WHY It’s the Spago of Pasadena.

WHAT Its California pizzas, organic vegetables, open kitchen and inventive cookery made a big splash in once-stodgy Pasadena when it opened in 1985, and the Parkway Grill remains an appealing destination today. Classic dishes—roasted-beet salad, lobster-filled cocoa crèpes, superb short ribs with parmesan mashed potatoes, seasonal fruit crisps—are the way to go. There’s a good wine list and the bar is great, particularly on the weekends, when live jazz is on the menu.

WHO Well-dressed local power people.