Brunch at King's Row Gastropub

I hadn't dined in Pasadena in awhile so when I received a media invitation to check out brunch at King's Row, Pasadena's newest Gastropub, I jumped at the chance. At the time I went, it was only the second week that King's Row had brunch available so there were still some adjustments happening to the menu items.

More ...

One of the first things I learned when I arrived was that the kitchen was headed by Chef Thomas Jesse, who is Filipino-Mexican. As a Filipina myself, I was looking forward to see what delicious dishes I was going to enjoy under Chef Jesse's helm.

 

Before my friend and I placed our food order, we both enjoyed sangrias, white for me and red for her.

 

Then the food started coming out with the first one being the Queso Fundido, a traditional cheese baked with chorizo,potatoes, poblano peppers and topped with a fried egg served with corn tortillas. I've had my share of queso fundido, but this was a first with a fried egg. What do I say about that? Pure genius! I loved the how yolk worked well with the richness of the cheese.

Next came the Country Fried Steak with Eggs, Sausage and Potatoes. The sausages were nicely seasoned and while I enjoyed the battered crispness of the Country Fried Steak, there was one problem with it.  Basically, half of the steak was too salty; yet, the other half was fine. What was strange is that a fellow blogger at a neighboring table said that her Country Fried Steak was the same way. Without that seasoning issue, the Country Fried Steak with the gravy would have been a more enthusiastic thumbs up.

The next dish we tried was the Duck Confit Hash with eggs, applewood bacon, onions, polenta, duck fat hash browns and maple-bourbon sauce. I definitely appreciated that the hash browns were cooked in the duck fat and generally, I was fine with this dish, but I could have easily gone without the maple-bourbon sauce.  That sauce would have been better on pancakes or waffles.  It added a sweet element to this savory dish that I didn't care for, but then my friend enjoyed it. So there you go.

With a burger on the menu, it was a must-order and it was mostly a positive vibes when it came to the Dry Aged Burger with a bacon-onion confit, tillamook white cheddar, St Agur bleu, garlic aioli and homemade roll.  One big hit was the bun which is a housemade focaccia bread.  That bun was amazing. It was light, fluffy and delicately seasoned with herbs.

I enjoyed the pungency of the blue cheese and how it paired well with the soft sharpness of the white cheddar and how the burger was cooked to a perfect medium.  The one miss had to do with the bacon-onion confit which was a little too salty. Perhaps if it was toned down, the burger would be better with it as opposed to without it.

We also had  a taste of the Fish and Chips, which were beer battered fish with house cut chips, mushy peas and house tartar sauce.  It was a solid dish and I fell in love with the mushy peas.

Our final dish was the Bananas Foster Griddle Cakes. I'm not really much of a pancake or waffle kind of gal when it comes to breakfast and these griddle cakes did nothing to change that for me.  The bananas just topped one of the griddle cakes, which left the other two on the dry side and crying for syrup.  That maple-bourbon syrup would have definitely done the job.

As I mentioned earlier, at the time of my visit which was in May, King's Row had only been serving brunch for a couple of weeks. At the time I felt that tweaks needed to be made and perhaps, they have been already taken care of or maybe, menu items have been added or removed since then. Regardless, I thought the food was pretty good thanks to Chef Jesse and I'd definitely make a return visit for brunch or even dinner at a later time.

King's Row Gastropub
20 E Colorado Blvd Ste 102
Pasadena, CA
(626) 793-3010
^

Egg Salad Sandwich Nirvana at Euro Pane Bakery

When it comes to a simple egg salad sandwich, I've never found one I've really liked outside of my own homemade version. Egg salad sandwiches I've had elsewhere have been to dry or too wet. The dryness comes from not enough mayo and/or overcooked eggs while the wetness comes from too much mayo and/or undercooked eggs. I've also had egg salad sandwiches that were too under seasoned or had too much of one ingredient like pickle relish where that was all you tasted.

