First sausage

Eastside Road, January 17, 2015

FIRST SAUSAGE of the year tonight, with romanesco, as you see, and pilaf. I should explain the pilaf: it's really bog-man cereal left over from this morning, with chopped scallions and butter added. White wheat, red wheat, rye, all whole grains, simmered for hours. Delicious.

Green salad afterward, of course.

"Guadagni" red from the three-liter jug, Preston of Dry Creek

☛Restaurants visited in 2015 are listed at Eatingday's Restaurants

Steak-frites

Berkeley, January 16, 2014—

LUNCH WITH A COUPLE of friends today, and since we were at a restaurant well known for its meat — in fact there's a good butcher shop here, and I bought a couple of pounds of duck confit before lunch, to make a cassoulet later on — I thought I'd have a classic: steak-frites.

It's a classic bistro dish, of course. Here I thought the steak a little too big, particularly since I'd made the mistake of ordering it "as rare as possible," and that's about what it was. I do like my steak bleu, which is to say quite rare, barely warm. But the cut used in the average steak-frites needs more cooking than that, else it is tough and chewy. My fault: not the restaurant's.

On this steak, a nice herb butter, surprisingly cold I thought. (We were eating early, though — 11:30 — and it may be that later in the service things are more au point.) And with it, very nice thin-cut french-fried potatoes.

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FOR SUPPER, THEN, nothing needed but an omelette, which I cooked as I always do, in olive oil, with some grated cheese, toast on the side.

Zinfandel

•Cafe Rouge, 1782 4th Street, Berkeley; (510) 525-1440

Liver and onions

San Francisco, January 15, 2015—

YOU MAY NOT SEE them, but nestled below the bacon and the onions there are a few pieces of calf's liver. Liver and onions is a favorite dish of mine; I'll promote it right here to the Hundred Plates. It's best, of course, if it's fegato Veneziana; but good old American liver-and-onions will do in a pinch.

What's the difference? Well, the Italians cut the liver into strips, or (though I think this wrong) even into dice, so that it will all cook evenly (and inn fact almost instantaneously), frying it in butter and splashing white wine into it. We Yankees most often simply fry slices of liver, unevenly cut, so that some gets overcooked: not nearly as pleasant.

We mask the result with strips of bacon, unknown to the Italians. And we omit the white wine: a pity, I think. But at least we don't stint on the sliced fried onions.

(I remember years ago eating at the counter at the lamented Vanessi, on Broadway, and asking the cook on the other side of the counter to just fry up some liver and onions. He'd splash what seemed huge amounts of olive oil and white wine from those unlabelled bottles always at hand, sometimes thumbing the top to control — barely — the amounts. It was always good.)

John's Grill is dependable for its ordinary American-style liver and onions. It's the only dish I've ordered here, I think. It always comes with a baked potato and that typical old-fashioned Italian-restaurant spray of broccoli and carrots, and I usually have a bowl of the creamed spinach on the side.

A decent Martini before, why not; and, for dessert, cheesecake, because my constant companion does not like it, and we never have it at home…

Pinot noir, Annabella (Napa?), a little sweet

•John's Grill, 63 Ellis Street, San Francisco; (415) 986-3274

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I HAVE BEEN THINKING of linking this blog to a webpage listing the various restaurants we visit, and possible the hotels and motels as well, with a very simple rating guide. If I were to do that, this listing would read, for example,

•John's Grill, 63 Ellis Street, San Francisco; (415) 986-3274. 15 Jan. 2015. OK

where the restaurant name would link to its website and the date would link to the blog post discussing the place. My three-step rating key would be simply Y; OK; N: standing for Yes, okay; No; perhaps modified by exclamation points. What does anyone think of this idea?

Wine tasting

Berkeley, January 12, 2015

NOT IN THE MOOD for a big dinner, nevertheless a little hungry, where to eat? We looked on Open Table to see what was available, and chanced on a place we hadn't heard about, and decided to give it a try.

It's an interesting concept: a limited menu of appetizers, main courses, and side dishes, chosen to accompany a fairly extensive list of wines, many from quite off the beaten track. Since I had a delicious Beaufort to snack on last night, I decided to stay in Savoie, and asked for a flight of three whites.

With them, this house-made garlic sausage, quite rosy inside and nicely flavored, with slightly undercooked white beans and quite sufficiently braised collard greens. The wines matched well. And then, afterward, a very nice crème brûlée, flavored subtly but certainly with nutmeg.

Rousette: Lupon Frangy, 2013 (tart, good fruit, lots of substance); Chignin, Quensrd (Bergeron), 2012: similar to a Quincy, direct, balanced, firm; Savagnin: Domaine Rolet (Jura), 2012: serious, mature, a bit of finesse — between a Macon blanc and a good white Rhône. Nice wines.

