Shutting down

Los Angeles, October 31, 2012—

MIXED EMOTIONS TIME: the closing of a restaurant we've enjoyed for years, owned and run by a man we respect. Mark Peel was surprised when we turned up at the closing-night party. In fact, he didn't recognize us: we were masked like all the guests at this open-bar party. It was a nice party: I talked to Craig, who thinks LA is a fine place, and who is into fashion; and to Antonio Palma, from Nuoro, who is trying to come to terms with the English language, and to a few others, and ate my fill of canapés: what we used to call lunch meat, and bocadillos, and tapas, and cicchetti, and so on — pickled green beans, little slices of bread, cubes of cheese, mortadella, salami, little meat balls, pieces of fruit…

a Martini; rosé: Something Moon (Provence), 2011; sparkling Vouvray

• Campanile, 624 South La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles

Salmon chez Panisse

Berkeley, October 30, 2012—

WHAT YOU SEE HERE is an aerial view of the last two bites of lunch. Well, maybe three. Four, in fact, because it took a couple of bites of bread to sop up the very last of the sauce.

I'd begun with a nice salad: young rocket leaves with shavings of sunchoke and prosciutto, in a very good light savory vinaigrette, strewn with rosemary leaves. And very judiciously salted, with good salt.

But it was the main course — this was dinner masquerading as a late lunch — that lingers with me: King salmon, poached, in a beurre rouge with delicate cauliflower flowerets, romanesco, and broccoli, and lots of capers. Beurre rouge: we all know a beurre blanc, of course; and I dearly love a beurre noisette, where you let the butter brown a bit while stirring. This tasted very lightly of red wine. I don't know how it's made. I could Google it, I suppose, but I have a lot to do and I'm up at five tomorrow.

Dessert: a fine Bartlett pear, Barhi dates, a couple of black figs.

Godello, A Coroa, Valdeorras (Spain); 2011: full, present, fruit, dry, balanced

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

Two Oakland Restaurants

Oakland, California, October 28, 2012—

AT DINNER TONIGHT it occurred to me this wasn't California cuisine; neither was lunch today, when we had the lamb ragù so badly photographed below. These are East Bay restaurants, well in the wake of Chez Panisse, characterized by thoughtful menus, excellent ingredients, solid execution.

For all that, the roast pork at the left here, with its sauerkraut, instantly rang a bell: it took me back to Bofinger in Paris, where I had exactly the same plate — one of the Hundred, by the way — but in a less cozy setting, and with much snootier service, and a considerably higher price. Well, not completely exactly; Bofinger would never have placed those rosemary needles on the meat; and fingerling potatoes are more a California thing than a French one, seems to me. Whatever: This was a delicious entrée, preceded by a good mixed green salad with figs, almonds, and fromage blanc. I enjoyed it.

Zöld Veltlini (Veltliner), Mátyás & Zoltan Szoke (Màtra, Hungary), 2011 (dry, stern, a good match to the pork)

• A Coté Restaurant, 5478 College Avenue, Oakland; 510.655.6469Earlier in the day we'd had a festive brunch with three other couples — good friends and family, all gathered to see Einstein on the Beach in Berkeley afterward. I knew I'd have a big dinner, but a nearly-five-hour avant-garde opera demands stamina, and stamina requires nourishment. I opted for this lamb ragù, beautifully slow-cooked on an open hearth in the style of this fine restaurant (one of the Hundred), delicious red-lentil mash, bitter greens and crème fraîche on the side, a poached egg on top — a fine plate. Warmed up with Tequila, tomato, lime, and chile powder.

Pfneiszl Kékfrankos (Hungary), 2010: deep and serious

• Camino, 3917 Grand Avenue, Oakland; 510-547-5035

Sardine sandwich

Eastside Road, October 27, 2012—

WE'LL FEAST TWICE tomorrow; we have a long drive and a roller derby tonight; let's just have a sardine sandwich for dinner. Lindsey toasts the bread, as you see, and spreads one surface with a little prepared mustard, the other with that nice Dutch mayonnaise she buys in tubes.

With the smashed-up sardines from the can, thinly sliced onions. Surely the sardine sandwich is one of the Hundred Plates. Afterward, a salad of small "wild" arugula, its vinaigrette including chopped scallions instead of garlic. Later in the evening, a Crane melon.

Bourgueil, Domaine de la Chanteleuserie, 2004

Soup and sandwich

El Granada, October 26, 2012—

MAYBE SIX MILES INTO today's ten-miler, and well past two o'clock: time for a bit of sustenance. Grilled ham and cheese had been on my mind, and the place we all finally agreed on seemed not to include one on its menu of California-cuisiny items — but wonder of wonders, tomato-red pepper soup and a grilled Gruyère sandwich was one of the daily specials. Everything about this place was pleasing, from the water-faucet in the gent's (Toto, a ribbon of water into a fine porcelain sink) to the lists of local suppliers of produce, breads, meats and the like. I'd go back any day, except that it's a bit off my beaten track.

beer: Tangerine Wheat, Lost Coast Brewing Company: citrusy, bright, refreshing

• Flavor, 10151 Cabrillo Highway North, El Granada, California; (650) 726-8000

Pasta Moon

Half Moon Bay, California, October 25, 2012—

WHAT WAS IT Thomas Wolfe wrote? "You can't go home again"? One insists on trying, of course…

I've wanted to return to this place for probably twenty years, after a pleasant dinner here all that time ago, and tonight finally managed, after a fine ten-miler over the hill from Rockaway Beach, to the north. And in fact it's still pleasant, though much more sophisticated than before, and more expensive… like so much else in our lives…

I began with this delicious Ribollita, a minestrone-like soup involving bread, kale, chard, kohlrabi, zucchini, carrots, and beans, all cooked up with garlic in a vegetable stock, garnished with olive oil and Parmesan cheese — a fine hearty dish after a fairly hard day.

My tagliatelle Bolognese was almost as good, the pasta a perfect consistency, the sauce only a little too heavy on tomato. Dessert: tiramisu, a little tired, I thought.

Inzolia/Grillo, Ilgiglio, 2010: crisp and refreshing; Cannonau, Juannisola (Sardinia), 2009: rich and lasting

• Pasta Moon Restaurant, 315 Main Street, Half Moon Bay, California; 650-726-5125


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Chicken in the motel

Rockaway Beach, Pacifica, California, October 24, 2012—

WE WALKED TEN MILES or so today, and arrived in an upscale beach community with a small but satisfying Farmers Market in progress — lots of good organic fare, including Rolli Rosti's roast chicken truck, which I remembered had recently celebrated its tenth anniversary parked outside Chez Panisse.
Popular consensus ruled against a restaurant tonight, and I know how to be gracious in the teeth of a consensus. Roast chicken in the motel room, then, with tomatoes and cucumbers, and a bit of halvah for dessert.

Vermentino, Moon Hills (Tuscany), 2010; Vinho Tinto, Grillos (Portugal), 2009

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