Away From The Noise

I don't want this blog to become an endless complaint about the noise of remodeling a kitchen, nor do I want it to become solely a restaurant review blog, but we are eating out a lot recently to escape the crashing, pounding, and general mayhem.

We were up in Novato, a little north of us, to retrieve some samples from the purveyor of counter tops, and we decided to stop for lunch at a new-to-us restaurant in the repurposed Hamilton Air Force base.  It is called Beso. They have a shady outdoor deck and a nice, varied menu. 

The harried waitress was having trouble keeping up with all the orders, but otherwise it was a very enjoyable lunch. We started by sharing a plate of truffle fries, which were simply splendid, crisp on the outside, tender on the inside and redolent from a table away of wonderful fungal deliciousness. 

We probably should have stopped there but My Beloved enjoyed his stir-fry kind of plate with beef and fresh veggies (he didn't eat the fries as it also came with rice - kind of a strange combo, but the part he ate was good), and I asked for the Asian chicken salad. It was certainly very generous, with a huge piece of sautéed dark meat topping the salad and a criss-cross of enoki mushrooms for decoration. Candied walnuts made a change from the more common almonds or cashews and the big slices of cucumber were a nice addition on a hot day.

We sat in the dappled shade discussing this and that ideas for the kitchen counters and enjoying the peace and quiet of this lovely location.