In what must be a rite of passage for any aspiring foodie (New meme: Come up with a better word than "foodie." Must mean the same thing, but not sound so, well, twittish. I think it's the cute "oo" sound in the middle of it, followed by the diminutive "ee" at the end--kitty, pretty, snuggly. . . icky. It also doesn't help things that the word is so close to "snooty." Please, we can do better.) we took our first trip to good-old one-star Chez Panisse last Saturday night. We had a fabulous time, but then again we were only in the cafe upstairs--maybe the mood in the dining room proper was moribund. We doubt it. We're going to sit here and remember what was probably the best green beans of our lives--that sounds like faint praise, typed out and cold like that, but those green beans made us stop chewing, those green beans completely recast our opinion of all vegetables, everywhere, ever; they were an epiphany and they were only in the opening salad, and yes, the rest of the meal continued on that level--while you go and read what everyone has to say about Bibendum's choices.

When you're back, we encourage you all to read some food writing that's a little less breathless and a little more tasteful than the above paragraph (even if the taste is "forest floor"). If you're still upset, try some comfort food. We like garlic, a lot, which means that this will probably get made this week, although our doctor would probably have us stay away from the sugars and go with protein-heavy Soba. Thanks to Anna, we've got a better idea of how to make that happen. Lastly, check out In Praise of Sardines and read Brett's account of his wild ride opening up a restaurant in this town that will--guide or no--continue to love its food.

Pic is from Something In Season, who would like you all to know the meal is still in beta.