WHY The buffet lunch is inexpensive and wonderful. WHAT The mountaineer/photographer/chef trained in Austria and brings a gourmet sensibility to Tibetan and Nepalese cuisine, which is reminiscent of both Chinese and Indian food but more subtly flavored. Karma Tenzing Bhotia’s menu spans the Himalayas, from lowland curries and dals to highland yak, noodles and momos [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Thalis—think of them as Indian combo plates—offer a great way to begin or renew your acquaintance with this rich cuisine. WHAT This aptly named café features dishes from many regions of the Subcontinent. Standouts include masala dosa, a rich eggplant salad with tomato sauce and ginger yogurt, tandoori fish, lamb frankie and lentil soup. [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Some of the best Thai food in the San Gabriel Valley. WHAT Saladang’s dining room is chic and modern—with exposed ducts, colorful table settings and handsome rattan chairs—and its food deliciously fresh and well-presented. The yellow curries, satays, light fried calamari and spinach-and-duck salad are all excellent. The menu is thoughtfully laid out with [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Romantic patio setting and an evocative, just-challenging-enough Thai menu. WHAT The glass-walled dining room is attractive, but the open-air patio—set off by 15-foot-tall steel panels laser-cut to suggest the patterns of Thai fabrics—is the ideal setting for consuming the street food-inspired dishes served at this sister restaurant to neighboring Saladang. Standouts include the crispy, [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Seafood salad, burrata with pesto and roasted tomatoes, ethereal thin-crust pizzas, classic pastas, excellent fresh-fish specials. WHAT Briganti is the sort of lively Tuscan trattoria that’s common on the westside but rare on the eastside, and South Pasadenans can’t get enough of it. The joint is always jumping, with noise bouncing off the brick [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY The lovely rosemary-lined patio and the refreshingly uncomplicated modern American food: grilled sandwiches, crisp-skinned chicken, a terrific burger, and its decadent deep-fried trio of delight: sweet potato fries, french fries and the best onion rings in Pasadena. WHAT South Pasadena has become a really good town to be hungry in, and this place is [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY The pastas are terrific. WHAT This is the San Gabriel Valley’s most consistently excellent Italian restaurant, combining warm service, a serious wine list and downright delicious food. Don’t miss the baby lettuces with roasted peppers, eggplant and goat cheese; the black and white tagliolini with scallops and saffron sauce; and the whole grilled branzino. [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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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 [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY New York strip, spinach with caramelized sweet onions, well-mixed drinks, and, for those who save room, chocolate soufflé. WHAT The setting is retro-modern—rich mahogany, white linens, etched glass, Craftsman-influenced light fixtures—and the fare is reliable comfort food for the captains-of-industry set. Prime steak is a specialty, along with simple and carefully prepared sides (asparagus, [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Effortlessly retro steakhouse classics and a bar that’s jumping enough to give sleepy La Cañada an actual hot spot. WHAT This is no poseur steakhouse. Taylor’s, the only branch of the beloved 1953 L.A. mothership, is a genuine outpost of all we know and love about steakhouse ambience and cuisine: red Naugahyde booths, iceberg [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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