This is kind of a two-fer in that we went to Comal for dinner twice in 2 weeks for two different music shows at one of our favorite venues, The Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. The first show was Long time favorite David Bromberg and his Quartet +1...
David Bromberg
David Bromberg Quintet +1 (-1)
and the second show was master guitarist, Tommy Emmanuel and his opening act, a finger-style guitarist we were unfamiliar with, named Richard Smith.
Richard Smith
Tommy Emmanuel
We were first introduced to the restaurant Comal by my brother, Walter, some years ago. My first impression of the place back then was none too positive as we were seated somewhere in the back right next to a door (thankfully not to the bathroom) that kept opening and closing letting in a gust of cold air each time. The food was OK then but the surroundings were too much of a distraction for me. But its proximity to The Freight was too much to pass up and not give it a second (and now third and fourth and...) chance.
Now when we go we have learned to walk right past the hostess and the 'Please Wait To Be Seated' sign and head for the first two open stools we see at the bar. Second, in our experience so far, they have the most friendly, congenial, helpful bartenders, and Third, there has never been faster food service in any restaurant that we've ever eaten at. Our food and beverage order had no sooner left out mouths then there was a friendly wait person at our elbows with the chips, three kinds of salsa and a nice bowl of fresh guacamole. Just as we got the appetizer settled our drinks arrived.
We generally start with a cocktail from their menu. The name Joaquin Murrieta stood out for me from the menu as there is a special place in my heart for the Lynch Family (my brother-in-law, Dennis and his brother, Brian) Joaquin Murrieta 4th of July celebrations i used to attend up Rte. 4 'in' Camp Connell, CA. Right near the town of Arnold and just uphill from the Tuolumne River. They were the most pleasant of weekends with copious amounts of frisbee throwing, river swimming, deck dancing, music playing, tequila drinking, food cooking, hella general merrymaking and an all-around great weekend + of fun and celebration...Jeez I miss those sweet times and the always pleasurable company of the people that showed up...Sigh....Great Memories!
Plus, with ordering this cocktail i saw it as a time to learn something new as i had no idea exactly what 'carpano antica' or 'amaro montenegro' are....so that is what i ordered...OK, so Carpano Antica is a type of vermouth, (and, of course, they claim to be the first of the vermouths)....and Amaro Montenegro is an herbal liqueur distilled in Italy from a secret recipe of 40 different herbals and botanicals...all in all a very flavorful and enjoyable kind of tequila martini-ish that went down quite easily....
For eats we ordered the aforementioned chips & salsa(s), a bowl of guacamole and a plate of fish tacos for each of us. The fish tacos are composed of handmade tortillas and a nice serving of a slightly spicy pickled cabbage with a very lightly mixed in avocado aioli...plus a side of some slices of pickled carrots, onions and jalapeños....simple yet quite tasty...one can almost lose 'sight' of the fish as there is a lot of the cabbage, but the fish is there done well and quite juicy....all in all, a couple of really wonderful meals before two really good shows at one of the best musical venues in the Bay Area....Lucky Us!
Like the fish tacos, David Bromberg is always a treat, not only for his abilities as a stringed instrument musician, but also for his wit, his choice of accompanying players and his near endless catalog of material....We try not to miss him and his group whenever they come to town. I first started seeing him back in the early 70s after Walter played me Bromberg's first record starting with the song Sharon...and i was hooked....I first saw him and his large band at the tiny Cellar Door in Washington DC in 1973 and have enjoyed shows at a number of different venues through the years...I missed them when he semi-retired and didn't tour for a long time. Then in 2004 he came around again, playing a show over at the Mystic in Petaluma where i ended up having a nice chat with Peter Hartlaub from the Chronicle about it. His shows as of late, in these parts, have been two-night stands at The Freight so we make it a point to get to at least one of them and will continue to as long as he keeps playing.
For years i had heard and/or read the name of guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. He didn't really register until one of the veterinarians (and fellow guitarist) at an animal hospital where i was working encouraged me to go to one of his shows. I got Tehra and me tickets to his show at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco in 2011 and since then we have seen him a number of times as he is one of the best guitarists touring. He puts on quite a show with just he, his immense skill, and an ever-changing selection of guitars, since he plays not only the strings but the body, neck, headstock, tuning pegs, bridge...i'm sure he'd physically play the inner bindings if he could reach them...but you can see is his style of playing that he just flat wears his guitars out. One if the things that we enjoy the most, aside from his stellar playing, is that he smiles a lot as he plays and you get the feeling that he Really Loves and Enjoys what he's doing and that comes across deeply as he's playing. I encourage you to pick up his latest 'album', a double CD set of just he and his guitar(s), a really worthwhile investment if you enjoy solo guitar playing with no vocals. It's been on heavy rotation here at the house as well as in the car since this show.
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