Celebrated a special occasion. Returned to Chez Panisse downstairs restaurant on Tuesday, April 21, 2026.
Our reservation was the last service of the night, at 8:45 p.m. Weather was post-rain and a bit cool, but not too uncomfortable. We've eaten at Chez Panisse twice before, in 2009 and 2015. We've also eaten once in the upstairs cafe, in 2012.
We sat on the other side of the wall from the host station. An older white man/asian woman couple sat at the adjacent table, celebrating her birthday. They were about 2 courses ahead of us, so we stole sneak peaks as the wait staff brought them out. I thought I overheard the woman say something to the effect of she had had better salmon (we loved it) 🤷🏻 At the end of the night when I asked the waiter for a list of wines served, he brought the bottles to our table, during which time the woman left to use the bathroom, and the man joked that we had missed our opportunity to take a few extra sips from the bottles 😅
Everything went smoothly and tasted delightful, food-wise. I noted just one use of the table crumbers by waitstaff in-between courses, this time. Perhaps we have gotten less messy with age? 🙃
The Chez Panisse Arts and Crafts architecture still looks beautiful: soft lighting, and "polished wood, copper, iron, leather and stained glass"..."part Deco and part Japanese". Since our last visit, I have collected all 3 films by Marcel Pagnol of the restaurant's namesake character, the "prosperous, middle-aged sailmaker Panisse". Hope to watch them in the near future.
Founder Alice Waters still lives (age 81, with a birthday on 28 April) and was not present as far as we saw.
Berkeley and the Gourmet Ghetto has changed. Nearby restaurant Poulet--in roughly the same restaurant cohort as Chez Panisse--closed in 2023. The nearby Black Oak bookstore, which we stumbled into feeling quite tipsy after drinking an entire bottle of wine during our 2009 Chez Panisse visit, closed in early 2016. It was replaced by a Books, Inc store, which in turn closed its doors in early 2025. As of our visit, the former space seemed vacant.
We still love Berkeley. Maybe someday we will call it home (?)
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| Menu - Front |
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| Menu - Interior |
Prix fixe menu:
- An apéritif
- Grass fed beef crudo with rocket salad, baby artichokes, and pecorino cheese
- Sicilian-style stuffed calamari with romesco sauce and fennel salad
- Grilled wild king salmon with Kaki Farm asparagus, morel mushrooms, fava beans, and sauce béarnaise
- Olive oil torta with candied orange ice cream, strawberries, and rhubarb
- After-dinner small plate - 2x candied fruit & 2x nuts
Wine pairings, by course:
- 2024 Oenops Apla Rosé
- 2024 COS Ramí, Terre Siciliane
- 2023 Weingut Franz Hirtzberger Grüner Veltliner Rotes Tor Federspiel
- 2022 Château Roûmieu-Lacoste Sauternes
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| 2024 Oenops Apla Rosé |
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| 2022 Château Roûmieu-Lacoste Sauternes |
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| 2023 Weingut Franz Hirtzberger Grüner Veltliner Rotes Tor Federspiel |
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| 2022 Château Roûmieu-Lacoste Sauternes |
