Father's Day Special

Most of you are just beginning your Father's Day celebrations while ours is already history. My Beloved's two daughters will both be in France on vacation so they planned a dinner to fête him before they leave.

His present arrived in a big, purple Pampers™ box - his Boston daughter is the mother of a two-year old - so we carried that to our dinner at Dopo on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland to open it with his Oakland daughter.

My Beloved took some gentle ribbing from the wait staff about his diaper box - he loved it! - as we waited for a table; Dopo doesn't accept reservations. It's a cheerful, noisy spot with an interesting menu of unusual dishes, seemingly attractive to young couples as at least two of them had blessedly well-behaved babies with them. The tall host has a wonderful way of making one feel warmly welcomed.

We decided to share everything and we had, in the same meal, bites of crostone of clams, squid and mussels; housemade firey lamb sausages with figs and arugula; pigeon on thin, thin sliced porcini mushrooms; an enormous pork chop; pasta with game hen ragu; pizza with speck; and roasted beets with fennel. Only the seafood, sausages and pigeons are shown in the photo.

My Beloved opened his gift, a lovely framed photo of his girls, and his goodie bag from our granddaughter with drawings and Father's Day cards before we moved on to dessert. We shared the espresso panna cotta (OMG) and the lemon ricotta zeppole (similar to beignets) and enjoyed every bite.

My Beloved left feeling truly loved and appreciated - and full of interesting food, as well! A splendid Father's Day celebration for a great Dad.