Fish and duck

Berkeley, October 16, 2012—

FISH AND DUCK AND panna cotto, as you see, what a truly fine lunch with a couple of friends in the café. I started with raw albacore with cucumbers, anise hyssop, ginger, and scallions, a very Japanese dish it seemed to me, light and pointed yet delicate, perfect for a warm Indian summer day; and then went on to another end of the scale, duck confit with crispy potatoes, sweet peppers, cabbage, and fried sage leaves, very much looking forward into the autumn. The potatoes were crisp indeed, very thin cut, like very thin fettuccine, salty and delicious, a perfect foil to the confit.

Dessert: this buttermilk panna cotta with huckleberry coulis and an almond cookie. Panna cotta is a favorite of mine and makes me think I've been lax about promoting desserts to the Hundred Plates. The confit belongs there too, of course.

a glass of white, a glass of red

• Café Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley; 510.548.5525