Now for something completely different!

No salad talk today!  Today I just want to gush about one of the best meals I've had in a very long time.  I went to dinner at Pican last night.  I learned about the restaurant while watching Eye on the Bay a couple months ago, and before the segment was over I was emailing my two friends Sue & Stephanie telling them to get their calendars out; I had found our next "eating excursion."

When we opened the menu, we immediately knew it was one of those places that we would have to come back to again, because there was too much that we wanted to order.  I love struggling with a menu, not knowing which delicious dish to get.  Pican definitely left me struggling.... in the best possible way.

OK this is another one of the 80/20 moments.....heavily engulfed in the 20% realm!  Nothing particuarly healthy about it, but dang was it ever gooooood!

Sue and Stephanie started with Fried Green Tomatoes.  A beautiful stack with radishes, buttermilk-pimento cheese curds, pickled onions and avocado.  I was in love with a fried green tomato sandwich years ago when I lived in Annapolis, but this was hands-down a better use of those green beauties.

I started with  Sea Island She Crab Soup.  I was married to a Southern boy a thousand years ago, and he made me my first bowl of she crab soup (it's the one thing I miss about that guy).  You just never find that soup here on the left coast, so I knew that was going into my belly as soon as possible!  It's a velvety gem with Blue crab, cream sherry, and crab roe.  I could've stopped there and been one happy girl.  And perhaps I should have, because my entree pushed me into the "I have to loosen my belt" phase.

My entree was one of their signature dishes: Pan Roasted Grit-Crusted Gulf Snapper.  It's served with a pork belly and Aleppo pepper carbonara sauce over the most delicate squash "noodles", finely julienned zucchini and yellow squash.  The crust was a litle heavy (so I only ate most of it!), but the flavors and textures were unbelievably yummy.

Sue and Stephanie are dessert girls, while I'm more of an appetizer girl.  They plan their menu choices with dessert in mind. I plan on a starter and then I'm perfectly happy to be done at the entree.  And boy was I last night!  I told them that if I have even one bite of dessert, I will be over the edge and into that bad place where you have to drive home unbuttoning your pants and counting the minutes until you can be prone.

But then they ordered this...

Banana Pudding, with house-made vailla wafers and whipped cream. Stephanie practically got whiplash when she saw it delivered to the table behind us, so I knew that was coming our way. I maintained control for about 3 minutes, watching them ooooh and aaaah over it.  Then I thought I would regret it if I didn't give it a try.  I had the smallest bite and it was like a little piece of heaven on my tongue.  But I did say at the valet stand as we were waiting for our cars, "I need to be prone immediately!"  I made it home quickly and fell into bed.  I was asleep within five minutes! 

And then in the morning I had a bad-ass workout and went for an hour long hike in the hills.  All worth it!!

If you're local, I highly recommend checking out Pican in Oakland.  You won't be disappointed!  And tomorrow I might try to figure out how to make some of the awesome dishes I tasted a little bit healthier!