Many courses

Scallops with akura and cucumber

Seattle, Washington, January 6, 2015—

WE DON'T OFTEN go for those multi-course chef's tasting menus, but after a difficult day on the road I was in no mood to make any decisions, and the friend with whom we were dining, and who had recommended this restaurant, wanted to go the route, so why not. And this is what was brought to the table:

first course
Housemade mozzarella with onion agrodolce
Raw scallop with akura and cucumber
Parsnip soup with fried sage
Little gem lettuce, sieved egg, radish in Champagne vinaigrette
Fried Pacific oysters with Calabrian aïoli
Beef tartare with garlic toasts
Speck with Pecorino and crouton

second course
Strazzapreti with lacinato kale and beef brisket
Butternut squash ravioli with sage, walnuts, and brown butter

third course
Grilled striped bass with cauliflower and pomegranate
Grilled New York strip steak with kale, pancetta, and balsamic vinegar

fourth course
Chocolate terrine with salted caramel
Citrus ricotta cheesecake with honey and strawberry jam
Chocolate gelato with crushed chocolate wafer

I had my share of this succession of things, and so did my constant companion, and we agreed that every item was really quite good. I will say I'm not fond of any "surf and turf" combination, and it strikes me as odd at best, a little wilful or depraved at worst, to serve grilled fish and beef simultaneously. What to do, for example, about wine? So, delicious as the steak was (and perfectly grilled, which is to say almost raw), it was the earlier courses that pleased me the most — until I tasted that cheesecake and the terrine. They were delicious. There are people here who really know what they're doing. Oh: and the meal was not horribly expensive.

Rioja blanco, Muga, 2013; Pinot noir, Walnut City (Willamette Valley), 2012 (Burgundy style; very good)

•Staple and Fancy, 4739 Ballard Avenue Northwest, Seattle; (206) 789-1200

Rib-eye

Grants Pass, Oregon, January 5, 2015—

WE DINED HERE twice before, most recently in August 2009. Can it have been that long, really? How many restaurants, in how many places, since then? Here it is, not yet a week into the new year, and already we're on the road, staying in a cheap motel the Sweet Breeze Inn, acceptable, even a little cute in its modest way), and dining once again at what seems to be The Only Place In Town.

Whatt you see here is the daily special, of which only two orders were left as we sat down, just a little after six o'clock: a sixteen-ounce rib-eye steak from an animal about whose provenance I chose not to inquire. Our waiter, Caleb, was engaging, and I didn't want to subject him to a Bay Area Slow Foodie grilling. 

Under the steak was a serving of peas and carrots, the latter nicely roasted, the former odd — starchy: definitely not spring peas (though my companion was served young asparagus with her Pacific salmon). Frozen, I would have thought: but in that case they'd have been sweeter and tenderer. Perhaps these were fresh garden-variety cold-weather peas. In any case I ate them all.

Also potatoes, roasted Yukon gold potatoes that had been quartered and cooked not quite enough with olive oil and garlic and a hint of rosemary. And, not afterward but first, what I call a Caesarish salad, chopped, with lettuce as well as Romaine, a vaguely Worcestershire-flavored dressing not innocent of lemon, and shreds of what seemed like Parmesan cheese. Well: we've done worse.

Riesling, Foris (Oregon); Cabernet Sauvignon, Simi (Healdsburg), both of unknown vintages

• River's Edge Restaurant, 111936 Rogue River Highway, Grants Pass, Oregon; 541-244-1182

Last of the mousse

Eastside Road, January 4, 2015—

I REALLY HAVE NO IDEA how she made it, this deicious chicken-liver mousse. Well, I call it mousse; it's too smooth, unctuous, to be called a paté. It was the neighbor down the hill made it, and gave it to us as part of the holiday festivities. The chicken livers were from her sister-in-law, who raised the chickens a hundred miles north, on her ranch or perhaps at her feed store. Whatever the case, the result was delicious.

That's particularly interesting to me, because while I very much like mammal liver — fegato venziano most of all, which I cook using elk liver when I can — and while I'll never back away from paté de foie gras, chicken liver is something I can deal with only by carefully suspending my prejudices. And we all know that's a very difficult thing to do: particularly when it comes to food.

