Weekend fooding and Chez Panisse
Sun, Aug. 27th, 2006 07:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI went to my market today, only to find rows and rows of parked cars where tents and vendors should be. "Ok," I thought, attempting not to freak out, "maybe they are in the next parking lot over."
I checked the next parking lot over.
More cars. No vegetables. Much trauma.
Thankfully, I wasn't the only one standing around with an empty canvas bag and a woeful expression. After thinking a bit and realizing that people were still walking by with full bags of fresh produce, we turned around to notice a six-foot-long, rather helpful sign that proclaimed "Farmers' Market Now in New Transit Center Location!"
"Ahhhhh!" said the lot of us, as we trekked our way over to the new place.
Then I had my second freak out of the day, as I realized.... I had no idea where my pea vendor was! Trauma! Woe! I walked around the entire market very slowly, getting a little calmer as I saw familiar stalls in a different context. Mushroom guys, check. Honey guys, check. Cheese guys, check. Acme Bread, check. Finally, I made it to the peas, and the guy still had some. I also grabbed a pound of cranberry beans, which I have no idea what to do with. Joy tells me that they can be steamed or boiled, and I figure steaming will be less damaging to the structural integrity of the beans, which is good, since I was planning some sort of bean salad. Since I did not plan ahead and was constrained in grocery shopping (I am going to go to NYC next weekend!), I have very few ingredients. I was thinking champagne vinaigrette (as I handily have champagne vinegar), cooked beans, diced tomatoes (heirloom, of course), and... uh. Some dried herbs, since I am sorely lacking in anything else.
Plus, fresh heirlooms make everything better.
Obviously, I got more heirlooms (yellow-green little stripey ones and the really ugly red-green ones; I don't know any variety names, woe!). I also got more peaches, some yellow raspberries that I saw the lemon vendor eating, lemons, a blackberry galette (tasty!), and some very fresh goat cheese. Oooh! I will put goat cheese in the salad as well!
And! One of my friends said that his group of friends had made reservations at the cafe of Chez Panisse, and invited me to go! I, of course, pounced on the opportunity like a wild hyena.
If wild hyenas pounce.
Uh.... horrible similes aside, it was wonderful! We shared appetizers, which included melty Sonoma goat cheese crusted in panko, or something, with arugula and other slightly bitter greens tossed in a very light vinaigrette, butter lettuce tossed with creme fraiche (mmmmm) and sungold tomatoes which were so sweet and wonderful and I could have eaten pounds of those alone. Also, halibut tartare, seasoned lightly with dill, I think.
For the main course, I had gnocchiette with chanterelles and wild thistle (!!), which was very nice and al dente (one piece was too al dente, oh well), but it was lovely. And I snitched from everyone else's dishes: poached salmon with red peppers and potatoes, broiled beef that crumbled in your mouth with pancetta, an absolutely delicious roast chicken breast that actually tasted like chicken, with the delicate-est of green beans and a toasted almond salsa. I should have gotten the chicken, but I got a good deal of it. I usually avoid chicken dishes in restaurants, as I dislike the nasty, dry, tasteless chicken breasts that are usually served, drowned with sauce to overcompensate for their lack of flavor. I should have remembered that I was in the cafe of Chez Panisse and trusted the chefs more.
For dessert, there was a peach and wild berry cobbler with mulberry ice cream, chocolate pave with hazelnut and espresso cream, and wild honey ice cream with figs, which was so, so, so good. Usually I don't like figs, but I have decided that wild honey ice cream makes everything better.
Also, I love the decor, which is distinctly seventies in a classy, almost art-deco way, as opposed to the horrible granny-squares way. I loved the bronze lanterns and the square cut-outs, the open kitchen (I ogled a lot), the menus, oh, and the coffee was really good as well.
Next time, I am going to try and drag my dad there.
I have decided I very much like Berkeley and wish I could spend more time there; it actually reminds me a great deal of Madison. Very indie college towns, and of course, Berkeley endeared itself to me with the scads of restaurants everywhere, several used and indie bookstores, several used and indie music stores, and assorted randomness and lots of dogs on the street.
Aside from Berkeley, I also watched Laura at the old-fashioned theatre here that has an organ (sadly, my friends and I missed Gilda, which I adore, because... Rita Hayworth! Rita Hayworth taking off her gloves!). And I ventured out to check out the art and wine festival going around, except I got distracted and randomly found a library sale going on and got around 12 books for $7.50. Er, book embargo? What book embargo? I will not even mention the piles of Heyers that I found at the used bookstore on Friday, or the very bad yaoi manga I bought for the heck of it (used).
