Chez Panisse, Chefs Cal Peternell and Amy Dencler at the Legendary Alice Waters' Organic Temple in Berkeley

[Joe H]

On 2/15/2006 at 7:25 PM, Skysplitter said:

I thought about going to Chez Panisse, but my time in San Francisco is very limited. It's more like 2.5 days (driving up from San Jose Monday morning) so I'm trying my best to stay in the city (I don't have car access after that ride up from SJ). The more I read about the city and the food, etc, the more I'm sure I'll be back, so I'd like to save it for another trip when I have more time.

For those that are reading this thread, Chez Panisse (the restaurant) is almost as difficult a reservation as the French Laundry. It is not an afterthought but a very real destination that many people on the West Coast and elsewhere build trips around. Quite literally this is Mecca for many who care about the emergence of America and the ascension of a serious cuisine from a country that was once thought of as having good fried chicken and decent charcoal grilled steak. For all that I may have raved about Danko (and the bar if you go at the last minute and arrive BEFORE THEY OPEN!) Chez Panisse is the Holy Grail of American restaurants. It is to America as Troisgros and Robuchon are to France and Santimaria and Adria are to Spain. In the late '70's and early '80's Alice Waters' place was a temple that born again foodies from Vermont to Georgia to New Mexico crossed a country to visit. When they returned to their hometowns America was never the same. What we eat today has much to do with what was started then. And there.

[Sthitch]

Joe H said:

Chez Panisse is the Holy Grail of American restaurants.  It is to America as Troisgros and Robuchon are to France and Santimaria and Adria are to Spain.  In the late '70's and early '80's Alice Waters' place was a temple that born again foodies from Vermont to Georgia to New Mexico crossed a country to visit.  When they returned to their hometowns America was never the same.  What we eat today has much to do with what was started then.  And there.

I understand what Chez Panisse represents to the history of modern American cuisine, but I have been thoroughly unimpressed by their cuisine. They seem to be resting on their reputation, and they have not anything innovative in the past decade or longer. I have had two meals in the dining room, and walked away realizing that I had a very well prepared meal, but nothing truly memorable or worth the hassle.

[Joe H]

Steve, the sad part of this is my asking you to consider what Chez Panisse was like.... (Ahem!!) twenty five years ago! K-Paul's had opened a year earlier and had established its own beachhead with American food. On the West Coast Alice Waters was doing her thing in Berkeley. My point is that much of this country was kind of a wasteland. I would agree that Chez Panisse and K-Paul's (which I introduced because I think this is the other "temple" of influence) today don't offer very much, if anything. (Although I would kill for Marty's fresh cracked coconut cake at K-Paul's). But twenty five years ago (ugh....I didn't have to color my mustache then!) they were both a big deal and really considered to be revelatory for an American restaurant. My last visit to Chez Panisse was two years ago. It didn't even approach, say, Maestro, Laboratorio, Citronelle or several other D. C. area places. But there's a great deal of history there that goes into it. Perhaps, for me, into the taste too. I really do think that it's a kind of food Mecca. Perhaps passed by today but, for me, it's historical significance is important. And, I must admit, it is fun for me to sit in it and reminisce about what I was doing in 1981...

[Sthitch]

Yes, but in 1981 I was 12. Since I was a history major in college I can appreciate what things represent, however, I find it hard to justify spending $300 per person to dine in a past its prime restaurant just to apprecaite what it means to the history of American cuisine.

[TrelayneNYC]

It doesn't need to be anything more than what it is, IMHO.

I like it, but then, I'm an acolyte who worships at the Temple of Farm-to-Table.

Halibut tartare, endive, mint

Wonderful bread. Probably not house made though.

Dungeness crab cake, julienned vegetables with a preserved lemon vinaigrette, green coriander, rouille.

B pronounced it "the best crab cake I've ever eaten in my life". High praise indeed.

Squab brodo, ricotta and herb raviolini, black truffles, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Delicate broth, well-made pasta. If there were any truffles, they were miniaturized shavings at the bottom of our soup bowls.

Quail grilled with sage; kabocha squash, roasted chestnuts, Savoy cabbage, new onions.

I told the staff that "if you can taste the salt, it's too much". The quail was at fault, ditto for the vegetables. Salting is an art: you want just enough to bring out the flavor of whatever it is you're cooking. That's it.

In their defense, it could have been just this plate, but B detected oversalting on his portion. Maybe our palates were at fault but I doubt it.

[TrelayneNYC]

Sauternes

Red wine-poached pear millefoglie, pomegranate, crème fraîche.

