Restaurant
Vladamir’s in
Inverness by Point Reyes
Sometimes a restaurant is more than
excellent food, which Vladamir’s has. Sometimes it’s more than atmosphere
(dark wood beamed, tiny tables, a little fire place, walls covered in Czech
images and equestrian photos). Its more than any one element. It is the
experience of thing.
My George and Patricia have been
talking about Vladamir’s for only about as long as I’ve known them. I can
see why.
Vladamir’s is a little restaurant
in a tiny town in West Marin. It was a dark and rainy night when we went.
We sped down little tree lined roads. Past redwoods. Rolling hills. Low
clouds. Inlets from the sea. And then we came to it. A bit of Czech.
Vladamir, the owner, does everything
himself. Back in the when, he was an Olympic equestrian rider before it
became the former Soviet Czechoslovakia. As the Communists rolled in, he
skied out. When we went, he was wearing a shirt with a little skier symbol
on it. And I must say, Vladamir is a character in every sense of the word.
Riding boots. Quirky manners. He pulled out a bull whip to entertain a
girl at another table, which he snapped and cracked in the tight confines
of the restaurant. She wasn’t the only one who thought it was cool. If
you order a drink, he gives you a bottle and just charges for how much
you drink. And don’t expect the bill to be itemized. You’ll be lucky to
get a piece of paper.
Then there’s the food. It was all
delicious. It’s a $21 set price for any dinner plate on the menu. I don’t
know how he affords it. You get a lot of food. And all perfectly balanced
and spiced.
We had:
Hot vegetable soup with a cabbage
base.
Salad with a mild blue cheese(ish)
dressing
Dumplings with Sweet Cabbage as a
side for all.
Then main courses.
Karen and Patricia had rabbit in
a sour cream and mushroom sauce
George had goose in a plum sauce.
I had duck in a plum sauce
Beverages were a Jacobstown Shiraz
Cabernet and some after dinner liqueur of some sort. It’s Czech. It tasted
like apple cinnamon strudel. It was fairly alcoholic.
It seems only fitting that when we
strolled out two hours later, the sky had cleared and was full of brilliant
stars.
|
