First I read the book. Alice and Chez Panisse, by Thomas McNamee. Then I actually rented the movies. Marcel Pagnol's 1930's black and white trilogy: Marius, Fanny and Cesar. On Netflix. One at a time. Way too much to watch over a weekend. The type of old movie that no one else in the house has any interest in viewing, whatsoever.
And I can't say that I blame them. So incredibly long and indulgent was each one (I fell asleep for a good portion of the 2 1/2 hour initiation to the pre-World-War II fictitious fish restaurant on the port of Marseille).
Having lived in the Bay Area for the past 18 years, it was positively atrocious for such a true believer in fresh and local and unabashedly homemade to admit that I'd never so much as set foot over the front doorstep of Chez Panisse, Alice Waters' American cult cafe which lays claim to changing this country's attitude towards food.
For one thing a meal at Alice's Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley bistro is positively guaranteed to get a serious vice grip on the meager weekly earnings of the average Bay Area diner. And secondly, it's not the type of place to dine on a whim when the kids are off for the evening. Reservations are involved and considerably lengthy.
A mission to finally pull up a chair and tuck a Chez Panisse white napkin into my cleavage finally came to fruition when a couple of close pals put a hold on their day planners for a three hour, ultra-indulgent round-trip lengthy lunch excursion over to Shattuck Avenue.
Creeping up the narrow staircase like a bunch of naughty school girls skipping campus, we'd certainly made a dint in the days industrious achievements. And we were determined to enjoy every minute...
Service was a bit slow, to be honest. Yet the lunch time menu was as marvelous as we'd expected, with meat and fish and produce plucked from farms, ranches and fisheries with only the most sustainable practices.
I was delighted to spot Petaluma Gap Grape and Wine Alliance board member Mark Pasternak's Fried Devil's Gulch Ranch Rabbit on the cafe's lunch menu along with roasted fennel salad and pine-nut gremolata. The Pasternak's outstanding, rustic sausages and meats are featured on the holy grail menus of other such greats as The French Laundry, A16, The Ritz Carlton and Rubicon.
If you've ever met Mark, you'll know that the demand for his Devil's Gulch goodies has not gone to his head. Even if he takes his cowboy hat off, you'll find him as down to earth as the rabbits and vines that he has more than dedicated his life work to tending to on the family farm.
And seeings as I'd quite coincidentally indulged in none other than a Devil's Gulch sausage and squash and pesto pasta dish for dinner at home the night before, I opted for a simple lunch of white sea bass and a salad of little gem beets and creamy, garlic lettuce. With a glass of Chez Panisse Zin for good measure. Brightly colored and zippy, though young.
Couldn't quite evoke the rowdy, robust atmosphere of old Marseille somehow, but I suppose the downstairs dining room is really what it's all about. Will have to make that the next mission. Now that I'm done with the book, the movie, the mid-day introduction and all......
So jealous! Never been there either, and am ashamed to admit I was in Bezerkly this past weekend! Too bad I was eating hot dogs and beans on the field at Cal, gazing up at the tree sitters!
Posted by: Suzanne | Wednesday, June 25, 2025 at 09:29 AM