Rivoli and Lalimes, my 1 and 1A options for a nice Berkeley dinner, were all bokked up for a Saturday night, and Chinese restaurants were going to be packed for CNY, too. So I figure I'd give this Solano place a shot. The room was large, dressed up in a warm Mediterranean look, and they had a big round table which easily accommodated our party of six.
The crowd was a diverse lot. Large family get-togethers like us, couple of friends having a casual dinner, couple of couples having a friendlier dinner, and a big table of high-schoolers dressed up for the formal (which explains the splotlights lighting up Albany High). Auntie donated a bottle of the '95 Cos d'Estournel which was well worth the $15 corkage. Michelle had a simple squash soup and apple-gorgonzola salad. Hard to screw that up. Sam had wine-braised ribs with polenta which was good and savory but not particularly our favorite flavors. Aunt got the grilled vegetable platter which looked good but not something terribly hard to do right. Dad and Will chose the grilled NY steak special with the chimichurri sauce, which was definitely the tastiest thing at the table. Nicely medium-rare inside and bits of charred crusty goodness on the outside. The acidic herbaceous sauce provided some zing compared to the usual A1.
We'd already gone out for lunch, so I didn't want to get a big main. Tomato-basil angel hair looked good but it's hardly tomato season, and Kung Pao Linguine sounded just insane, so I picked the Spicy Shrimp Linguine for something different. I was expecting pasta and shrimp, perhaps grilled and dusted with spices. Instead I got a big bowl of soupy noodles with chunks of bland tomatillos and red bell pepper, with some meaty but unremarkable shrimp mixed in. The linguine more resembled Chinese soup noodles than pasta al dente. Thankfully dad wasn't going to finish the entire steak anyway so I got something meaty to chew on. I totally should've sucked it up and got the bacon-wrapped cedar plank salmon, or go small with the smoked salmon pizzeta as the main. Real shame that we didn't get something out of the wood-fired brick oven. Place was worth trying, but I don't think it'll become a first-option type of place unless I need the big room.
Beauregard's California Bistro
1373 Solano Avenue (at Ramona)
Albany, California 94706