Going in, I wasn’t expecting cooking that manipulate ingredients in very creative, unexpected ways. But I was looking for the classic Chez Panisse type of good-ingredients-showcased cooking. It was not a bad meal by any means, but it didn’t measure up to how I remember them to be.
My wife and I had a few theories why we both felt that way:
- We started paying more attention to eating and tried to source, when budget allows, better quality ingredients for cooking at home, so perhaps we just got used to better ingredients over time.
- We didn’t order the ‘right’ stuff.
- Chez Panisse cafe is not as good.
But we think
- we cook really simple and quickly at home, so we may have tasted better brocollini for example, CP can still squeeze the last ounce of flavor out from the ingredients that we can’t at home.
- these are all our server’s recommendations. So perhaps we just have different tastes.
So #1 may play a small role, we don’t think they contribute to the primary reason how we felt about the meal. Perhaps others who has had meals upstairs recently can share their experience about other dishes.