My egg salad sandwich bad luck ended when my friend, Wasima, introduced me to the Open Faced Egg Salad Sandwich at Euro Pane Bakery. Oh my. At first sight, my eyes grew big. It was certainly a generous serving. In fact, it was a mountain of egg salad with arugula on a tomato pesto slathered rosemary currant bread. This egg salad sandwich seriously needed a knife and fork because there was no way I was going to try to eat that with my hands.

More ...

Once I ate my first forkful, I knew I was in egg salad nirvana. What I loved was the egg salad's creamy texture. It was obvious that the eggs were probably medium boiled, which meant that the yolks still retained some of their liquidy yolky goodness, when mixed with the mayonnaise. The addition of the tart tomato pesto and the peppery arugula added some wonderful flavor nuances, but the final kicker for me was copying Wasima, who sprinkled a little sea salt on her egg salad. Just a little sprinkle of that sea salt made my sandwich that much better.

The only thing that didn't add much, at least flavor-wise, to my sandwich was the Rosemary Currant Bread. Maybe, on its own or with other more complementary ingredients, it would have stood out more. In this case, it's purpose was merely to serve as a vessel to hold all that egg salad goodness, but the Espresso Macaron I had for dessert was one of the best macarons I've had in awhile. I can easily seeing myself coming back for Europane's egg salad sandwich and getting a box of macarons to go.

I'm going to end this post by simply saying, "Thank goodness for my foodie friends!" They certainly play a big part in my exploration of Los Angeles' food landscape and I don't know what I'd do without them.

Europane Bakery
345 E Colorado BlvdSte 101
Pasadena, CA 91101
(626) 844-8804


^

Taco In A Bun from Rick's Drive-In

Have you ever had one of those days when you were out running errands and suddenly, you realized you were hungry? But soon after, you don't know what you're hungry for? So you end up driving home, thinking to yourself that if I see something interesting on the way, I'll make a stop and grab a bite. Well, for some reason, I ended up stopping at Rick's Drive-In. I don't even know if I was in the mood for any kind of burger, but I've been driving by Rick's for years and have heard off and on that they have pretty good food, so I decided to give it a try. After waffling over the menu choices, I went for the Taco in a Bun with French fries.

More ...

Why Taco in a Bun? I'm not quite sure. Perhaps because I wasn't in the mood for a traditional burger so at least, this might be a bit different. I didn't even bother asking what was in it when I ordered it. I just went for it. After unwrapping it and taking a closer look, I saw that it basically had the components of a taco with seasoned meat, lettuce, tomato, and cheese on a burger bun with mustard. Yes, this really was Taco in a Bun, at least an Americanized version of a taco.

So I dug in. Was it the best Taco in a Bun Burger I ever had? I can't say since this is the only one I've ever had, but it hit the spot. If you're really hungry, this burger was a good size, so that's a plus. As for the taco meat itself, it wasn't seasoned enough for my taste; but adding hot sauce was helpful in the taste department. Other than that, the bread was soft and the vegetables were fresh, all good things in my book. Is it something I'd crave or go out of my way to get again? Not really. But for one afternoon, that Taco in a Bun was enough to satisfy the hollow feeling in my belly and sometimes, that's good enough. By the way, the French Fries were some of the best I've ever had, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I'd stop by just for those.

However, while writing this post, I remembered that a friend had blogged about her experience at Rick's Drive-In and when I looked up that post again, she mentioned a menu item that crazily enough may merit a repeat visit to Rick's Drive-In sometime soon. Have you ever heard of the Spuderito? Simply, it's a French fry burrito with fries, cheese and hot sauce. Check out my friend's video below. Come on, you know want one, too. :)



Rick's Drive-In
680 E. Walnut Street
Pasadena, CA 91101
(805) 658-0179


^

Old Pasadena Restaurant Week: Dinner at Vertical Bistro

Except for occasional forays, Pasadena hasn't been a regular dining destination for me for awhile now, but after seeing Gourmet Pig's blog post about the June Old Town Pasadena Restaurant Week, I thought this would be a great chance to check out a couple new-to-me restaurants. With the prices running $25 to $35 for 3 course meals in selected restaurants, I would have been a fool not to. On the first day of this promotion, I took my dining group to Vertical Wine Bistro.