We're in a bit of a rush tonight, having been out to see a movie, and having still to pack for a trip that begins tomorrow before breakfast. So Cook simply made some toast, spread it with the last of this delicious chicken-liver mousse, set a dollop of leftover wild rice and mushrooms next to it, and finished with some green salad.

I have to say: we do eat well here.

"Guadagni" red, Preston of Dry Creek

Soup

Eastside Road, January 3, 2015—

YESTERDAY WAS A FAST day, appropriately after the many days of feasting: simply the morning caffelatte with a slice of buttered toast, then a handful of nuts with a cup of tea in the evening. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, we've been doing this one day a week, usually Tuesdays, for two or three years now. We find it re-tunes the palate, keeps the weight in line, and gains us an hour or so which can profitably be used elsewhere. I like to think it reminds us of, well, mindfulness, too; each nut in that handful takes on a special meaning and presence, and I think, while chewing them, of the many people in the world who go hungry.

And today we continued a simple regime, having just a bowl or two of soup in the evening, and a green salad…

"Guadagni" red, Preston of Dry Creek

Hopping John

Duck confit with poached eggs, Five

Berkeley, January 1, 2015—

BUT FIRST, BREAKFAST. That was with a couple of friends in a hotel restaurant we hadn't visited in ages — rather bland and institutional.  Everyone else ordered Eggs Benedict, but I was attracted to the duck leg confit with two poached eggs, nested atop a mound of shoestring potatoes, quite nice though hard to eat gracefully. 

Orange juice

• Five, Hotel Shattuck Plaza, 2086 Allston Way, Berkeley; 510-225-6055

THE HOPPING JOHN was at my gracious cousin's table, made by her in her fine old Berkeley house, which our great-grandfather built nearly a century ago. Black-eyed peas and rice, with a few drops of Tabasco and a glass of Primitivo — perfect good-luck dish for the New Year, reminding us of the virtues of modesty and sufficiency, especially when given generously en famille… and so begins another year…

Year's end

grilled pigeon with couscous

Berkeley, December 31, 2014—

FOR NEARLY FORTY YEARS we've dined on New Year's Eve with the same couple of friends, going to their house in the even-numbered years, having them to our table in the odd-numbered years. It's the kind of tradition that makes sense of the ever more quickly passing years, I think. It's familiar, warm, reliable, grounding.

Last year, though, we broke the tradition — we were in Portland for a daughter's birthday (January 1). We suggested that our friends fly up for dinner out, at a local steakhouse, and join us for Giovanna's birthday party next day; and they quickly accepted; and we had a great time, as you can read here.

This year, our friends suggested we dine out again, in Berkeley, at Chez Panisse. Since it was their turn to host we were in no position to object, so at 5:30 we met downstairs, on a cold, clear night, to a fine, understated, beautifully conceived and executed dinner:

Amuse-bouches: endive leaf with a scallop and black caviar
     Champagne: Tarlaut, NV
Feuilleté with black truffle and mushrooms on winter mesclun
     Riesling, Schossburg (Alsace), 2012
Ravioli filled with ricotta in butter (my reward for being unable to digest what liiked like marvelous Half Moon Bay spot prawns)
     Chablis, Patrick Pluze, 2013
Grilled pigeon "marocain" with Barbi dates, little carrots in cumin and couscous flavored with salmon
     Bandol, Chateau la Rouvière, 2005
"Bombe glacée tropicale": tropical fruit ice creams in a baked meringue
     Beaumes-de-Vénise, 2012, half bottle

The wines were interesting, true to type, and nicely calibrated to the meal, which developed and deepened as it went along — a very satisfying evening at the table.

•Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley; 510-848-5525

Venison

Laytonville (Mendocino county), December 30, 2014—

DINNER IN THE COUNTRY, on our son's ranch high above the beautiful Long Valley, looking out toward the east and the Yolla Bolly — fine open country, bracing and healthy.

We had venison. Meadow battered and breaded boned-out steaks — "chicken-fried" steaks, served with delicious mashed potatoes and good old milk gravy, the milk from their own Jersey. Alongside, green beans nicely cooked al dente and buttered. Simple, substantial, rewarding fare for a fine, cold, silent country night.

Pinot noir