Cucumbers and Malvasia

Berkeley and San Francisco, February 20, 2015—

A VERY DELICIOUS DAY today, starting with breakfast at a favorite café in Berkeley, where the cappuccinos, made with Equator coffee, are superb, and the toast and marmalade as good as they are at home, which is saying quite a lot.

• Bartavelle, 1603 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley; 510-524-2473


Lunch at another very favorite place in San Francisco, where the menu runs to Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, and the women are superb to see. It was a hot day — a hot day in San Francisco, in February! — and I was dreaming of cucumber sandwiches. The closest was a split bagel, fresh from the oven, with cream cheese and sliced cucumbers, with a soft and tasty pierogi served with intense, deep damson plum preserve.

• 20th Century Café, 198 Gough St, San Francisco; (415) 621-2380

Malvasia, Terzolo (Croatia/Istria), 2011: one of the nicest,most interesting, richest, best-finishing white wines I've had in a long time

Dinner was less rewarding than the other two meals, but good enough to sustain conversation with a friend and carry us through a Sam Shepard play (A Lie of the Mind, not quite resolved): Veal piccata in rather a gloppy sauce, with the usual array of steamed vegetables.

Martinis

• The Brazen Head, 3168 Buchanan Street, San Francisco; 415-921-7600
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants