Ten years since i started doing this blog...Yikes...I'm Way overdue for another posting so here goes...
A couple of nights ago we went to Berkeley with our good friends, guitarist and sommelier John Burdick and his wife, terrific chef Catherine Venturini Burdick. We went to enjoy a meal together to celebrate their 10th anniversary. We also had tickets for The Freight & Salvage to see (and listen to) Yasmin Williams and Andy McKee. They are wonderfully talented, creative and entertaining guitarists and well worth your time to listen to (or go see if their respective tours take them anywhere near you).
Yasmin is 'just' 26 and is really starting to come into her own as a guitarist. She plays her guitar mostly lap-style and creates some unique sounds using her fingers and/or a small hammer, including taping a kalimba to her guitar top and playing both for a unique sound that I had not heard before. I was lucky enough to find her on Bandcamp and I really look forward to her growing and expanding her capabilities and seeing what the coming years have in store for her.
Andy has been around for a couple decades and is a very enjoyable performer and stellar guitarist. We were all in awe of his fingerstyle abilities and technique. He has a real openness and wit about him that is quite engaging and made the evening pass way too quickly. Check him out on youtube and you will see (and hear) what i mean.
And oh my goodness it was so great to be back at The Freight for a live music show in person. The last live show we attended there was Sonny Landreth and Marcia Ball (again with John and Catherine) just before Tehra's last trip to England in February of 2020, right before the world dumped itself in a handbag and boarded a fast train to Near Hell.
The Andy & Yasmin show had been postponed from January 2022 due to the Covid wave variant that was burning its way through the population at that point. Actually it worked out better for us as we were able enjoy a very pleasant and delicious Italian meal outside at Lucia's on Shattuck (which was even better as John and Catherine were due to leave for Italy the following Sunday) with masks not being as much of an issue as it had been.
I know you're saying 'What does an Italian meal in Berkeley have to do with Fish Tacos?' Answer is - while we were eating J&C asked us if we had had a chance yet to have the Fish Tacos at Las Palmas in Santa Rosa, which they had recommended to us pre-Covid. Due to the extenuating circumstances of Covid we had not had the chance. 'You Have to go', they said, 'and make sure you get the blackened, not the fried.' and 'You're really going to Love it, guaranteed'. OK, with Catherine being the pro chef that she is we took that as a very high recommendation.
Well as our luck would have it we had tickets the next night to go see the renowned chef, Yotam Ottolenghi, at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa. We have known about him for years as Tehra, or we, Always go to visit at least one of his delicatessens in London when there on a buying trip. And we also enjoy reading his cookbooks for some great recipes or food prep ideas. Fortunately for us, it just so happens that Las Palmas was on our way from Sonoma to the LBC and right off the freeway on Santa Rosa Ave.
It was a Friday night so i figured it would be busy and we might have trouble getting our order on time. I couldn't have been 'wronger'. The restaurant on Santa Rosa Ave., a couple blocks off 12 and the 101, just behind BJ's Market, next door to a small auto repair shop. Tehra's mom used to live about a block away so Tehra knew just where it was. We pulled in to a parking space and inside there was only one other couple eating. We were greeted warmly and kindly when we walked in. Oh, They could not have been warmer or friendlier.
Even though Fish Tacos was not visible on the menu over the register we were told 'oh yes, we have them, do you want blackened or fried?' 'Blackened', we said. 'How many would you like on your order"...mmmm, good question. Not having eaten there before that stumped us for a minute. Tehra settled on 2 and i said' why not, give me 3'. He said it would be about 10 minutes. Fine, we have time, it's a beautiful Friday night, let's go have our chips and salsa and relax for a bit while we sip our IPAs. Both chips and salsa were very good with just the right amount of flavor and heat. When our plates arrived they looked Almost good enough to just look at. With the fresh grilled onions on the top, loads of vegetables covering the fish fillets and not a single bean or grain of rice in sight, resting deliciously on a double layer of fresh corn tortillas. And my goodness they were Hot out of the oven which made the IPA taste that much more refreshing.
Three was just right though next time i may say 2 as that filled me up and then some...i did finish as it would have been near sinful to let Any of that oh-so-delicious plateful go to waste.
Thank you to the kind folks at Las Palmas, we so very much look forward to enjoying at least one more meal there first chance we get. Maybe we'll even be lucky enough to share it with John and Catherine (should they ever return from Italy).
