Chez Panisse opened its doors in 1971, started by Alice
Waters and an assortment of idealistic friends. A neighborhood bistro named after
a character in Marcel Pagnol's 1930's trilogy of movies (‘Marius,’ ‘Fanny,’
and ‘Cesar’), the Restaurant and Café are a homage to the sentiment,
comedy and informality of these classic films.
From the beginning, Alice
and her partners tried to do things the way they would like them done at a dinner
party at home. The restaurant, located downstairs, is open for dinner Monday through
Saturday, by reservation only. The dinner, served in two seatings from 6 to 6:30
p.m. and 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., has always consisted of only one fixed-price menu,
of three to four courses. The menu changes every night, designed to be appropriate
to the season and composed to show off the finest ingredients obtainable including
meat, fish, and poultry.
Prices for the Restaurant are $50 Mondays, $65
Tuesdays through Thursdays and $85 Fridays and Saturdays, not including beverage,
a 17% service charge and 8.75% tax. Monday night menus are generally simpler and
more rustic or regional than what the restaurant serves on other evenings. Friday
and Saturday night menus are somewhat more elaborate.
The Café at
Chez Panisse, located upstairs, opened in 1980 to offer an alternative to the
set menu served in the Restaurant downstairs. The Café offers a moderately
priced à la carte menu for both lunch and dinner. The Café hours
are Monday through Thursday 11:30am to 3pm and 5pm to 10:30pm, and Friday and
Saturday 11:30am to 3:30pm and 5pm to 11:30pm. It has an open kitchen along one
side of the room with a charcoal grill and a wood burning oven. The style of the
menu is inspired by the market; consequently, the menus change every day. Reservations
are recommended.
Alice and Chez Panisse have become convinced that the best-tasting
food is organically grown and harvested in ways that are ecologically sound, by
people who are taking care of the land for future generations. The quest for such
ingredients has largely determined the restaurant's cuisine. Chez Panisse has
tried for years to make diners here partake of the immediacy and excitement of
vegetables just out of the garden, fruit right off the branch, and fish straight
out of the sea. In doing so, Chez Panisse has stitched together a patchwork of
over sixty nearby suppliers, whose concerns, like the restaurant's, are environmental
harmony and optimal flavor.
Back to Top
