LINK: napa: chez panisse
I drove down from Napa to Berkeley, it was an easy drive since it was around noon on a Friday. I was listening to my music and enjoying the scenery. It’s been a minute since I was in the Berkeley area, I think the last time I was there was when I was doing university tours.
My friend Oliver made reservations for us at the Chez Panisse cafe upstairs. I read up on Chez Panisse and found that they had a Michelin star at one point and then it was taken away. A few of my SF friends talked highly of this restaurant so I was pretty excited to check it out.
We started off with amazing bread. I could have snacked on a loaf of that with the butter. I ordered a salad that had baked Andante dairy goat cheese with garden lettuce. Normally, I love goat cheese but it was missing the crisp and warm creaminess of the cheese.
The saffron fettuccine with gulf shrimp, white wine, tomato, and wild fennel was absolutely delicious. It seemed fairly light for a pasta dish but maybe cause it wasn’t saturated with heavy cream and cheese. I also opted for the rhubarb galette with ice cream, which seemed to be a recurring theme for me because I had a rhubarb dessert at the French Laundry the night before. I have a thing for rhubarb, it’s tart yet sweet.
It was a delightful lunch and we were able to catch up (even though I saw him not too long ago when he was in Southern California). The drive back to Napa was another story, there were so many accidents along the way that it took nearly double the time to go to the hotel.
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