The restaurant of the Berkeley City Club was designed by and named after Julia Morgan, but does the food match the architecture?
Another trip around the sun, another anniversary, another quest for a restaurant to visit. Mike wanted French. I wanted to stay in the East Bay. I came upon Julia’s. Again. I’ve considered dining there so many times, that I couldn’t actually recall whether we had been there before. I resorted to looking through emails and old photos to see if we had. We hadn’t. So I made a reservation.
During my freshman year in college, many decades ago by now, I lived in a dorm a mere half a block away from the Berkeley City Club. I was curious about it then, and remained though the decades, but never had an opportunity or a reason to go inside. The building, designed in a medieval style, not unlike that of Heart castle, Julia Morgan‘s most famous building, is beautiful. Being ignorant of architectural terms, I can’t quite describe it but anyone interested can surely find many pictures online. It has an indoor pool that while lacking the magnificence of the ones in San Simeon, still evokes them. I’m considering spending a night at the hotel just to be able to swim in it.
Julia’s is located in the second floor (stairs and elevators available), in a rather small room with a beautiful fireplace and medieval tapestries hanging around it. There are windows on both sides of the room, though we didn’t quite manage to seat by one of them. The clientele seems to be mostly older people – though that includes us now. I remember how, in my earliest reviews back in the 90’s, I used to feel conspicuous for being young.
Dinner started with bread and butter (quite good), and we then shared the Country Style Pork Cognac Pâté ($19), which came with a small undressed salad, fig jam and mustard. The paté was really good. It didn’t really worked very well with the fig jam, the flavors didn’t quite vibe together, but the fig jam was good on its own. We both remarked at how much we enjoyed this appetizer – and I think it was probably the highlight of the evening. I can’t imagine they make the paté in house, and I wish I knew where they got it.
I had the Duck à l’Orange ($37), and this was a big disappointment. It was beautifully presented, mind you, but it failed in all levels. The duck itself consisted of two thick slices of duck breast, served on the rare side. It was on the tough side and had very little flavor of its own. The orange sauce could have been anything, it didn’t particularly taste of oranges, and while it gave the duck very needed moisture and seasoning, it wasn’t what I’d call “yummy”. The fondant potatoes it came with were tasteless, dry, dense and crumbly. There wasn’t enough sauce to eat them with, and by themselves they were a waist of time. I did enjoy the single piece of leek I found, but I’m not a fan of endives, and this one did not change my mind. In all, this dish was a failure.
Mike fared better with his Grilled Veal Chop ($39). It was well cooked and tasty, flavorful and tender. He appreciated it wasn’t incumbered by any sauces – the red wine sauce on the side was very light and didn’t overwhelm the meat. He also liked the veggies it was served with, a mixture of De Ciccio broccoli, trumpet mushrooms, baby carrots and zucchini. He appreciated the variety of textures they brought to the meal, and that their light taste didn’t compete with that of the veal. Finally, he really liked the little potato grain muffin he got, he found it very tasty – as did I.
For dessert, I had the Orange Cake ($13), which came with a tiny amount of poached oranges, crème fraîche and a bit of caramel. I actually enjoyed it. This was another very adult (read, old person’s) dessert. There wasn’t much sweetness to it, which I wouldn’t have been able to deal with, but it did have the orange flavor I missed in the sauce for the duck. The cake itself was very crumbly, it fell apart in each bite, and on the dry side but it worked. The crème fraîche added moisture while further taming the sweetness. I was happy.
Service was quite attentive, and despite my duck, we had a very good time. Our reservation was at 6:30 PM midweek, and I’d recommend this time for both commuting north into Berkeley and for finding a parking spot close to the restaurant.
Julia's
2315 Durant Ave
Berkeley, CA
510.848.7800
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