Deglazed

Like walking down La Rambla, the pushy B44 waiter heckles me into a table. Bread with dipping oil infused with anchovies and herbs is a lovely teaser. And because one should never pass up fresh anchovies, I was compelled to order a beautiful composition of fillets set atop pears and aged manchego. Just try to impress me more when you put rabbit on the menu, an underrepresented protein in the states. B44 smothered it in hazelnut sauce, which felt a little Tuscan to me, but that’s the difference between love and crazy love. I could have ordered the churros and chocolate, but I usually associate those with 7AM intoxication and I felt sympathetic to my gluten intolerant dining companion. Poor wretch.

Cesar gets my heart beating for Barcelona in a completely different way. It’s Spain style tapas, meaning; go for a light meal to be enjoyed over drinks with the people around you. You can eat a small amount quickly or stay for a while, picking at a variety of cheeses, meats and cooked Spanish staples like squid, anchovies, patatas bravas and bocadillos. It’s a wonderful way to eat. If you are really hungry, order the paella which is almost as good as mine and better than most. And unlike Barcelona, the cocktail bar is one of the best around.

Both restaurants have hit or miss service. But that’s about 100% better than if you were dining in Barcelona itself. Helpful hint: don’t expect a back rub, be prepared to ask for the check three times and enjoy the whole experience, el attitude and all.

If you have never been to France to taste a properly made croissant, La Farine French Bakery can hold you over until you book your trip. In fact, La Farine is far superior to 99% of other bakeries in the Bay Area. Good luck trying to get out of La Farine without other perfectly made classics like brioche, pain chocolat, baguettes and crusty loaves of levain bread presented like plentiful cornucopias in wooden baskets. For a special addictive treat, hit the morning buns before they are sold out, and the do sell out.

It was worth the trip over the bridge (that’s right, I’m bridge and tunnel, go east bay!), and to find parking, and to squeeze into my best pair of jeans with heals, and to walk four blocks from the car, and to fail at getting the bartenders’ (plural) attention for a cocktail, because when I sat down, received my cocktail from our lovely waitress, I started to relax into the menu. And what a delight the menu was. Four of us could not properly get a sampling of their offerings. I keep going back and forth if it was trendy food (seared duck breast, farro, mustard greens, red onions, currant and pine nuts), or comfort food (country pork chop, cannelini beans, wilted greens and salsa verde). The conclusion is that Nopa is comfort food with frosting, and I can’t think of any other way I would want to eat. The perfectly cooked dishes were inventive enough to impress me, and familiar enough for me to scrape my plate with bread.

Take seasonal, high quality and sometimes unique ingredients, rich broth, fresh noodles, fair prices, throw it in a bowl, and you get…a line out the door. But the helpful servers at Noodle Theory on College Ave in Oakland, do what they can to seat you as soon as possible in a cozy, cramped but welcoming dining room with open kitchen.

The small, seasonal menu offers a fair variety for most eaters (vegetarians and those with allergies will feel limited), but listen closely to the specials, as that is where the pot of gold is. Recent specials have featured braised ox-tail in a spicy Szechwan broth with udon, and duck confit in a daikon radish broth with ramen.

Don’t want to wait? They offer take-out.