I really liked the ambiance of the space, but what really caught my eye was this ceiling structure that was like an art piece. It brought in natural light to the dining room, but I also enjoyed watching the colors change from white to blues and grays as the afternoon sun made way for evening.

More ...

Anyway, all poetry aside, our meal started with bread that came with this very addicting red pepper dip that was creamy and had a kick to it.

When it came to our appetizers, our table ordered all three that were available and I actually shared all my food with a friend so that we could both try twice as much. My particular appetizer was the Golden Baby Beet Salad with Laura Chenel's Chevre and a cumin vinaigrette. Since I love beets, it was a foregone conclusion that this was the appetizer that I was going to order, but what really interested me was the cumin vinaigrette dressing. That dressing was awesome. It was a bit nutty, a little peppery and just absolutely delicious. I wouldn't have minded taking a bottle home of that salad dressing.

I also enjoyed the Green Market Salad with watermelon radish, sunflower sprouts and the Meyer lemon vinaigrette. This is the first time I've ever had watermelon radish and was expecting it to have a little bite, but it was actually mild. I found out later on that it's related to the daikon radish as opposed to the red radishes. Overall, the salad was very fresh and the dressing added a nice hit of tartness.

Although I didn't try the Tomato Fennel Soup, it was apparently well liked and below you can see a photo of it.

As for the entrees, everyone in our group opted for either the cod or the short ribs. I went straight for the Black Cod which was oven roasted and served with salsify, haricot vert, corn, tomato and a lobster peppercorn jus. As soon as I saw my fish, I already saw one thing that was spot on. Simply, the skin looked crispy and it also tasted crispy. I've been to too many a restaurant where the fish skin is just wasted. The fish itself was absolutely lovely. It was moist and delicate and how can you go wrong with a lobster peppercorn jus?

I also got to sample the Braised Short Ribs with sautéed swiss chard, heirloom carrots and tatziki. Those short ribs were meltingly tender. No knife was needed or wanted. My fork did all the work and every bite was delicious.

Finally, it was dessert time and again, the table opted for 2 of the 3 available desserts. I went for the Panna Cotta with Kumquats and Kaffir and I'm glad I did. The panna cotta was rich and creamy and I really the tart flavors the kumquats added to this dessert.

The other dessert was the Decadent Cake with Hazelnut Gelato. This dessert was the only disappointing part of the meal. Maybe, my idea of decadence is on a different plane, but I didn't get what was so decadent about this cake. It actually tasted like a brownie that was a bit on the dry side, with the gelato adding the needed moisture.

Overall, this first visit to Vertical Wine Bistro was a hit. Although the service was a bit on the slow side at times and the music seemed a little too rock and roll for the ambiance, the food was very good and I look forward to a return visit to check out more of the menu.

Vertical Wine Bistro
70 N Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91103
(626) 795-3999


^

Hot Dog Sampling at the Slaw Dogs

For the past month, I've been hearing a slow buzz about a new hot dog joint called The Slaw Dogs. I finally decided to Google it and see what the fuss was about. When I read about the unique ingredients that made up their Specialty Slaw Dogs, I was intrigued and when I found out that The Slaw Dogs was in Pasadena, a mere 15-20 minutes away from me, my mind was made up. I had to check this place out and brought along some of my dining club members for the ride.

More ...

Since I never know when I'm going to make a return visit to a restaurant, I thought it would be a fun to set up an impromptu hog dog sampling and between the 7 of us, we tasted 8 different hot dogs along with a few sides. Before I talk hot dogs, let me just briefly mention the sides we shared, starting with their Beer Battered O-Rings. I'm an onion ring fan and these were awesome. Light, crispy and not too oily. If you love onion rings, too, you definitely should order these.

Our sweet potato fries were first served to us lukewarm, but after pointing that out, they graciously cooked us up a new batch. Those sweet potato fries were also light, crispy and sweet, but if they were topped with chopped fresh herbs, they would go up a notch even higher.

I'm not exactly sure what makes a Belgian french fry different from regular fries. Is it the fact they're double-fried and/or come with dipping sauces? I liked the Belgian french fries we ordered, but I'm not sure what it is about them that make them "Belgian". In general, all the fried items we tried were cooked just right. I don't think you'll go wrong with either the fries or the onion rings as a side for your dog.

