Some great Californian restaurants

Norther Calfornia, 8.2.19. Particularly nasty weather.

What good is California without the sun? The thought entered our heads during our stay in February this year. Snow in Seattle, biting windchill in San Francisco and sodden misery in LA.

Well, there are always the restaurants and they do need the rain. Chez Panisse has been there for a very long time indeed (we first visited there in the mid-1970s) and is as good as ever. That is an incredible achievement in the US - particularly California where change happens.

Chez Panisse is still a very hot ticket so we were determined not to arrive late.

You know where this is headed...

Domaine Mosse's Le Gros is Grolleau Noir blended with Gamay, Grolleau Gris and Cot from the Loire of course. At 12.5% it was the perfect wine to sip while waiting for the rest of our party. In fact it was so good we had it with the meal too.

It's a Louis-Dressner import. You will never be unhappy with any wine with their name on the back. We can't think of many other importers of which this is true. They are so good that Chambers St. Wines of New York, the worlds best winemerchant hold an annual Louis-Dressner evening.

after dinner we were lucky enough to be given a tour of the kitchens by Fanny Singer, the daughter of the founder of Chez Panisse, Alice Waters.

We had never seen such beautiful and well appointed kitchens. Everything was luxurious and sparkling.

washing up station

Danger: Ice-cream maker

Cold store

Clearly everyone working there was happy and that must be the secret - oh and having one of the world's greatest and most influential restauranteurs as your founder and owner.

It was good to see Vino Volo still going strong at San Francisco airport.

We include this great place under Californian restaurants because they do serve food (we didn't eat any of it but it looked OK) and there are branches at 4 Californian airports as well as all over the rest of the country.

Of the various flights we chose Winter hites (Semillon, Riesling and Grenache Blanc) and Stranger Things (Pinot Meunier, Pais and Tannat).

Other flights included

World Value Reds (Syrah, Tempranillo, Merlot)
California Kings (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel)
Heartbeakin' Reds (Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon x 2)
Unique Noirs (Pinot Noir x 2, Gamay Noir)
Shades of White (Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Fiano)
Sommelier Series (Silver Oak Cabernet S. and Ch. de la Gardine Chateauneuf du Pape)

 Some of these wines are surprisingly fine such as the Semillon from Brokenwood. Do go if you have the time. If not you'll miss 8 flights...

Our next memorable meal was at Bestia in downtown LA. Where to begin? Imagine what was referred to as a sort of dealer-and murder-alley in a corner of the city almost made for a Quentin Tarantino movie. Add a beautiful American/Israeli and Ukrainian/Egyptian couple (both chefs), a good backer, some urban regeneration (the alley is now a mixture of residential, art studios and other enterprises) and you have the funkiest and most sought after place imaginable.

Even though large (the staff alone number 105) legend has it that it is impossible to get a reservation. We were obviously lucky to get a table outside and under cover. It was raining and chilly (note the heaters) but we were happy.

Note Blatterle, Pigato, Encruzado etc. not to mention the Pear sparkler

Sciaccarellu, Pelaverga, Vlahiko, Caino Longo, Canaiolo...

The food was absolutely outstanding. the winelist is probably unique in being published anew every day. The Chief Sommelier is Ryan Ibsen. He is a real enthusiast whose aim is to add to peoples' existing knowledge by suggesting wines to augment their pleasure. He prefers to deal with a range of producers and importers who have small stocks so wines sell out quickly giving him the chance to add new ones on a daily basis.

The winelist is organised by grape variety and is extensive. Clearly everything has been well chosen and even the most familiar appellations have something interesting to offer.

The service was also outstanding. Our guy was a hoot and very efficient with it.

Asking as we do about alchol levels, we were sent the Sommelier who we later realised was Ryan Ibsen himself. He was charm itself and seemed genuinely happy that we chose this Malvasia from Salina (11.5%) which despite more than one visit to the island we had never seen before. We had a nice conversation about Salina, Lipari and whatnot. The wine was perfect.

Gjelina is crowded with young people on their phones.

A reservation at Gjelina in Venice Beach is also extremely difficult to obtain. Ours was inherited from a couple unable to take it up due to an alarming leg injury invilving an avant-garde coffee table. Fortunately recovery has been effected and now the said leg is just as weak as the other one (a Dylan Thomas joke by the way).

the restaurant was founded in 2008 and specialises in Italian/American food with emphasis on beautiful vegetables. The menu is long, but everything is delicious. It bears a warning we have never seen before: "changes & modifications politely declined." Oh, and there's loud music, but not just any loud music. Gjelina make a point of displaying the covers of their albums on their website. Another first.

 We were becoming accustomed to the wonderfully electic winelists to be found in these Californian restaurants and Gjelina's didn't disappoint.

How often do you find wine from the Azores? This Verdelho (12.5%) was just great.

not available in any of these fine restaurants