haven't fully acquired.

No photos today. They don't do the food justice.

Lunch: Jurançon sec, Vitatge Vielh, Clos Lapeyre, 2009 (dry, complex, austere, delicious).
Dinner: Nebbiolo, Germano Angelo (La Morra), 2008 (true, not too light, pleasant)

• Café Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley; 510.548.5525
• Monti's Rotisserie & Bar, 714 Village Court, Santa Rosa; 707.568.4404