madbaker | Wow. Just... wow.

The wife and I had dinner last night at Chez Panisse. We hadn't gone there before, and a birthday dinner was a good excuse. We weren't the only ones with that idea - it was also the birthday of the woman next to us.

Anyway, it's a good thing we alloted nearly an hour and a half to drive the 22 miles from our place, across the Bay Bridge, and past ~~BigBoxville~~ Emeryville. We used all of it in the stop-and-go traffic. However, I had parking karma most unlike my usual lot: I found an easy open spot on Shattuck (which is always crowded) only two blocks away. Boom!

Chez Panisse is very nice. Arts & Crafts architecture, with lots of wood and copper. This is the wife's favorite period, building-wise.

The service was excellent - attentive but not overzealous. We split a half bottle of wine, which was just about right; although two of the tables near us asked about wine pairings, which we would have done instead if it had occurred to us.

And that leads us to the menu:
Tuna carpaccio with anchovy salsa verde and fried capers
Mixed shellfish grill with spicy roasted pepper sauce (squid, shrimp, and scallop)
Pan-roasted quail with wild mushroom risotto and broccoli shoots
Candied Meyer lemon ice cream profiteroles with pomegranite coulis
and they now serve Blue Bottle coffee. Which is what I buy at the farmers' market.

The food was fairly simple, wonderfully presented, and very, very, tasty. The bread from Acme was excellent, dammit. The quail was deboned, except for the four limbs, and was doing the backstroke on the risotto.

I won't go back anytime soon - we can't afford to eat out like that very often - but for a special occasion, yeah it was worthwhile.

What I'm reading: George RR Martin, A Game of Thrones