Now let's get to the meat of the matter. Pun intended. As mentioned, we tried 8 different hot dogs, starting with the Picnic Dog. The ingredients for the Picnic Dog included a grilled Vienna all beef link, BBQ sauce, onion rings, potato salad and pickle. This actually wasn't one of the more memorable hot dogs for me although I liked the idea of it; however, about half the group named it as one of their favs.

Next was the Thai Slaw Dog with chicken sausage, spicy peanut-coconut satay dressing, cilantro-carrot slaw, crushed peanuts and siracha aioli. I loved the chicken sausage. It was juicy and had good flavor, but the rest of the ingredients didn't pop for me as much as I thought it should have. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe, the flavors seemed a little to spread out or competed with each other? Along with one other hot dog that I'll mention later, the Thai Slaw Dog was one of the least favorites of my hot dog loving crew.

Life definitely started looking up when I took a bite of the Caesar Dog which was comprised of chicken sausage, chopped romaine, roast garlic, Parmesan, garlic crouton and Caesar dressing. Again, that chicken sausage was wonderful and I can tell you right now that this was my favorite hot dog of our sampling. I loved the freshness and crunch of the romaine, the slight saltiness of the Parmesan and of course, the garlic, from the roast garlic to the garlic croutons. I would definitely order this again.

The yay train continued with The Reuben Dog with a butterflied spicy polish sausage, pastrami, swiss, sauerkraut, Russian dressing on grilled rye. With that pastrami and hot dog duo, it brought me back to the time I had an Oki Dog, a "burrito" that also had hot dogs and pastrami as part of its filling. All the ingredients just went so well together. I liked that there was just the right amount of sour to the sauerkraut and I loved that the bread was grilled to a dark brown versus a pale brown with patches of yellow that I've seen with other grilled sandwiches at other restaurants. This was simply a great sandwich.

Hot dog number 5 was The Green Monster with roasted green chili, chipotle mayo, grilled onion, pepperjack, spicy garlic salsa. This particular wasn't the hit of the Monster Mash. In fact, it was the least favorite of the bunch. This was actually the one I was looking forward to the most, too. The general consensus was that the chili was just too mushy. One of my dining partners mentioned that when these particular chilis are roasted, that the consistency is supposed to be softened; however, that piece of knowledge did little to change our mind. Perhaps, if a crunch component was added to counterbalance the texture of the green chilies, it might be much improved.

Our sixth hot dog was one of the specials for the day and not on their regular menu. The Market "Cali" dog was made with spicy polish sausage, kumquat chutney, habanero pickled onion, mint grilled onions and curry ketchup. I loved, loved the addition of the kumquat chutney, which I never would have imagined on a hot dog. It added fresh, tart, citrus notes. I did think that there were just too many onions. I couldn't really taste the mint from the grilled onions, but loved the kick of the habanero pickled onions. Though subtle, the curry ketchup did shine through.

You'd think we'd be done by now, but nope, two more hot dogs to go with the seventh one being The A.B.L.T Dog with double bacon, chopped romaine, tomato, avocado, roast garlic aioli. With B.L.T sandwiches being one of my favorite sandwiches, the A.B.L.T. dog was definitely a hit with me and I really liked the addition of the roast garlic aioli. I'd rather have that over just plain mayo anytime.

To end our hot dog feast, we had the Country Breakfast Dog which was a special for the day along with the Market Dog "Cali", which I mentioned earlier. Originally, my plan was for us to just try 6 dogs, but when I heard the words"fried egg", all bets were off and that's how we ended up adding the two specials to our hot dog line up. The Country Breakfast Dog was simply a hot dog topped with gravy, bacon, cheese and an over-easy fried egg. Over-easy, of course, meant egg with yolk. Cutting into the egg and letting the yolk soak through to the bun made this one of the messier hot dogs to eat, but it was definitely worth it.

