吃飯了嗎？

Chez Panisse

Always wanted to have a meal at this Berkeley local institution, and honeymoon-time seemed like the perfect occasion. Thanks to Sam for making the reservation exactly one month ahead of time, and even then we were only able to get in for the late seating. The long, narrow dining room was densely packed with tables, but diners were respectable enough to keep the noise down, so it felt more convivial than crowded. The kitchen in the rear is open and you can see the chefs scrambling around, but the warm lighting and the brick-and-wood materials gives it all a homey, comfortable atmosphere.

Dedication to fresh seasonal ingredients means that there is only one set menu each day, with slight modifications to suit vegetarians. Everything was bursting with pure flavor, from the opening vegetable platter to the grilled quail to the final desserts. Nothing fancy, almost deliberately so, but doing the simple well is sometimes the hardest thing to do. And the style fits our palates better anyway. A splash of a good Oregon Pinot Noir fit in perfectly. Comfortable, non-pretentious haute-cuisine. No wonder CP is hailed as a revolutionary concept as the progenitor of the California style.

Chez Panisse
517 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, California
(510) 548-5525

Cyrus

Wanted to do the Wine Country as part of our honeymoon. Of course, the French Laundry would've been the #1 dining option, but after a futile week's worth of the dialing-for-reservations game, I decided that Sonoma and the two-star Cyrus was the sane way to go. Booked a B&B near Healdsburg Square almost next door to the Hotel Les Mars where the restaurant is located.

Unfortunately, I was a bit under the weather that day, we were probably underdressed for a two-star, and mom hates Western food anyway, although she was at least impressed by the fresh matsutake mushrooms. Nevertheless, the service remained impeccable, and the food was tasteful and tasty as well. The Tasting Menu would've been ridiculous overkill, so we went with the three-course per person option, picking from a big list of options which didn't distinguish between appetizers, entrees, or desserts. Of course, the kitchen sent out the courses in perfect pacing, with amuses, ices, and other small tastes to create a much bigger variety of flavors than a three-course dinner would typically imply.

It was cool to experience one of Bay Area's finest restaurants, and thanks to the folks for picking up the (large) bill. But it was all a bit overwhelming and over-the-top for us, e.g. the caviar cart at the beginning and the cheese cart at the end. Maybe we'll try it again for an anniversary someday.

Phew...

Cyrus
29 North St.
Healdsburg, CA
707.433.3311

Zuni Cafe

Got back to the Bay Area, but this time as a part of our honeymoon rather than just a homecoming, so wanted to do a bit more than the usual sit-at-home-watch-TV routine. I was hankering for some American classics, Sam&Michelle have wanted to go to Zuni for a while, so it seemed like the perfect fit. Unfortunately Michelle got called in at the last minute, but the three of us still managed to have a good meal on a beautiful autumn day.

There was already a line when we arrived for our lunch reservation. The room featured high ceilings, big windows, a loooong bar, copper-clad tables. The perfect blend of the Californian culinary aesthetic, American classic comfort, with a splash of French bistro. No wonder at Zuni's perpetual popularity.

The menu was on a single sheet of paper but I barely needed it since we stuck to the classics. Started with a big plate of perfectly crisp shoestring fries, with home-made aioli and ketchup for dipping. Split one Caesar salad three-ways for a taste. If one were feeling critical one may say that the salad was just a few romaine leaves drizzled with a bit of dressing and a few croutons and a bit of Parmesan. On the other hand, that's what a Caesar salad's all about, and all the parts were impeccable. The signature roast chicken is juicy and crispy and good but to be honest it probably wasn't worth the hour wait and the shockingly high price, even when you include the tasty bread salad sitting underneath. At least we could munch on the fries while the chicken roasted. Sam went over the top with the pork chops, two thick slabs of pork. Stuffed, well-brined, and juicy. He ended up taking most of it home, and it held up well.

Well-done classics in a relaxed environment, no surprises but in a good way. A bit on the expensive side and it's hardly a find, but I had fairly high expectations, which may be even a tougher hurdle and they met it smoothly.

Zuni Cafe
1658 Market Street (between Franklin and Gough)
San Francisco, CA
(415) 552-2522

O's Bistro

We had a red-eye flight from Kona back to the mainland, which let us have one more full day enjoying the Big Island. No dinner meal for our cheap-ass ticket, but that was fine with us, since that gave us one last chance to sample the island cuisine. Didn't want to have our final Hawaiian meal at some tourist-trap, but we didn't have time for a drawn out culinary experience, either. So after we stocked up on cheap souvenirs at Wal-Mart, we headed across the main road to O's Bistro.

