Dinner at Chez Panisse

We ate dinner at Chez Panisse on Saturday night, September 23rd.

I usually try calling on the day I want to go to Chez Panisse to check for cancellations, and I'm usually able to get a table in the cafe upstairs or, on occasion, I luck out and get a table downstairs in the restaurant. I had tried for a table a few times before the 23rd, so I was thrilled when they had an opening for us that night. I booked a table in the restaurant for 9:15 pm.

We did not know what was on the menu (I like surprises), so we were both delighted when we saw the menu and realized that it had a Spanish theme. We started with a glass of Cava (Spanish sparkling wine) and toasted almonds. Then, we were served a tapas plate made up of anchovy toasts, button mushrooms with aioli, thinly sliced ham, an egg and a few other things. The third course was shrimp and clam paella with saffron, and the main course was both a piece of rack of lamb and lamb loin served with beans and cubed sauteed eggplant. For dessert, we ate fig tart with homemade cinnamon and anise ice cream.



True to Alice Waters' style, the food was simple, yet intensely flavorful. For me, the tapas, the lamb, the eggplant and the dessert stood out. Overall, I would characterize the preparation and presentation at Chez Panisse as pure and light, and our meal was a study in lightened purity.

The tastings of tapas--that's really what it was--played off each other and danced together. The saltiness of the anchovy, the garlic in the aioli the butteriness of the mushrooms all complimented each other and blended well. The lamb was perfectly moist and flavorful. I was struck by the eggplant because I have so much trouble cooking eggplant and because the cubes were crisp on the outsides and tender and juicy on the inside. It was remarkable. The tart was light and refreshing, especially with a scoop of ice cream on the side. Lou even liked the tart, though he usually dislikes figs.

On the whole, it was a wonderful meal. We brought along our last bottle of Patty Green 2004 Sauvignon Blanc, and it made for a sweet, but fitting pairing for our Spanish themed meal.

We hope to return to Chez Panisse with Lou's parents when they come visit in November.

Labor Day In Lexington

I made a trip to my hometown in Virginia for Labor Day weekend to visit my family. What made the trip special was that Lou came along and that he met my sister, my niece and a number of my friends for the first time. He had met my parents once before when they came to visit me in San Francisco, but this was the first time he'd stayed with my family and seen where I grew up. It was a wonderful weekend. We shared some delicious meals together, and he and I found a way to do some cooking-- actually, we found a way to do some grilling.

The first night my mom threw a "picnic" for us and for most of my friends who still live in or around Lexington. The rain from the remanents of hurricane Ernesto forced us inside, so it wasn't as much of a picnic as she had hoped. She fed seventeen of us in all--twelve adults and five kids--and she served pulled pork barbecue from a local barbecue pit. The barbecue was good, though not spectacular, and she treated us to a variety of traditional barbecue side dishes--baked beans, cole slaw, pasta salad, chips and brownies for dessert. We all had fun eating and catching up. Here's a picture of the kids' table:



On our second night, Lou and I decided to make use of my parents charcoal grill. We trekked off to the grocery store (it's such a small town that I ran into three people I knew and introduced them to Lou) to buy some steaks, corn and greens for salad. I coated the meat in olive oil, salt and pepper and threw them on the fire. For most of you this may not sound so special, but I was excited about cooking over the open fire because we use normally use a stovetop grill, which does not expose the items on the grill to the flame. I was curious about how different the steaks would taste over the fire. The steaks, and the corn for that matter, turned out well. They tasted smoky (we used mesquite charcoals, so that helped) and I pulled most of them off in time to keep them medium rare. We served a simple salad with tomatoes and avocado on the side. Here's a picture of us toasting each other before we dug in:



The third night there, Lou announced that he was craving ribs and suggested buying some baby backs, making our own barbecue sauce and grilling them over the fire. His plan sounded good to me, so we headed to the store to find some ribs. We ended up buying about two and half pounds worth of ribs, some more corn and the ingredients for a simple barbecue sauce.

Lou made up the sauce, and neither one of us paid close attention to the exact ingredients and proportions. He tweaked the sauce several times while making it, so it's hard to give an exact recipe. Here is our best guess at the sauce he made for us:

Lou's Impromtu Barbecue Sauce

1 bottle of Guinness Ale
about 5 medium tomatoes
1/2 cup of vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
about 3 tablespoons molasses
1 lime, juiced
1/2 cup of jalepeno peppers
1/2 an onion, or several small shallots

Combine all ingredients, except lime, in sauce pan over medium low heat. Let simmer for at least 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add brown sugar or molasses as necessary. Once sauce has thickened, add lime juice and either serve or use to marinate meat.

Ideally, I think we would have let the sauce simmer for at least an hour to reduce and thicken, but because my parents, sister and niece were hungry we rushed the sauce and basically barely combined it before pouring it over the ribs. It did the job, however.







We dressed the ribs with lime juice before basting them with the sauce, and then I threw them on the grill. Flipping them only twice, I let them cook covered for about twenty minutes in all. I deliberately used only about 20 coals, so as to keep the temperature relatively low. Not surprisingly, it turned out that twenty minutes wasn't quite long enough to cook the thickest part of one of the sections of ribs, so I had to throw that section back on the grill for another five minutes or so. Other than that, the ribs turned out perfectly. A hard brown and crispy crust formed on the outside, which sealed in the moisture and juices, so the meat came off the grill tender and soft. And, best of all, the ribs tasted both of smoke and the dark, vinegary sauce.





We served the ribs with the remaining sauce, which had thickened somewhat while the ribs cooked, and with some more corn. Here's a picture of the corn on the grill:



My mom asked us to make a salad we had made for her when she was visiting us in San Francisco, so we set her up so she could make it herself. It's a very simple salad of consisting of endive, sliced Asian pears, toasted pecans, roquefort and simple honey-mustard vinaigrette. Here she is crumbling roquefort:



And, here are the beautiful salads she arranged for us:



As always, we ate well, and it was a pleasure to enjoy some special meals with my family and special friends.