Totally Unauthorized

Last night was our monthly dinner with Margaret, and we had to go back to Origen, on Telegraph in Berkeley.  I wrote about this place a couple of weeks ago when we got to go even before they officially opened, but it was time to go back and see how the operation is doing.

Good looking bar area

Taking Gail, Margaret and Barbara out is a hoot, not that I get many words in edgewise.  Seeing Margaret, the most mature, gracious and ladylike of women, get just a touch rowdy is always fun, and the martinis at Origen seem to do the trick.

My dad said it was a martini if there was a bottle of vermouth in the house. I think Margaret agrees.

For a place that’s only been open 17 days, they seem to be doing a pretty good business.  The food is very similar to what I always enjoyed at Nibblers, with a few additions–the new facility has a wood fired pizza oven, so there are gourmet type pizzas on the menu.  They make a different paella every hour, so there will always be something new and different.  Margaret was swooning over the shrimp cakes, and both Gail and Barbara insisted on their own tamales, but I got them to share.

One of the two dining area.

The chef came out to see what all the ruckus was about:

Daniel Clayton, looking executive

I snuck into the huge kitchen to see what was happening:

I dream of a kitchen like this. And this is just the front half.

We had the fried spinach, of course.  And the paella, the shrimp cakes, the tamales, the brussels sprouts, the gnocchi and finally the pecan blondie with molasses ice cream.  And another martini.  The forks keep slipping off the plates, and we had the staff laughing as they had to keep getting them off the floor and replacing them.

The food kept coming. The laughing, too.

Next month, we’re going to try the new restaurant at Rossmoor.  I wonder if they are prepared for that much fun in one night.