Totally Unauthorized

Take a 100 year old boathouse on the shores of Lake Merritt, refurbish it inside and out with soft lights and warm wood, hire a head chef with experience at the French Laundry, design a menu of California cuisine with a heavy emphasis on seafood, and you have the newly opened Lake Chalet in Oakland.

We ate there tonight with Mike and Linda after crushing the opposition in the Oakland Unit game–we tied for third/fifth, and how great must we be? Celebrating our victory, we decided to try the new place in town we had heard many good things about.

The address is 1520 Lake Shore Drive, and there is valet parking, which for some reason is actually on the sidewalk. It feels weird to turn off the street onto the sidewalk, but it works, and only $5.

First, we had drinks on the dock. The sun was setting, lights were coming up, it was beautiful. Chilly, since the fog was rolling in, but beautiful. They have a small kitchen out there, serving appetizers and sliders, but we were just waiting for dinner time and merely enjoyed our wine and Baileys. The only weakness was the lack of outdoor space heaters–they seem to have only 1, which is about 7 too few.

After our pre-prandial drinks, we headed in to dinner. The spacious dining room looks out over the lake, and is reminiscent of the kind of place your father took you to–tablecloths, heavy napkins and silver, thick carpets that hush the sounds.

The food is, on the the other hand, quite modern. I saw no heavy sauces, nothing stale or old fashioned. The execution of the dinners matched the promise of the menu–we all enjoyed our meals.

I started with the green pea and ham hock soup, which I traded off to Gail because it was considerably spicier than I expected. She likes spice and hotness, I’m a sissy. So I finished her excellent wedge salad and we were both happy. Then I had the halibut poached in olive oil, and quite enjoyed it. Poaching in oil is not at all like deep frying–it is a delicate process that leaves the fish cooked through without out drying, and doesn’t fill the meat with oil and calories like the deep fryer does. Linda made the same choice, and neither of us had leftovers.

Mike had the Mahi Mahi special. It disappeared too fast from Mike’s plate for me to get a good look at it, but it must have tasted fine.

The best choice, though, was the scallops Gail chose. Served on a bed of corn risotto and garnished with pancetta vinaigrette (pancetta, olive oil, sherry vinegar, secret spices and a touch of chili pepper), it was the hit of the night.

So the building was great, the food was great, if only the service had kept up. But they’re new, and our waitress was even newer. Somehow she couldn’t manage to keep the right amount of silverware on our table, or refill my glass of iced tea. It’s possible I’m oversensitive on the subject of ice tea refills, but I ask for so very little………….

In any case, we had a good time and would be more than willing to go back. Sitting on the dock is beautiful and romantic, dining inside is warm and comforting. The Lake Chalet is a keeper.