The big bro turned the big 2-9 and to honor his final year as a twenty-something, the family met for a late lunch at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. For those of you unfamiliar, Chez Panisse was founded in the 1970’s by Alice Waters and, to me, pretty much epitomizes Berkeley. To this day, Alice still runs the show and has made famous the organic, locally-grown, grow-what-you-eat, etc. approach to fine dining. I distinctly remember a recent 60 Minutes segment featuring Alice in which she casually prepares an egg (cage-free, of course) for Leslie Stahl by sticking it on a long wooden paddle and warming it in her stone oven over open coals. ‘Cause that’s what we all do when we’re craving the Over Easy, right? Alice doesn’t own a microwave or a toaster (the disgrace!). It’s a nice concept but I wonder how feasible it is for the rest of America to install an open-air, million dollar stone oven in our kitchens…
Anyway, onto the meal. The menu changes daily to emphasize the freshest ingredients. Not feeling terribly hungry, I opted for two appetizers (supplemented with generous servings of free bread and butter, of course). My dad, brother, and I started with a roasted tomato and eggplant soup, which was fresh and flavorful. As one would expect, Alice’s stuff doesn’t taste like it came from a can of Campbell’s. I followed the soup with local halibut tartare; again the ingredients taste fresh and of high quality. My mom raved about her grilled halibut. My dad was pleased with his pesto pasta and my brother finished his steak.
If you don’t mind paying a premium for fresh food this is the place for you. We dined in the more casual upstairs “café” where lunch entrees run about $20-25 a pop. Dinner is prix fixe and run $75 each. I can definitely taste the difference in really high quality ingredients but I don’t really care all that much to spend twice as much.
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