sixteen slices
pizzaiolo, 27 june 2007.the game plan? no reservations; just try and hit up the place at the dinner rush and see if we can get sat down. we ended up at the place around 7pm and put our names down, and the host had said that the wait might be as long as 45 minutes. we relented. we decided to wait.
of course you can't turn down an offer to sit outside and enjoy a few sips of wine, so that's exactly what we did.
no more than ten or fifteen minutes we got sat in the back outdoor patio, which was fine by us -- the summer air was pointing to a balmy evening, perfect for italian food and lots of pleasant conversation. the ngoc and the dave were excited; dave hadn't even heard of the place and ngoc was curious to see what the fuss was all about.
the game plan1. a bottle of corbieres rose, domaine de fontsainte, gris de gris, 2004.
2. antipasti:
2a: halibut crudo with avocado, spring onion, and kumquats.
2b: heirloom tomato salad with cannellini beans and aioli.
3. a bottle of lagrein sudtirol, weingut niklas, 2002.
4. braised niman pork shoulder with anson mills polenta, little green beans and roasted adriatic figs.
5. pizzas:
5a. monterey bay squid, tomato sauce and aioli.
5b. cherry tomatoes, genoa salami, and parsley.
movie screeningthere was a group from the center for latin american studies in the house, and they had been gathering to project
the motorcycle diaries out in the back patio. this was the perfect chance to catch up and enjoy the food, to sip the wine, to talk. there was also playing favorites, but that's another story.
dessertchocolate profiteroles with espresso chocolate gelato
strawberry sorbetto
panna cotta
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we = winners.
how it went down, aka, four desserts.
i. mint straciatella gelato.the evening was actually started as a "thank you" for an anniversary dinner that ngoc and dave had at chez panisse -- i kinda hooked them up with some wine and a few more goodies, leading to an experience that, according to ngoc, "was what made the anniversary dinner."
so in thanks to the cassoulet, we had dinner at delfina, and so it begins.
ii. panna cotta with blackberriesof course, being the fashionably late son of a bitch that i am, i roll up into delfina after getting out of the bart around ten minutes late for the reservation, where i find the loveliest couple in all the world sitting on the banquette, poring over the menu.
it's nice to have dinner when you eat with people you actually like looking at, let alone like talking to.
we made our way through the game plan, and i whipped out my bottle of wine that i had to have us drink since it was too good to pass up.
onward!
iii. profiteroles with espresso gelato, warm chocolate sauce, and candied almondslet's just do it this way:
1. a half bottle of verdicchio di jesi, 2004.
2. louisiana white boot shrimp with cannellini beans and garden lettuces.
3. house-made bigoli with sardines and calabrian pepper.
4. entrees, with a 2004 syrah vin de pays.
4a. dave: hanger steak frites.
4b: ngoc: wolfe ranch quail, soft polenta, and fennel sausage.
4c: me: sonoma county liberty duck with farrotto and sour cherries.
glory! somewhere between 2 and 3, our server had misheard and not ordered the salt cod that we were looking over, but no matter, since...
iv. warm scharffenberger chocolate cake with vanilla creme anglaiseshe brought out four desserts, the four listed above, and i ordered two glasses of brachetto d'acqui for the table since it was a chocolate extravaganza.
in the middle of it all she asked if we "worked in the industry" (the blanket term meaning servers or managers, whichever one suited you) -- i had mentioned chez panisse and we were all gloating about food the entire time -- and we said yes. ngoc's company did in fact make delfina's website (
look!) and i worked for chez panisse, so we got into a bit of chitchat.
the nicest compliment i have ever heard someone give to me was that "you guys looked like you knew your way around the menu" and "it was refreshing having you here" -- a sure sign that it was amateur night in the mission.
we smiled and nodded merrily along, thinking that we had gotten away with a free dessert (the panna cotta came from the house), but lo and behold!
v. brachetto, 2005, piemonteon our way out, looking at the check, the house had comped us corkage, the white wine, AND the four desserts, amazingly hooking us up. the dinner went from being awesome to being bomb-awesome. and our server graciously said to me as we exited, "thanks for coming in -- we'll see you soon!"
yeah, i think we'll be back.
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ngoc+dave, i love you guys. next week, what up.
looks like
ever since going to creative growth art center in oakland (
creativegrowth.org), i've been really inspired and have begun to redraw my line drawings with a lot more fervor and intensity; i'm on track to actually finishing all of them by the time i get back from new york city.
i'm extremely happy about my state of affairs in the art-print world: i was recently commissioned to design a few coloring pages for a local artist, a lot of which would give my name some credibility, at least here in the bay area. i'm trying to show in a few galleries, but mostly i'm focusing on being really prolific with this bout of inspiration. i'm stamping, papercrafting, illustrating, and most of all, my secret passion of designing and redesigning identities.
expect a few pieces of merchandise to emerge from this.
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i've recently rewatched the entire marcel pagnol trilogy of
marius,
fanny, and
cesar, and have come to realize that it would make a really sweet movie if it were remade today.
someone wanna help me with this? we'll go to marseilles for a scouting report.
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crazed about a new t-shirt fetish. new slogans and stencil ideas keep popping up, but there's not enough time to keep up. though the color schemes are winning: chocolate brown shirt with pink ink, black shirt with white ink, mint green shirt with neon orange ink, and light blue shirt with dark blue ink.
appropriate/funny slogans come off as:
- chez monnieux
- don't ask me anymore
- say 'nispy' ten times fast
- a 'no kissing' sign
- free hugs!
- sorry about your face
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creativity abounds with the new camera. when i have a better internet connection, i'll upload them to my flickr / facebook accounts, assuming of course i'll have the time to do so.
it is an exceptionally gloomy june in berkeley, but new york is another story.
i've been recently taking photographs of my vinyl toys in weird situations (dogs crossing the street, playing in the grass, running after cars). ask me if you wanna see some prints; i'll have to show those in an album sometime.
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i miss home. maybe i'll go back to southern california in july.
