California Begins...

Our first day re-united as a team started very nicely, even though it was 3 am local time when eyes opened, we had some good conversation, lolled about in the room for a while, and eventually I was, and I will freely admit it, not dressed for the lobby, but I went down and got a couple of lattes..and a croissant. No planes to catch, no roads to navigate, just enjoying life in the room. Then, a bit of surfing with a cooperating computer, allowing the first post to emanate from California. Then we took a little walk along the bay in the fog, seeing numerous waterfowl stabbing the mud for their breakfast. No snow to deal with, just quiet lapping and gentle poking of the birds. Very tranquil and peaceful.

After that serenity we fired up the Momster, and then headed north to “the city” which was enshrouded in fog, and although we saw some of SFO and the Coit tower, the whole transit of the bay across the Bay Bridge was obfuscated by fog, and we never saw the water. With relatively little road hassle, we arrived at the final destination and off loaded the family baby furniture and crib to the new owners, who were most appreciative. Quite heartwarming. We anointed the new location of the furniture with mimosas and a lovely cheese plate. They are currently “camping” in a basement apartment while their real home is undergoing renovation. wouldn’t say it is a different world, but it isn’t southern Maryland anymore..

After that, they gave us a tour of their real house at it present state, but looks like it will be a lovely home and then they took us to lunch at Marzano (of tomato fame presumably), a little Italian spot on Park Boulevard in Oakland. It’s a comfortable place with high ceilings and beams, an open wood fired oven for pizzas, and several tables, including a “community one” where you might get seated with strangers who will not be for long. I have to report that there were no paper squares on the tables, but “bistro” was not part of the name. Geez, I can’t figure that out. Anyway, we were given menus and seated at a four top near the back where we could observe the semi open kitchen and the wood oven. The luncheon menu was of course heavily Italian, with not surprisingly sections for antipasti, contorni, insalate, pizzas, and entrees. The back of the single sheet was given over to the wine list and has a very nice selection of wines, although I am still not all that able to discern what’s what in Italian wines. Cannonau di Sardegan, Templum ’07 anybody? Plus they did have many by the glass and also offered large or small carafes of their house wine(s) with choices of rosso or bianco . Prices were fairly reasonable with many selections below $50. The menu also had some very different and unusual food options. There were 11 pizzas, with some standard (does the occupancy permit require a margherita pizza?), and others not so - potato with piquillo peppers, garlic, calabrian chili, pancetta, mozzarella & marjoram. Most were 15 bucks. Most sneaked “wood fired” into their description.

The antipasti and contorni were more interesting with stuff like wood oven roasted root vegetables, roasted octopus, pan seared brussel sprouts (for all you fans), wood-fire Tokyo turnips. The three entrees were wood-oven (hey, they gotta get their moneys worth from that oven) braised chicken, pan seared tuna, and a house made pappardelle with porcini (which were wood oven roasted criminis).

Service was kind of team oriented with whomever spotted you helping, although pretty much one person was our main server. Both of the “boys” ordered a beer, a Green Flash IPA. When it was brought to the table the server guy poured it and sat it about half way between us. We both sort of eyed it and then casually remarked that we didn’t who whose it was.. The server immediately replied that “Hey! that’s the only entertainment I get as a server!”. Anyway, after much wandering through the menu we got a plate of warm castelvetrano olives & toasted almonds for the table, I ordered a starter of their House Cured Monterey Bay Sardines (toasted almonds, cara cara orange & mint), MFO got some wood fired meatballs, and their was also a bowl of Lentil soup. Because we knew we would be on the road later, we also got a four cheese (Quatro Formaggi) pizza for leftovers. Our hosts got orders of the pan seared tuna, and the pan seared brussel sprouts.

Conversation filled the gaps in service, but eventually the olives arrived with an apology. I think they were pretty much the best (among many) of the dishes we had. They were warm, had a tart flavor and the oil on them were also sweet and “olivey”. The nuts were also good. They did contain the pits, which brought up an interesting food query at the table. If you see “pitted” olives listed, does that mean they contained pits, or have the bits been removed?

In the interest of brevity, the remainder of the meal had its ups and downs. Plates arrived somewhat randomly, and I believe the pizza order got dropped (I was keeping an eye on the oven guy). With the exception of the pan seared tuna (which arrived more or less cooked through) the food was very good. My sardines were salty and made an unexpectedly good pairing with the citrus, MFO’s meatballs spicy and enjoying their friends of swiss chard, tomato, and prosciutto brodo. Soup, excellent, pizza, tasty and stringy with the cheeses. Other dishes on the way to their owners looked equally attractive. I’d gladly go to Marzano again, but with somewhat circumspect expectations (mostly in the area of service – but it was Sunday afternoon). All in all our visit to Oakland was great and what a good time with relatives we don’t get to spend enough time with. Maybe we’ll just have to go check out that crib and its occupant when the time comes!!

After that, things went downhill fast. We left their temporary digs to get to I-880 via the way of a couple more, and immediately ground to a halt in traffic. 20 minutes later, we broke free and headed down the northern side of the bay to intersect US101 to trek toward San Diego. I had the driving chores as MFO had certainly done her share behind the wheel, and it was pretty much white knuckle for me. I had forgotten how California/Freeway drivers and ethics are, but speed and turn signals are the order of the day. If your turn signal is on, it’s license to do whatever you pretty much please… Did I say I was going left? Sorry, right looks better now, well, maybe not. And then there’s the always present 18 wheelers which pretty much seem to fill up their lane and a little of yours..

We didn’t have any lodging reservations for the evening because of the lack of schedule, and after about a couple of hours I was getting pretty weary. As we were passing through Salinas (for you Steinbeck fans) and MFO spied a couple silhouetted signs off the highway and said “Hey! That looks like Marriott (our preferred road homes)!”. After a troublesome off the highway, across the highway, back on the highway, off the highway, through the shopping center, we finally confirmed that indeed there was a Courtyard and also a Residence Inn. We gladly settled in the Courtyard and spent a restful evening for our first (full) day in California.. and since we dined in (on the pizza) we didn’t have to

DFD

Preview – yesterday we wended our way to our present location in San Diego with a wonderful morning and another lesson in California driving in the afternoon….stay tuned