The unassuming restaurant is located in a mini-mall next to a Safeway. But the interior is nicely decorated with local art and the early-bird prix fixe featured good Pacific-fusion food at an excellent value. An appetizer, entree, and dessert for $25. I didn't just get some cut-rate chintzy dish, either, but a solid chunk of ahi steak cooked Provençal Style, perfectly medium-rare with a tasty white wine sauce. A Southwestern Ancho Fettuccine (with Ancho-Chipotle Cream, Sweet Peppers, Roasted Corn, Lime, and Cilantro) for the SO and it made for a wonderful conclusion to our Hawaiian honeymoon.

O's Bistro
75-1027 Henry St.
Kailua Kona, HI
808-327-6565

Merriman's Market Cafe

Chef Merriman is another pioneer in the Hawaiian Pacific-Fusion food movement. I've been to his main restaurant in Waimea before and it was excellent. Unfortunately we couldn't squeeze it into our honeymoon trip schedule. So on a lazy afternoon wandering the King's Shops was the perfect opportunity to try out their less formal mall outpost at the Waikoloa resort. I had the daily special tagliatelle with tender haricot vert and beefy sirloin slices. A surprisingly substantial vegetarian pesto sandwich for her. Fries were excellent, too, double-fried with aioli and spicy ketchup dipping sauces. Had a frilly tropical fruity drink which was refreshing and not too sweet, although it was a bit spendy, just like everything else around here. Nevertheless, good, fresh food was what I expected and that was exactly what I got, without pretension or excess.

Merriman's Market Café
250 Waikoloa Beach Dr, Waikoloa, HI
Kings' Shops, Waikoloa Beach Resort
(808)886-1700

Alan Wong's Restaurant

Alan Wong is one of the founders of the Hawaiian-Pacific fusion food movement along with Malvo and Merriman. One of the finest restaurants in Hawaii is located in an unassuming office building along the street, away from the bustling spots of both downtown Honolulu and Waikiki Beach. The inside is classy but casual with a Hawaiian touch, although it was a bit dark for our tastes, i.e. made it a pain to take pictures. The seven-course tasting menu looked great but was a bit too much. So we went with a Five-Course Menu Sampling (with wine) and an extra entree for the SO.

As for the food, the menu can speak for itself:

• Appetizer Duo
  • Soup & Sandwich
    Chilled Vine Ripened Hamakua Springs Tomato Soup with Grilled Mozarella Cheese, Fie Gras, Kalua Pig Sandwich
  • "Poke-Pines"
    Crispy Won Ton Ahi Poke Balls On Avocado With Wasabi Sauce
• Butter Poached Kona Cold Lobster
  Shrimp, Honda Tofu Cake, Jalapeño Tokyo Negi Sauce
• Ginger Crusted Onaga
  Organically Grown Hamakua Mushrooms and Corn, Miso Sesame Vinaigrette
• Twice Cooked Shortrib, Soy Braised and Grilled "Kalbi" Style
  Gingered Shrip, Ko Choo Jang Sauce
• Beef & Foie Gras
  
  Grilled Maui Cattle Company Beef Tenderloin
  Curried Root Vegetables & Pomegranate Port Wine Reduction
  (Extra order)
• Dessert Duet
  Chocolate "Crunch Bars" and Coconut Tapioca
  

All perfectly paced to allow us to share the preliminaries but still offer the two entrees at the same time. They offered us an extra order of dessert so we'd each have a plate, although we were so full that we would've been glad to share one dessert at that point. The Asian flavors actually made the fusion dishes more familiar for us. What could be more homey than a bowl of white rice (which came with the Kalbi short-ribs)? Really top notch.

Alan Wong's Restaurant
1857 S King St # 3
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 949-2526

夏慕尼新香榭鐵板燒

FIL is rarely in Taiwan nowadays so SO+SIL wanted to take him some place nice for dinner. He likes teppanyaki and this place on 光復南路 was a good mid-price option.

It's part of the 王品集團 restaurant group which includes 陶板屋, 聚火鍋, etc. Although the food styles are quite different, they do have in common cleanly decorated spaces, well-trained (almost robotically so) staff, and slightly higher price points than the competition. But with enough flourishes and small touches to make it feel worthwhile.

There's the usual selection of seafood and meats for the main. Not the super-top-notch stuff, but everything was fresh and tasty and juicy thanks to the teppan sear. Between the four of us we managed to sample most of the available options, as our teppan chef chatted with us about his time in Europe doing the 鐵板燒 thing.

My duck breast was first seared on the teppan, then allowed to rest for a while before being finished with a Calvados flambé. The chef allowed me to play with the fire a little bit. Thankfully minimal damage was done, nothing permanent anyway.

After the main meal, they chased us upstairs to a separate lounge for dessert and drinks. It's mostly to free up the teppan seats for the paying customers, but we didn't mind it. It's nicer to sit around a table instead of all in a row anyway.

夏慕尼新香榭鐵板燒
台北市光復北路95號
02-2742-5527