Going to school in Berkeley, I always heard the name Chez Panisse bandied about. Chez Panisse was the place for special and momentous occasions -- while one might go to Henry's for a round of birthday drinks or splurge on sushi at Kirala, but Chez Panisse was the right answer whenever anyone offered to treat you to dinner, because meals there were expensive. There are things I wish I had known while going to school in Berkeley -- mostly to do with food, because I ate out constantly, and cooked little. There are some that will balk at Chez Panisse for having $65 - $85 dinners (these were more like $40-60 when I was going to school) and on a student budget, you'can't really drop that kind of money on a meal when each of your textbooks cost that much.
Alice Waters is one of the founders and co-owner of Chez Panisse, and is also one of the strongest advocates for locally-grown and sustainable agriculture. She's just published a new cookbook called The Art of Simple Food : Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution, and this afternoon did a book signing at Books Inc. in Palo Alto. I was slightly disappointed that it would simply be a signing, and not a reading, but the Palo Alto Books Inc. is not large, and accommodating large groups of people with sitting space would be nearly impossible at this location.
