This Alice Waters restaurant in Berkeley did not disappoint. My S.O. and I were in San Fran & Napa last week and decided to hit this famous spot. We went for the $65 tasting menu that consisted of the following:

Marinated Boston mackerel with farro, cardoon, and arugula salad. Every ingredient was incredibly fresh (not surprising, of course). The mackerel was cooked to perfection and delicious. 9/10 pts.

Sheep's milk ricotta gnocchi with black trumpet mushrooms. Very delicate dish. The gnocchi was a little bland and the texture a little grainy. An interesting combination, but enjoyable. 7/10 pts.

Grilled rack and loin of pork with sautéed spinach and ragout of artichokes, onions, and Yellow Finn potatoes. The juiciest and most tender pork I've ever had. Couldn't stop shoveling this one down. 10/10 pts.

Lemon cream puffs with huckleberries and caramel sauce. Wow. I could have eaten 50 of the cream puffs. Cooked to a light crisp on the outside and bursting with lemon cream inside. The three flavors went together perfectly. 9/10 pts.

We enjoyed one of our favorite wines: a '98 Domaine Serene Evanstad PN. Corkage $20.

Highly recommended if you've never been. The menu changes nightly and consists of only the freshest of ingredients.

A note to folks who might want to go here. In the downstairs restaurant they only serve a single menu. There are no choices and the food is typically simply prepared but very good. The flavors are outstanding. If you are looking for fancy preparations or lots of menu choices you shouldn't be going here. The upstairs cafe has a menu you can choose from (the cafe isn't as formal or quite as expensive and is easier to get into).

skwid-- thanks for the tip about the upstairs cafe option. Might be an option if one can't get in to the downstairs location I'd imagine.

The cafe is definitely more casual & fun. We had a few drinks up there prior to dinner. We figured this may be a once-in-a-lifetime event so we opted for the dining room. Next visit will definitely be to the cafe.

My wife and I had dinner upstairs in the cafe last Tuesday (thanks for arranging it, Lafon Rochet!) and found the food excellent and the service mostly above average. Fully packed on Tuesday night is usually an indicator that a restaurant is doing something right, and this one had a waiting line on the stairs.

I had an excellent baked goat cheese and frisse salad followed by fresh halibut fillet with shaved black truffle in a mushroom jus (and perfectly cooked side vegetables, including 3 different colors of carrot), while my wife had an outstanding crab and celeryroot salad, and a delicious grilled chicken breast with a completely different vegetable medley surrounding it, featuring the thinnest and most delicious shoestring potatoes I've ever seen/tasted. (Interestingly, the chicken tasted almost identical to the one I had at Oliveto the previous night; the menus at both showed the chicken was sourced from the same farm, and I understand the chef at Oliveto worked at Chez Panisse previously, so no surprise.) We shared an ice cream trio for dessert, and all three flavors were intense and delicious.

This is a terrific restaurant that utilizes fresh, high-quality ingredients. The upstairs menu certainly isn't challenging to the chefs, but everything is flavored perfectly and presented nicely. I thought the prices were very fair for that level of quality, and the wine prices seemed to be pretty much average, with a good selection (we had a very good '02 Pouilly-Fume that matched our food well, and was under $50). The only minor criticism I have is that the waitress ignored the wine after opening it and giving me a taste so I poured my own, which doesn't bother me, and I had to wait a long time for the ice bucket that I requested as I found the wine to be a bit too warm for my taste. Otherwise, service was good.

On a sort of related note, half an hour after we arrived, Richard Gere came in with another man and woman, and they were seated one table away from us. There were 2 women seated at the table between us, all the tables being quite closely packed in this section with shared bench seating running along the wall. The woman at the next table who was facing into the restaurant saw him, leaned far forward to her friend, who was talking, and whispered, "Listen..." Unfortunately for her, before she could utter another word (I assume she was going to tell her friend about who was being seated beside them), she broke wind quite loudly, immediately garnering the attention of Mr. Gere, his party, my wife and I, and a few other people nearby who proceeded to giggle. I was about to blurt out to her that Brad Pitt always had that same effect on my wife, but when I saw the color of the poor woman's cheeks (no, no, not those cheeks) as she tried to pretend that this never happened, I wisely held my tongue.

When I told my wife later what I had almost said, she pointed out another reason why it had been beneficial for me not to say what I almost did, something about the preservation of my marriage or words to that effect.

Seaquam:

Glad to hear you enjoyed the baked goat cheese. It's a standard there and is always made to perfection.

As to your the other additions to your dining experience, I can only say that things like that generally never happen at Chez....it must have been in honor of your presence.

Seaquam - now THAT'S a story! and a good review.

Sad to say I've been disappointed in the cafe the last two times I went.
The first time was my birthday; service was rude, and the food only ok.
The second time the House Champagne was oxidizing, the Pizzetta was not
as good as the one I can get at RNM down the street, and the place was, for
me, stolid and boring. Fact is I love Alice Waters and everything she represents
so it is a loss for me. I live in the city but would go to Rivoli or Lalimes before going
back to the Cafe (and don't get me started on all the options on this side of the Bay). If I went again it would only be downstairs.

"and the wind in the willows" -

Seaq -

I would think she would fit right in at Chez. Isn't it supposed to be organic?

Quote:

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I would think she would fit right in at Chez.

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You're absolutely correct about that, davidn. The lady was having a gas!