Lunch in the café

Berkeley, October 27, 2015 —

YES, OF COURSE, it's Tuesday; we're supposed to be fasting. Particularly since we've had no exercise at all for days, and have put on just a little weight. But we can fast tomorrow: today we find ourselves in Berkeley, and the daily menu looks delicious:

Garden lettuces
Bucatini with spicy tomato sauce, Sicilian-style meatballs, saffron, and Pecorino
Bronx grape sherbet with red wine, quince, and pomegranate

I know I shouldn't post the terrible photo I took of the main dish; it's only here to give an idea of the size of the serving — this was indeed Principle Meal of the Day. The bucatini — thick-walled tubes of pasta, properly cooked of course — were in a piquant sauce suggesting Naples to me, and the meatballs whether Sicilian or not, were certainly southern Italian, rich and complex with saffron and chopped walnuts. Gonna have to try to duplicate this one day.

Dessert — well, just look at the photo. It tasted as good as it looks. The sherbet was pungent with the somewhat musky flavor of Bronx grapes, and the Zinfandel set it off perfectly; also the pomegranate seeds and carefully diced and poached quince. What a place.

Langhe white: but what?

• Café Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley; (510) 548-5525
☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants