Chez Pannisse

We ate at Chez Pannisse last evening.  The menu:

House-cured sardines with winter radishes and flatbreads from the wood oven.

Salt cod ravioli and preserved tomatoes in fish broth

Spit-roasted Heritage pork loin with chestnuts, herbs, and wild mushrooms

Garden lettuces

Meyer lemon and apple galette

The wines:

2006 Domaine Maestracci Calvi Blanc "E Prove"

2005 Yves Leccia Patrimonio Blanc 

2005 Antoine Arena Patrimonio Rouge "Carco"

The menu does not adequately describe how wonderful this meal was.  The ingredients all had clean, powerful, flavors that stood for themselves.  The cooking was in the background.  

This was as good a meal as we have ever had in the United States.   Chez Panisse stands as a reference point for comparison in rating any other restaurant.  Now that we have had our annual re-calibration, we can sally forth and evaluate other restaurants.