•The Barrel, 5330 College Avenue, Oakland; 510-655-1700

Salade Lyonnaise

Eugene, Oregon, January 11, 2015—

THIS IS TRULY one of the Hundred Plates, an elastic but irreducible repertory of dishes without which I would find life much less pleasurable: the salade Lyonnaise, or, as it's called here, "bistro salad": frisée (no other lettuce will do), lardons, croûtons, a poached egg, vinaigrette. The vinaigrette should be cider vinegar, I think, and hot fat from the lardons.

We both enjoyed the dish, and I remarked that it's hard to mess it up, and my companion remarked No, not at all, it's frequently messed up. And in truth you can mess it up if you go out of your way to do so. You can use some other lettuce; you can use bacon instead of lardons, you can overcooke the egg (or even fry it if you're that perverse); you can use an egg that is less than satisfactory. I suppose you could use Balsamic vinegar, or "balsamic": I hope I don't run into that.

But. Not only is this one of the Hundred Plates; we are eating it in one of the Hundred Restaurants, those restaurants we always return to with anticipation, then pleasure, than fond memory. We don't dine here often enough, because Eugene has not often been a logical evening stopover for us. Now we have a grandson living here, so perhaps we'll be visiting more often. I hope so. This is truly a reliable, interesting, immensely comfortable place, with a good wine list, an excellent bar, first-rate service, knowledgeable sourcing, and a fine, professional kitchen.

A Negroni, with Citadelle gin, which I very much appreciate

•Marché, 296 East 5th Avenue #226, Eugene, Oregon; (541) 342-3612

Catching up again

Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, January 8, 2015—

IN THESE TIMES of false gods how nice there still is true cod to be found. At least, so promised the menu, which I choose to believe. To tell the truth this is probably not the best restaurant kitchen in Seattle, but it has a marvelous view, an acceptable menu and wine list, and a comfortable room in which it is even possible to converse — the perfect place for another lunch with an old friend seen too rarely these days.

As you see, I settled on a half order of the fish and chips. In fact, all three of us did. The fish was nicely battered and fried, the cole slaw was correctly sharp, the tartar sauce okay, the catsup deep, the chips thin-cut and crisp. We'll undoubtedly be back.

Pinot grigio

•Ray's Boathouse, 6049 Seaview Avenue Northwest, Seattle; (206) 789-3770In the evening, a bowl or two of good soup at our daughter's house. Home made soup, of course. Nothing better.

Red wine, Langhe

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Portland, Oregon, January 9, 2015—

LUNCH TODAY DOWNTOWN at a place new to us, a big open room with communal tables and high stools and, fortunately for us old-timers, a few booths where it was possible to have some conversation with a couple of acquaintances who are regulars here. The lunch menu is Italian, as the name implies, running to a few appetizers, pastas, and main courses. I had a daily special: ravioli made with chestnut purée, cooked in browned butter — cooked a bit too long, I thought, but pleasant enough.

Pinot grigio

•Grassa, 1205 SW Washington Street, Portland; 503 241 1133
AND, IN THE EVENING, home again, Indian take-out ordered from Bollywood. I can't begin to list the things we had. We started with two things I will not eat: okra, which I find disgusting and slimy; and yoghurt, which I find sour and forbidding. This okra was fried crisp and seasoned with chili and was delicious, especially when dipped into the yoghurt raita-like sauce. I may have to revise a few opinions.

Afterward, among all the rest, pork vindaloo, in a very tasty deep sauce.

Red wine, Langhe

•Bollywood Theater, 2039 NE Alberta, Portland; 971-200-4711

Ham and cheese; Risotto

Seattle, Washington, January 7, 2015—

LUNCH TODAY with the old friend we came up here to take to lunch, at an old-fashioned breakfast-and-lunch joint down on the waterfront. How could I pass up a grilled ham and cheese on rye bread? Especially when dill pickles were promised, and a Caesarish salad — an odd one, with leanings toward cole slaw; I think I even detected a bit of shredded cabbage among the chopped romaine; but not an unpleasant one, not at all.

Red Hook ale

•Salmon Bay Cafe, 5109 Shilshole Avenue Northwest, Seattle; (206) 782-5539

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AND THEN DINNER at the home of Cook's remaining Seattle cousin and his wife, first-generation Americans with deep Italian roots. Tata made her risotto, baked, flavored with a bit of tomato, and incorporating chunks of good sausage. Green salad afterward, and a glass or two of Falanghina, and coffee with a drop of brandy. How nice to eat at home! Many thanks!