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dweniusFor the first time since Rose was born, A. and I treated ourselves to a real live date last night! Amaya the punky-haired new babysitter came over to help herd the kids to bed, and we shuffled off to Lalimes, on Gilman street in Berkeley.
Lalimes is nestled unobtrusively into a curve of the road; you could completely miss it, and indeed, I have driven or biked past it maybe 100 times and never actually registered in my brain that it was, you know, right there. It is flanked by an auto body shop on one side and the overhead BART tracks on the other, but you'd never know it from the sound inside the restaurant. Fine aural shielding indeed. In fact, the ambience of the entire establishment was very calming; tall ceilings and a careful mixture of table orientation keeps table chatter very well isolated.
The cuisine is California style fare: delicate (some might say "sparse") presentations of adequately sized portions; no burritos as big as your head here. They emphasize their Berkelification by noting that they try to be an all organic restaurant, and furthermore that "all vegetables and fruits are either from the local farmers markets or delivered to us by small local gardeners."
I started with Dungeness crab cakes, two half-dollar sized patties served with a fabulous green chile aioli. Dungeness is a much more mild-mannered crab than the Maryland blues I was raised on, and any sauce served with it must have a light hand; this aioli was magic, lending a touch of cream to the first taste, a hint of spice and mint at the finish, and a hollow spot in the middle for the crab to make its presence known. A. had an pair of ahi tuna chunks that looked well-prepared, but she was a bit put off by the liberal sprinkling of rock salt. For A., actually, that was a general comment, that everything was a bit salty for her current palate. I didn't notice, or perhaps my current tastes run towards the briny; in any event, take that under advisement, particularly if you are on a low salt diet.
For the main course, A. had Grilled Kobe sirloin with potato-celeriac puree, wild mushrooms and red wine jus. It also had a few leaves of chard that were very precisely cooked; stems just firm enough to provide a backbone for the fork, leaf at the point of melt-in-your-mouth buttery goodness, a hint of smoke but no bitterness to speak of. We tried to duplicate the effect this evening and failed utterly. The beef was cooked as requested, but I didn't sample it; perhaps A. will comment. I did have a touch of the puree, which was also very well done.
I took for my main course the Alaskan halibut, in a caldo verde with clams and Spanish chorizo. The fish was among the better preparations I've had in recent memory. Actually, it wasn't unlike my description of A.'s chard above: Fully cooked yet melty in the middle, fork-firm on the edge, barely touched with a little pepper and whatever seasoning was on the grill, served just on the safe side of too-hot, allowing me to politely devour it with no little gusto. The clams were unremarkable, but also few in number and unobtrusive. Once all other comestible parts of the meal were consumed, the chorizo didn't stand a chance. Once the spoon failed to get purchase in the shallow plate, the remainder met its end with the help of a piece of mild sourdough.
For the wine, despite all the seafood, but/and on the specific recommendation of our waitron, we went with a 2003 De Villaine 'La Digoine', Cotes Chalonnaise. It was as she described, a little tight at first, but once decanted and left alone for the appetizer, I found it complemented the halibut very well. Sharp, fruity (currants?), not very long, not overwhelming at all.
Finally, from the dessert menu A. selected an almond tart, and I had coconut and kiwi sorbets in a strawberry sauce. It's hard to mess up a dessert, and neither of these disappointed. The kiwi seeds in the pale green sorbet were a nice touch.
Service was superb. Not as impeccable as a top-shelf NY restaurant, but very low on the interruption factor, no personal fouls in the "food in my mouth, can't talk" game, and sound sommelier advice. The Japanese judge deducted a point for "failure to remain completely invisible during service", but then he holds to a different, and often unreachable, standard.
You have to remember that neither one of us has has an actual hot dinner in a non-child environment since...well, it's been a long time. But even adjusting for the rose-colored-glasses curve, this was an excellent dining experience. It was not inexpensive; however, local folks (or visitors) in the mood to treat themselves to a night of fine dining should keep Lalimes in mind. Around here, you can pay a lot more to eat less well.
