Beverly Tucker is hovering over her whole grain pancakes, searching for the right words.
She’s been coming to Rick & Ann’s in Berkeley every week since it opened 36 years ago, back when the restaurant that made a name with singular breakfast and lunch dishes also served thoughtful, farm-to-table dinners seven nights a week in a now-forgotten upstairs dining room. It’s the kind of place where the line cook’s daughter works the front of the house, customers bring servers homemade banana bread, and the boss, owner Ann Lauer, has done every job there is.
On Aug. 31, Rick & Ann’s will close for good. As Lauer nears her long-awaited retirement, Tucker is here for one last stack and to bid adieu to what, by her estimation, is the perfect restaurant…