Juanito, went to Taco Roco for breakfast, Ellen's was packed at 11:30. The chorizo & eggs was excellent, nothing fancy just great food. Sunday night we at the Ballard Inn resto. It was apparently unexpectedly full (some movie people were there & did make reservations) and as a result I don't think they were NOT at their best. We had the seared tuna & venison apps, both were excellent if a little small. I was not impressed with the wine list. I was hoping to try some of the cult pinots that are ungettable. My wife had the monk fish osso buco w/ risotto. The fish had a large piece of cartilidge (sp?) in it & was quite tough. The ristto was quite delicate & delicious, though the sauce made it watery. The table next to us tried to order monk fish & apparently we got the last piece, usually not a good sign! I had the filet, the meat was properly cooked but the sauce overwhelmed the taste of the meat, quite hard to do with a seared filet. The sides were ordinary Everyone we taked about restos raved about the Ballard Inn resto, so I guess they were just unprepared. I believe the exec chef was there! Went to Panino for lunch. It was ok, I think we were expecting panini (the hot pressed sandwich kind) so we were a little disappointed but that was our fault. Brothers was fantastic!!. We ordered a bottle of Seasmoke B? Pinot . They had several Seasmokes & Brewer-Clifton pinots. Again the resto was packed (one of the few open on Monday) so they were out of things. We ordered the Kubacha squash soup & the tuna tartare apps, both excellent. My wife had the filet served with a bit of blue cheese under the steak & a very good complementary sauce. The side was many layers of thinly sliced potato & onion & gruyere stacked to create basically a solid french onion soup. Very ingenious & delicious. I had the veal chop that was so good I don't even remember the sides. So the short version is: You should dine early (we ate at 7:30 both nights) & they were out of some dishes Brothers was superior to the Ballard Inn resto which suprised most people that live there, so I assume we just got a really bad meal Thanks again for all your advise, it made for a very enjoyable get away!!