Also with each hot dog came little yellow peppers, which I absolutely loved. A nice hit of heat never hurt anyone. Overall, with a couple of exceptions, I really enjoyed the hot dogs at The Slaw Dogs. I thought the creativity that went into coming up with the unique ingredients really was stellar. A Caesar Dog and a Country Breakfast Dog are definitely not something I would have thought of, nor would I have ever considered topping a hot dog with kumquat chutney or potato salad. The one thing that I do want to nitpick about is the bun. It needs to be a bit firmer to hold the all the ingredients, but I think that's fixable and hopefully, something The Slaw Dogs will look into improving.

What's also nice about The Slaw Dogs is that if you're feeling creative, you can even choose your own toppings as well as from 11 types of hot dogs. You can even choose if you'd like your hot dog simply charbroiled or "rippered", which means deep fried until the meat pops out of the casing. I don't eat hot dogs on a regular basis, but if I was feeling it, you'd definitely see me chowing down at The Slaw Dogs.

The Slaw Dogs
720 N Lake Ave, #8
Pasadena, CA 91104
(626) 808-9777




^

Chinese New Year's Brunch at the Terrace in the Pasadena Langham Hotel + GIVEAWAY!

A couple of weeks ago, I received an invitation from PR Rep, Britta Franson of Weber Shandwick to try out the Chinese New Year's Brunch at the Terrace in the Pasadena Langham Hotel. My previous visits have included enjoying their Chocolate Tea at the Lobby Lounge and a Media Dinner at the Dining Room to check out Chef Michael Voltaggio's new menu, but their brunch at the Terrace was something I had yet to experience. I jumped at the chance and was even able to bring a guest.

As we were being seated, our hostess graciously pointed out where all the various food stations were situated in the dining room. I have to admit to feeling a bit dazed by the time I sat down. There were just so many food options. I already pictured myself having to be rolled out to my car. The first thing I wanted to mention is that while your server was happy to consistently refill both your water, champagne and orange juice glasses, there was actually a Self-Service Drink Station where you could mix your own Mimosas, your own Bloody Mary drink or have a glassful of a drink made up of St. Germaine Liqueur and Green Tea. Choices abound.

More ...

Although the pastry and muffin station looked tempting, carb freak that I could be, I decided to skip it entirely to ensure that I had enough room in my system for everything else. Take a look below at what I "bravely" gave up.

The first thing I put on my plate was cheese and considering that I am such a cheesehead, I actually restrained myself by just taking 3 out of the 10 that were available. I wasn't tempted by the fresh fruit, but a couple of slices of bread with olives called to me.

Around the corner from the bread was a charcuterie lover's delight - various cured meats on wooden boards. Of course, I had to have a piece (or two) of all of them, along with a green bean salad and lox.

Down the stairs was a Sushi Station and a spicy tuna roll and a salmon and eel nigiri also landed on my plate before I sat down to enjoy the first part of my meal.

Now that I've had my fill of cured meats and cheese, it was time to investigate the Chinese Food, a special brunch offering just for the month of February. At one station there was a chef preparing stir fry dishes using fresh colorful vegetables.

Next to him was a carving station where you could get slices of Char Siu Pork and Peking Duck.

Dim sum was also on the brunch menu and included everything from steamed pork buns, and shau mai to shrimp and scallop dumplings. There were even Chinese soup spoons of various condiments for additional flavor.

Doesn't this look a pretty picture below? I think Mimosas should be a new Dim Sum tradition at all San Gabriel Valley dim sum restaurants.

The nice thing about dining at the Terrace was no one was rushing us out the door. My guest and I enjoyed our food at a leisurely pace. There would be moments where we'd pause our eating just to chat and enjoy each other's company in between sips of our Mimosas. I think that also gave us time to digest our food in between forays to the various food stations situated in all corners of the restaurant.

After enjoying our Dim Sum, we found out that there were other Chinese-inspired small plates of dishes like a Hibiscus Poached Chicken with Ginger Orange Carrot Puree.

If seafood was your thing, believe me, you were taken care of. Beneath an ice sculpture, there were raw oysters, shrimp and even crab claws along with lemon and cocktail sauce, if you so desired.