Was perfect.

Lemon verbena infusion.

Chocolate-covered peanuts, candied orange peel.

One of the things that makes CP stand out in my not-so-humble opinion is that the ingredients make sense together which is a really big deal.

Maybe a restaurant doesn't need to jump through hoops. Maybe quiet excellence is all that's really needed. There aren't many of those.

[DonRocks]

6 hours ago, TrelayneNYC said:

Maybe a restaurant doesn't need to jump through hoops. Maybe quiet excellence is all that's really needed. There aren't many of those.

In one line, you just described why I can't stand 99.9% of all pianists who try to play Mozart.

(Mozart, in particular, exposes any-and-all irregularities in a pianist's performance - the single most difficult composer to play, IMO, because you can't mask your technical flaws with pedal or improvisation. It's the same with restaurants - the hardest thing to do well is something simple that can't be covered up by heavy saucing, picante spices, etc.)

Artur Schnabel puts the "art" in "Mozart." This is the slow movement from his B-flat Piano Sonata, K570. Ideally, you'd listen to the 1st movement, then the 2nd movement (in the video below), and then the 3rd movement - but the 2nd movement demonstrates what I'm saying quite nicely.

I've heard children under the age of 10 play this piece, to thunderous applause, and proud parents - they're all terrible.

[TrelayneNYC]

It doesn't look like the SF Chronicle's new restaurant critic likes Chez Panisse.

Quote

Chez Panisse’s simple, source-based approach, and the rotating menu that comes along with it, revealed its drawbacks. Asking servers about the actual dishes, rather than the process, sometimes turned out to be a frustrating exercise. This was especially true in the upstairs cafe, where the a la carte menu forces decisions. When asked about the fried sole entree ($37) on one night, our server told us it was fried, with dressed radicchio, fingerling potatoes and Meyer lemon mayonnaise —which I had just read on the menu. It would have been really nice to know beforehand that the potatoes had been cooked in vinegar, resulting in a dish that was just salt, acid, acid, acid.

That lack of context comes off as off-putting because, as I understand it, one of the tenets of Waters’ take on the farm-to-table philosophy is that knowing where and who your food comes from will lead you to more delicious and pleasurable eating experiences. So what do you do when you know where your potatoes come from and they’re bad? The food, as I’ve experienced it, rarely proves the concept.

Other dishes were also sadly uneven. That wood oven-braised chicken was packed with competing and interesting flavors, while a cardoon soup ($12) failed to produce much of an impression beyond the feeling that we’d just licked a cardoon stalk. The cafe’s rotating house-made pasta ($23) is often the only vegetarian entree available, a fact made more unfortunate by its lack of flavor. I overheard a server advise an adjacent table to order any dessert “with a name in front of it,” since they tend to be house favorites, so on my next visit I ordered accordingly. I was surprised, then, to find that “Lindsey’s bittersweet chocolate cake” ($12) came with a drizzle of caramel sauce that had crossed the dark side into acrid territory, with over-toasted hazelnuts to match. Attributing such a grody dessert to poor Lindsey felt more like incrimination than credit. The pizzettas ($24) were no joke, though: Their crackly and mottled crusts are, so far, the best I’ve had in the Bay Area. The daily offering’s toppings change every day, with the meaty versions often taking advantage of locally sourced charcuterie. A crust like that is a great platform for the revolving cast of ingredients. With this dish, their house style works well.

Or maybe, she just doesn't get it.

Quote

When there are so many interesting points of view that have emerged from the food world since 1971, Chez Panisse’s approach comes off as stale. I get that the whole premise of Chez Panisse is that simple presentation and purity of ingredients constitute a more meaningful way to eat, but that lack of ambition on the menu feels more like a bug than a feature, especially considering the unevenness of the dishes I had there on these visits.

The reason why I love the restaurant is precisely because of the simplicity of its food and the lack of ambition.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/The-fantasy-and-reality-of-dining-at-Chez-13650410.php

[Marty L.]

2 hours ago, TrelayneNYC said:

It doesn't look like the SF Chronicle's new restaurant critic likes Chez Panisse.

Or maybe, she just doesn't get it.

The reason why I love the restaurant is precisely because of the simplicity of its food and the lack of ambition.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/restaurants/article/The-fantasy-and-reality-of-dining-at-Chez-13650410.php

I think it's an very well-written review, thoughtful & honest (and respectful, not snarky).  From what little I've seen she's a refreshing new voice; kudos to the Chronicle for choosing her.