Truly, I cannot get shelves soon enough.
I checked the next parking lot over.
More cars. No vegetables. Much trauma.
Thankfully, I wasn't the only one standing around with an empty canvas bag and a woeful expression. After thinking a bit and realizing that people were still walking by with full bags of fresh produce, we turned around to notice a six-foot-long, rather helpful sign that proclaimed "Farmers' Market Now in New Transit Center Location!"
"Ahhhhh!" said the lot of us, as we trekked our way over to the new place.
Then I had my second freak out of the day, as I realized.... I had no idea where my pea vendor was! Trauma! Woe! I walked around the entire market very slowly, getting a little calmer as I saw familiar stalls in a different context. Mushroom guys, check. Honey guys, check. Cheese guys, check. Acme Bread, check. Finally, I made it to the peas, and the guy still had some. I also grabbed a pound of cranberry beans, which I have no idea what to do with. Joy tells me that they can be steamed or boiled, and I figure steaming will be less damaging to the structural integrity of the beans, which is good, since I was planning some sort of bean salad. Since I did not plan ahead and was constrained in grocery shopping (I am going to go to NYC next weekend!), I have very few ingredients. I was thinking champagne vinaigrette (as I handily have champagne vinegar), cooked beans, diced tomatoes (heirloom, of course), and... uh. Some dried herbs, since I am sorely lacking in anything else.
Plus, fresh heirlooms make everything better.
Obviously, I got more heirlooms (yellow-green little stripey ones and the really ugly red-green ones; I don't know any variety names, woe!). I also got more peaches, some yellow raspberries that I saw the lemon vendor eating, lemons, a blackberry galette (tasty!), and some very fresh goat cheese. Oooh! I will put goat cheese in the salad as well!
And! One of my friends said that his group of friends had made reservations at the cafe of Chez Panisse, and invited me to go! I, of course, pounced on the opportunity like a wild hyena.
If wild hyenas pounce.
Uh.... horrible similes aside, it was wonderful! We shared appetizers, which included melty Sonoma goat cheese crusted in panko, or something, with arugula and other slightly bitter greens tossed in a very light vinaigrette, butter lettuce tossed with creme fraiche (mmmmm) and sungold tomatoes which were so sweet and wonderful and I could have eaten pounds of those alone. Also, halibut tartare, seasoned lightly with dill, I think.
For the main course, I had gnocchiette with chanterelles and wild thistle (!!), which was very nice and al dente (one piece was too al dente, oh well), but it was lovely. And I snitched from everyone else's dishes: poached salmon with red peppers and potatoes, broiled beef that crumbled in your mouth with pancetta, an absolutely delicious roast chicken breast that actually tasted like chicken, with the delicate-est of green beans and a toasted almond salsa. I should have gotten the chicken, but I got a good deal of it. I usually avoid chicken dishes in restaurants, as I dislike the nasty, dry, tasteless chicken breasts that are usually served, drowned with sauce to overcompensate for their lack of flavor. I should have remembered that I was in the cafe of Chez Panisse and trusted the chefs more.
For dessert, there was a peach and wild berry cobbler with mulberry ice cream, chocolate pave with hazelnut and espresso cream, and wild honey ice cream with figs, which was so, so, so good. Usually I don't like figs, but I have decided that wild honey ice cream makes everything better.
Also, I love the decor, which is distinctly seventies in a classy, almost art-deco way, as opposed to the horrible granny-squares way. I loved the bronze lanterns and the square cut-outs, the open kitchen (I ogled a lot), the menus, oh, and the coffee was really good as well.
Next time, I am going to try and drag my dad there.
I have decided I very much like Berkeley and wish I could spend more time there; it actually reminds me a great deal of Madison. Very indie college towns, and of course, Berkeley endeared itself to me with the scads of restaurants everywhere, several used and indie bookstores, several used and indie music stores, and assorted randomness and lots of dogs on the street.
Aside from Berkeley, I also watched Laura at the old-fashioned theatre here that has an organ (sadly, my friends and I missed Gilda, which I adore, because... Rita Hayworth! Rita Hayworth taking off her gloves!). And I ventured out to check out the art and wine festival going around, except I got distracted and randomly found a library sale going on and got around 12 books for $7.50. Er, book embargo? What book embargo? I will not even mention the piles of Heyers that I found at the used bookstore on Friday, or the very bad yaoi manga I bought for the heck of it (used).
Truly, I cannot get shelves soon enough.
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Tue, Aug. 29th, 2006 02:52 am (UTC)