Brodetto

Berkeley, September 23, 2013—

TWO RECENT BIRTHDAY celebrations, both delayed for one reason or another, merged at the table tonight in a dining room mutually agreed upon, and what a nice autumnal menu:

Grilled eggplant and sweet pepper salad with wild rocket and figs
Fish and shellfish stew from Emilia-Romagna with braised onions and tomatoes, marjoram, and lemon
Hazelnut torte with French butter pears and crème anglaise

The salad was superb, a rich mélange of flavors and textures saying goodbye to summer, hello to harvest season. The brodetto — halibut and rockfish, I think, in a light broth animated by its marjoram and tomato, with clams and squid, was rich in quite a different way, light on the tongue but complex on the palate. And the torte, soft yet textured with ground nuts, contrasting with silky custard and soft, floral-scented pears, was a perfect dessert. An artless meal, simple at first sight, graceful and inventive when studied…

Colli di Luni Vermentino, Groppolo (Liguria), 2012 (surprisingly complex but very agreeable); Südtiroler Vernatsch, Baron Widmann (Alto Adige), 2011 (light of body but full in the mouth)

• Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley; 510.548.4425