PITTM,
I haven't been to Manresa but have heard it is fantastic. I've been to Chez Panisse a couple of times. It is very good, but I think it is overrated. I mean, you get incredible, fresh, seasonal stuff prepared very well. Alice Waters pioneered a lot of what is now standard at a lot of "California Cuisine" places and really blazed the trail for tons of high-end places here to make this sort of simple, fresh food with local, seasonal products (doing this at a time when fine dining pretty much meant heavy sauce, super-rich, French style cuisine). But I just don't find much here to be all that innovative, just a lot of very well executed relatively basic stuff.
I mean, look at the menu:
http://www.chezpanisse.com/pgdownmenu.html
Everything on there is gonna be delicious. But there's nothing on that list that makes me say, wow, that sounds like something really incredible and different I must try that!
Don't get me wrong, it is very good. I just don't think that you get the sort of sublime dining experience that you get at many of the restaurants it gets compared to.