If you're of a meat lover, you were covered to because there was a carving station where you could get both lamb and prime rib with a side of veggies (or not).

Suffice to say, I definitely got surf and turf all in one plate, as you can see.

Since I wanted dessert, I only had a few bites of what was on that plate, which I actually felt a little bad about. In retrospect, I think my friend and I should have shared so as not to be too wasteful, but at least we ended up doing that when it came to our desserts, starting with our crepe. With the crepes, there were also waffles, but I was happy to skip that. The crepes were cooked with your choice of fresh fruit and topped with this amazing caramel sauce. I was feeling the blackberries, which were deliciously plump and tart.

Around the corner was a huge Chocolate Fountain with bowls of fruit, housemade marshmallows and cake squares for your dipping pleasure. I decided to forgo all this chocolate goodness and opted for the dessert station.

The desserts were also Chinese or Asian inspired. There was everything from Jasmine Flan and a Mango Mousse to a Taro Cake and Lychee Fruit Salad. My favorite was actually the Hazelnut Almond Cake with Chocolate. Other sweets included Creme Brulee and a Raspberry Gateau.

In the end, I really enjoyed the brunch at the Terrace although I do have a few quibbles about some of what I ate For example, the prime rib was way too rare to suit me. The Hibiscus Chicken I mentioned earlier was a little too dry and the surprisingly, so was the crab claw meat. The Peking Duck was also a tad oily, but was at least moist and juicy. When it came to the Chinese food, specifically the dim sum, I'd say that there are better options in San Gabriel Valley, but I can also say that there are also worse options in San Gabriel Valley. In geneal, the dumplings and buns were pretty good.

Overall, it was a very relaxing atmosphere with the piano playing in the background. The service was excellent with our beverage glasses always filled as soon as they got empty. As for the food, was it a mind blowing experience for my taste buds? No. I think that's too much to ask of a brunch; however, every thing was fresh and well-prepared and the variety was absolutely stellar. My guest and I got there at 11 am and literally closed the place down. Suffice it to say, we had a great afternoon at the Terrace.

Champagne Chinese New Year's Brunch runs every Sunday in the month of February

• 10 am to 3 pm
• Sunday Brunch is $75 for adults and $35 for children under 12.
• Complimentary valet parking is available.
• For reservations, please dial (626) 585-6218 or book online.

Langham Hotel
1401 South Oak Knoll Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91106
(626) 568-3900


Prize Giveaway!

Now that you've read about how much I enjoyed the Chinese New Year's Brunch at the Terrace in the Langham Hotel, now is your chance for you and a guest to experience this brunch for yourselves! The total cash value for this prize is $150.00 and includes everything you've read in this post. Available dates for this brunch are Sunday, February 21 or Sunday, February 28. What a perfect way to spend a Sunday Afternoon. There are several different ways to enter and each way gets you an entry!

Mandatory (for at least one entry)

1. Leave a comment on my blog and let me know why you'd like to win this prize. Be sure to leave some kind of contact info so that I can get a hold of you, if you've won.
   

Additional Entries:

New to Pleasure Palate or the Langham? You can do any or all of the things listed below for additional entries.

Already Following or a Fan of Pleasure Palate and the Langham? Please mention whether you've already done 1 through 5 and if you've done 6 and 7 for additional entries.

In both scenarios, you can have up to 8 entries each; however, please note that you have to comment back and let me know which of the actions you took, so that I can keep track of them. If you don't, you'll be entered only once instead of multiple times.

1. Follow Pleasure Palate on Twitter
2. Fan Pleasure Palate on Facebook
3. Follow the Pasadena Langham Hotel on Twitter
   
4. Fan the Pasadena Langham on Facebook
5. Join the Pleasure Palate Dining Group
   
6. Friend Me on Facebook AND Mention this Contest on your Facebook Profile
7. Tweet: Win a Chance for Two to Enjoy Brunch at @LanghamPasadena via @pleasurepalate: http://bit.ly/bUaBOS

Contest Ends Tuesday, February 16 at midnight. Winner will be chosen randomly. Please leave some kind of contact info in your comments so that I'll be able to email you if you've won this prize!




^