Next day the laptop died. Actually, what happens is that
it overheats immediately, at the point of the power jack,
with the result that the plug droops with the melting
plastic and I lose the power connection. Panic. I went
to the Best Buy, where my friends' son works, and he sold
me a TravelMate, only it's not in stock and won't come
until Thursday. So his girlfriend lent me a fan pad, which
works reasonably well, so I can do the important stuff,
like an index or two and the FT mail. I can still work only
an hour or so before the smell warns me to stop for a while.

Anyhow, to honor the new year, the 777-point Dow plunge, and
my sudden loss of 1300 bucks, I decided to take my buds to
dinner at Lalime's in Berkeley, which my friend Donna had
introduced me to many years ago.

J. will wear nothing but a dirty t-shirt and jeans and a
DAV cap; K. and I were somewhat more appropriately clad.
The waiter looked at us with a measure of dismay. As we
ordered and ate, I think his dubiety took a slight turn for
the better; not sure.

The bread on the table is a whole-wheat crusty peasant loaf;
the butter is quite nice, with olive oil available on
request.

K. had a glass of some sparkly thing, Schramsberg or
something, to start, which she seemed to enjoy. J., who
can't drink else he become nuts, enjoyed his tap water
with relatively good humor. I had a glass of the house
Chard, which was quite nice, a little spicy, reasonably
oaky, ripe, lemony, the whole thing. Carried this over to
the first course.

J. had the cheese plate, which at this joint is served
as a starter: it was three cheeses that I had no interest
in trying, though I will report that the Champagne grape
and raw round almond accompaniments were first-rate.

K. had a Poblano stuffed with creme fraiche, which but
for its $10 price tag was quite agreeable.

I had the mussels in Riesling and garlic, which tasted more
like Chenin Blanc and onions. Very good, though, the mussels
as plump and tasty as I can imagine. The beards had not been
removed, not good. A generous serving of a couple dozen.

My intermediate course: crispy sweetbreads in gribiche:
this didn't come out as I expected, but the dish wasn't bad.
I find my own sweetbread dishes better. And the gribiche
was odd - it came with big chunks of egg white, instead of
the tiny dice that should be there, and it was balanced way
over toward the sweet, containing not only bits of sweet
pickle but also sweet marinated red pepper. The sweetbreads
were not cleaned to my satisfaction and were not crispy.
Tasted pretty good I guess, all in all, though the dish was
1. flawed and 2. worse than I'd make.

K. got the Australian sirloin medium, which, wonder of
wonders, came rare, and which, wonder of wonders, she loved.
J. had the rack of lamb, which is a bit of a misnomer, as
it was two very big chops, "two-tooth hogget" perhaps,
rather gamy and urinary, but not bad for that. It came with
"cordero al chilendron," a stew of lamb and red peppers with
wine. He ordered the lamb medium-to-medium-well, and it came
medium-rare. He loved it.

I had a third appetizer instead of a main: the Kobe
miniburger topped with foie gras. I ordered the burger rare
and the foie gras extra rare. What came: a 2-oz burger,
medium-to-medium-well, with a slice of essentially raw -
still cold in the middle - foie gras de canard. A little bun
with a sweet mustard spread on the bottom and a tart ketchup
spread on the top. Interesting combo. I almost sent the
burger back but found it fine eaten with the foie gras.

A glass of the house Pinot Noir (the house wines are made by
Au Bon Climat) went nicely. Bright cherry, plum, a touch of
leather, a touch herbal, quite attractive though light.

For afters, various coffees and for me a glass of Lustau's
Emilin Moscato, very much the figgy-raisiny experience,
extremely sweet but not at all cloying.

Verdict: talent in the kitchen. Untrained minimum-wagers
doing the prep. Fairly professional waitstaff. Cute hostess.
Nice physical plant. Clientele mixed between loud and
obnoxious and "trying to have a quiet or romantic dinner."
In line with the area pricewise but still fairly costly.