Lalimes is nestled unobtrusively into a curve of the road; you could completely miss it, and indeed, I have driven or biked past it maybe 100 times and never actually registered in my brain that it was, you know, right there. It is flanked by an auto body shop on one side and the overhead BART tracks on the other, but you'd never know it from the sound inside the restaurant. Fine aural shielding indeed. In fact, the ambience of the entire establishment was very calming; tall ceilings and a careful mixture of table orientation keeps table chatter very well isolated.
The cuisine is California style fare: delicate (some might say "sparse") presentations of adequately sized portions; no burritos as big as your head here. They emphasize their Berkelification by noting that they try to be an all organic restaurant, and furthermore that "all vegetables and fruits are either from the local farmers markets or delivered to us by small local gardeners."
I started with Dungeness crab cakes, two half-dollar sized patties served with a fabulous green chile aioli. Dungeness is a much more mild-mannered crab than the Maryland blues I was raised on, and any sauce served with it must have a light hand; this aioli was magic, lending a touch of cream to the first taste, a hint of spice and mint at the finish, and a hollow spot in the middle for the crab to make its presence known. A. had an pair of ahi tuna chunks that looked well-prepared, but she was a bit put off by the liberal sprinkling of rock salt. For A., actually, that was a general comment, that everything was a bit salty for her current palate. I didn't notice, or perhaps my current tastes run towards the briny; in any event, take that under advisement, particularly if you are on a low salt diet.
For the main course, A. had Grilled Kobe sirloin with potato-celeriac puree, wild mushrooms and red wine jus. It also had a few leaves of chard that were very precisely cooked; stems just firm enough to provide a backbone for the fork, leaf at the point of melt-in-your-mouth buttery goodness, a hint of smoke but no bitterness to speak of. We tried to duplicate the effect this evening and failed utterly. The beef was cooked as requested, but I didn't sample it; perhaps A. will comment. I did have a touch of the puree, which was also very well done.
I took for my main course the Alaskan halibut, in a caldo verde with clams and Spanish chorizo. The fish was among the better preparations I've had in recent memory. Actually, it wasn't unlike my description of A.'s chard above: Fully cooked yet melty in the middle, fork-firm on the edge, barely touched with a little pepper and whatever seasoning was on the grill, served just on the safe side of too-hot, allowing me to politely devour it with no little gusto. The clams were unremarkable, but also few in number and unobtrusive. Once all other comestible parts of the meal were consumed, the chorizo didn't stand a chance. Once the spoon failed to get purchase in the shallow plate, the remainder met its end with the help of a piece of mild sourdough.
For the wine, despite all the seafood, but/and on the specific recommendation of our waitron, we went with a 2003 De Villaine 'La Digoine', Cotes Chalonnaise. It was as she described, a little tight at first, but once decanted and left alone for the appetizer, I found it complemented the halibut very well. Sharp, fruity (currants?), not very long, not overwhelming at all.
Finally, from the dessert menu A. selected an almond tart, and I had coconut and kiwi sorbets in a strawberry sauce. It's hard to mess up a dessert, and neither of these disappointed. The kiwi seeds in the pale green sorbet were a nice touch.
Service was superb. Not as impeccable as a top-shelf NY restaurant, but very low on the interruption factor, no personal fouls in the "food in my mouth, can't talk" game, and sound sommelier advice. The Japanese judge deducted a point for "failure to remain completely invisible during service", but then he holds to a different, and often unreachable, standard.
You have to remember that neither one of us has has an actual hot dinner in a non-child environment since...well, it's been a long time. But even adjusting for the rose-colored-glasses curve, this was an excellent dining experience. It was not inexpensive; however, local folks (or visitors) in the mood to treat themselves to a night of fine dining should keep Lalimes in mind. Around here, you can pay a lot more to eat less well.
