In the four years my sister has been at Berkeley, not once have we gone to Chez Panisse. Price might have been a contributing factor but that really isn’t a good excuse for not trying it at least once. So as a graduation gift, I made my reservation for the café upstairs, just in case our palettes were not up for the restaurant prix fixe menu.
On a Tuesday evening we headed on over to Chez Panisse. While going up the stairs to the cafe, I walked as slow as possible so I could get a glimpse of the restaurant downstairs. Definitely a more formal atmosphere, a bit quieter, with dim lighting and white table cloth, compared to the upstairs, where it was loud, but not so much we couldn’t hear one another. Lots of sunlight coming through made it inviting and cheery in the room. Wooden decor added to the casual atmosphere.
Onto the food! I took a quick one or two pics of everything so as not to draw too much attention to myself or annoy the other diners. Our server found it amusing and laughed at times.
For appetizer, we shared this slow-roasted salmon with diced mango, cucumber, and marinated beets. Shared because we intended on saving room for our own desserts. The combination of mango, cucumber, and beet was so refreshing and went perfectly with the salmon. I wish I had more.