I haven’t posted in a while because I feel like I’ve been stuck in a rut, albeit a pretty comfortable one. Every day I play the piano and most days I do some form of exercise. I’m getting ready for our open house which is three weeks from today. I procrastinate on at least one chore, usually US income taxes. My husband and I together do something Celtic.

Therein lies the core of the rut. More than once a week we are either dancing Scottish , going to a Scottish music session, or going to an Irish music session. Again, not an unpleasant rut. We’re getting to know a lot of really nice people and interacting with music we enjoy. But last week I was starting to chafe at the consistency. So I googled ” -ai jazz clubs near me”.

“-ai” is my new best friend for energy savings while browsing. Get greener, baby!

I was looking for something similar to venues in Santa Cruz, either a casual club that books traveling acts like Kuumbwa, or a local venue for amateurs like the Jazz Society. My first hit, though, was a swanky restaurant with multiple spaces, one of them a jazz club, but focused on upscale food and including a dress code. This would vault us out of the rut!

When I made the reservation at Jackeline Barcelona there were lots of questions to answer as well as a chance to submit a photo, which I did, so when we showed up last night we were recognized and escorted directly to the Jazz Club section, an intimate space for the smaller performances, with room for 30-40 guests and a small stage. Our waiter took our coats (it was in the low 50s last night) and later went back to retrieve my husband’s glasses from his coat pocket. We had cocktails and dinner and dessert. And yes, there was a competent, professional, singer-fronted piano trio performing.

First the music. I booked the first possible jazz offering–other genres are in rotation, including flamenco–so there were no sax or clarinet, which usually would be our preference. We liked the band well enough though it was quite polished, not a go-to characteristic of jazz bands for us. The song selection seemed unusual, with several I had not heard and even one my husband had not heard, so that was positive, since despite our recent rut we do like new stuff. Amusingly, the emcee exhorted the audience both to applaud the performers and to socialize at low volume so other patrons could hear the music. This was not a gathering of jazz-sophisticates, rather a celebration-night vibe.

Now for the food. In terms of quality, creativity, and presentation, I would say this was a Michelin-competitive restaurant, though admittedly I haven’t been to one of those in a while, even though there are two one-stars within walking distance of our apartment. I should have taken pictures of the dishes, but somehow this is a habit I cannot form at my age, so I will describe our mains. Mine was a hunk of black cod served on a 20 cm long leaf that was folded at right angles so half was standing straight up. On top of the fish was a large mushroom and there were other vegetables around it. The plate was a dark color and on the other side was a pattern of eight dots of sauces, six orange and two black. My husband had spaghetti made with a lobster, whose limbs had been removed and turned into meat and put into the spaghetti, but whose head and carapace were sitting dramatically on top. As the waiter placed the dish, the lobster seemed to be staring at me indignantly, so I asked my husband to rotate it.

Actually, I have to describe the desserts as well. Mine was tiramisu which arrived on a plate with a metal cylinder standing straight up in the middle and rings of sauce radiating from the cylinder toward the rim of the plate. After setting the plate down, the waiter picked up the cylinder and the tiramisu emerged, sagging down a little while a wave of a different creamy sauce fell onto it. My husband had a chocolate sphere, which was literally that shape made of a hard shell of dark chocolate, filled with chocolate mousse and other variations of dark chocolate. When served the shell had been cracked open, so half of it was standing up and the other half leaning to the side, exposing the luscious interior.

Everything was startlingly delicious and succulent, including our starters, bao buns with pork belly and hummus with crackers, which you will just have to imagine. Start by discarding most of what you know about those dishes; these were magically unrecognizable and so so good.

The chef is Dani Padró. I am not a chef follower but I feel he earned a shout-out.