A charmed corner of Berkeley, this wedge of turf at Cedar & San Pablo. At one edge ofpear.jpg the small parking lot is the mighty wine house of Kermit Lynch, where I stopped by to see what I could afford in the way of 2005 Burgundy. (Not much, but I did my best.)

At the other end sits the home of Acme Breads, an establishment that lives up to its name. And in between is the thin slice of cafe heaven, Cafe Fanny – founded by Alice Waters and named after her daughter. Here I paused over an expertly-made caffe macchiatto, and a long slice of delicate pear galette. The fruit had been sliced into stained glass transparency, embedded into a flaky croissant pastry and then almost invisibly glazed with jam. Accompanied by a small, barely sweetened dollop of whipped cream, it fueled my drive home along the Nimitz.