Tangerine Is a One-man Operation

Tangerine is one of those places I've walked by and for some reason just never gone in, even though there's a photo of a baby encircled in a lemon wreath, which I find rather charming.

So Dave and I walked in and were immediately engaged by the owner/chef/cashier/server. He seemed happy with my choices because after each of my selections, he answered with an enthusiastic "Good!" I couldn't quite pin down his accent, so I asked. (He's Dutch.) It's a one-man operation where you can see the day's salads through the glass and order at the counter.

It's pretty simple fare. There are a few sandwiches and six (I think)  salads to choose from, as well as a chicken plate, a salmon plate, and a soup.

Dave got a pastrami sandwich and lentil soup. I tasted the lentil soup and really liked it. He said the bread was good but was pretty big compared to the meat portion. (Sort of the opposite of La Farine's very meaty sandwich.) The plates come with field greens and two side salads. None of the salads looked unusual or special, so I got a fruit salad and a Greek salad to accompany my salmon. The salmon was fine—it was salmon. It did come with a homemade tapenade. Unfortunately, I am pretty strict on my anti-olive stance. (Not for political reasons—I just can't stand them.) So Dave got my tapenade to add to his sandwich—which already came with tapenade, but he likes it—so he was happy. And the cantaloupe and grapes were fine—no surprises there. The Greek salad didn't seem to have any dressing on it, so it was very healthy.

There's a counter that overlooks Solano Avenue, but it's mostly a place where people pick up food to go. Which is why even if you eat there, you get to-go containers for your food. But it's not Styrofoam—it's all compostable stuff.

Our host was very friendly and asked us how our meal was. His demeanor was the best part of our lunch there. I might go back just to chat with him.

On a totally separate note, the spell-checker on my laptop tried to substitute tamponade* for tapenade. Who programmed that?

*I had to look it up. It means "compression of the heart by an accumulation of fluid in the pericardial sac." And that's supposed to be more common than tapenade? Please...

For more of Tanya's musings, go to For Words.