Below, winner Caitlin Compo tells us about her night out with friends at Chez Panisse.
Last November, I attended my first Google launch party for a new product that a few of my friends were launching called Google Hotpot (now Google Places, read their recent announcement here). It was ramping up to be a great way to find and share amazing restaurants, businesses and venues, all based on ratings and reviews from people who you were actually friends with. Basically, real-life tips brought to you online through Google Places. That night the team announced a contest that would later bring me to one of the best dinners of my life. Here is how it all went down.
Over the next few months I worked to rate and review as many places as humanly possible. I scoured my brain for any and all dive bars, hole-in-the-wall burrito joints, and even drive-thrus that I had been to and shared my experiences with other Google users through this new rating and review tool. I thought back to the four years I spent studying at coffee shops on the drag in Austin, Texas, midnight runs to get tortillas and queso (don't knock it till you've tried it), and took a trip down memory lane of cafes I discovered with my friend Cecelia while studying abroad in Italy. If it existed and I'd been there, I rated it.
I continued to furiously rate and review places up until the bitter end on New Year's Eve when my friends finally pulled me away from my computer and lovingly told me to "get a life" and leave the apartment. I had done everything I could, and now it was up to the numbers to decide my fate.
Then one Friday I received the email, a note from Places community manager Vanessa giving me the best news I could imagine: I had won the dinner for 10 to Chez Panisse! I had never been so shocked from winning something before. I had worked so hard to win this and I was about to experience one of the best meals ever with nine of my closest friends, and for free. This was going to be seriously ridiculous.
So I'm not a food critic, I didn't go to culinary school, and I'm not a blog writer. But I do LOVE food, great service, sharing experiences with friends, and free stuff. So needless to say, this experience was the best of all worlds.
When our group arrived at Chez Panisse, we were greeted by the Maitre D' and taken to a cozy table in the middle of the restaurant’s upstairs café. We bypassed the menu and put our faith in the hands of Alice Waters’ accomplished staff for the entirety of the evening. First up was a celebratory glass of champagne, followed by a couple of delicious pizzas and the best bottle of meursault I had ever tasted (which people had started producing before I was even 10 years old).
Next up, a tasting of seasoned vegetables and a light, leafy salad, paired with a local chardonnay from Napa Valley. Everything tasted like it had just been plucked from a garden — fresh, crisp, and full of flavor. After that, a savory plate of gnocchi and a bottle of santenay from Burgundy, both of which were consumed in a matter of minutes. I would have licked my plate clean if I hadn't been sitting in such a fine establishment! We then transitioned to a brothy fish soup paired with a red bandol magnum, then onto a family-style plate of spicy sausages and a ’96 barolo that I had been looking forward to trying before I had even won the contest. The night was progressing perfectly.
We continued with more bottles of champagne, bordeaux and syrah, and finally ended our meal by sipping cappuccinos and enjoying tasty desserts of apple tarts, ice cream, and pomegranate pudding. It was pure bliss. Slightly sloppy, yet utterly satisfying, bliss. A bliss – that in true Google fashion – would not go unrated. This was truly a Best Ever experience.
So here’s what I wrote in my review on Chez Panisse's Google Places page:
Posted by Caitlin Compo. Photographs by Angelica Realce.
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