WHO'S CHARLES: paragon.

I'm not a big yelper, but I'd still like to think of myself as somewhat of a foodie.

So ferris chose to go paragon bar and cafe at the claremont hotel in berkeley for birthday dinner.

there's ferris's hand reaching into the candy cup at the maitre'de stand. kim encouraged us to go for the butterscotch candies. they were really delicious and just had an ending note with a hint of orange citrus.

It was pretty affordable and an overall good experience, save for our terrible waiter. she literally came to our table three times: (1) to take our drink orders (2) to take our meal orders (3) to give us the check. luckily kelly can speak fluent spanish so she could ask the bus boy for replenishments of bread and water (lots of water). he and a couple other servers were the ones that actually brought us our food, bused our plates and gave us the necessary to-go materials.

the dinner menu was rather short which actually made choosing a dish harder. Luckily there was good bread and olive oil & balsamic vinegar to snack on while carefully making up our minds. a very daunting task indeed.

the sourdough was delicious -- crusty on the outside and very chewey on the inside. yum.

what was so great was the view, which kept us busy. and of course taking pictures as we waited.

By process of elimination, I went with the salmon. perfectly cooked. the romesco sauce was also delicious. the brown roasted vegetable it sits on, not so much.

ferris and sid had the steak. the potato gratin was so rich and delicious.

kelly, the grilled cheese.

and seafood gumbo for runty! buttery rice...nom nom nom

sid and kim also split one of the most delicious mac and cheese's ever. my guess if that they added thyme to it.

so I'd give it 3.5 stars overall. it was a nice dining experience. and because the bus boy was so nice, we gave him most of what would have been our waitress's tip.

the night view was also just as nice.