Vacation

Heading out to taste the wines of the Edna Valley and Paso Robles area, and to eat some of the food of the region too! Will be back with some non-local reviews of the food and wine.

Pie 'n Burger

I grew up in Pasadena. Third generation, my grandfather worked for Cal-Tech then JPL, and my grandmother was in the women’s club, my father was and engineer at, well you know, that big building. I spent too much time at Bullocks on Lake Street, and cried when Macy’s bought it. I couldn’t believe it when Saks closed, wasn’t there enough rich old ladies in Pasadena to keep it going? I remember the Haagen Daz, and Jergens.

Fast forward several years. Notice in the above paragraph I did not mention the place, you know the place that everyone talks about. Its probably because I was a vegetarian for 8 years, them moved away for 10, and now that I have been back in the Dena for 10 years, someone had to drag me to a Pasadena icon. Gee how could I have ever missed the place?

I met my S.O. for lunch, I was shopping on Lake Street, yea, I have come to terms with Macy’s, and I actually like Ann Taylor! So I had worked up quite a hunger. We decided to go to Pie n Burger. He was appalled that I had not been there, and I call myself a native.

The place was busy; as I am sure it usually is at lunch. It was much smaller that I thought, with just a few tables and a counter. The menu is basically on the wall. Everything right there, it takes you back a few years too, Lo Cal plate, when is the last time we heard that. I started to consider something other than a burger, a grilled tuna? chefs salad? and quickly snapped out of it.

Cheeseburger, NO thousand, pickle, lettuce, tomato and grlled onion; thank you, my S.O. had hamburger with the works, drippy, messy, apparently delicious Thousand Island homemade on the premises.

Well, I was not disappointed and snarfed up every last bite of the hand made patty with the perfect amount of melty cheese, and french fries. The size is just right; you can get your mouth around the thing, barely. The charm of the place is that it takes you back, the kitchen is right in front of you and you watch everything being made, the waitresses have been there forever and seem to know everyone, except me of course, even my S.O. was recognized. He probably is a closet Pie 'n Burger fanatic but wouldn’t let on.

Oh, and the pie, not that I had room for any, well just a bite, boysenberry, yum. My suggestion is to go off peak times so you don’t have to wait and get ice cream with the pie. Yum.

Pie 'n Burger 913 E. California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91106 626.795.1123

My New Obsession

Several months ago I started reading a site called Chow. This site is amazing for anyone interested in food, like me. After reading so much about something called xiao long bao, XLB, or soup dumplings, I began to salivate, to dream about this comfort sounding food, to wonder what the taste would be like. A steamed dumpling of pork and crab, some type of gelatinous stock so when steamed it melts into a bit of soup in the dumpling. Now I am as white as they get and my past experience with Chinese food is pretty lame, and had no idea wht to expect. But I decided to try these little gems. A few weeks ago I made the trek down to Valley Blvd. I was hooked. So hooked that I actually dreamed about the dumplings that night. So when the opportunity to take a crowd to this place came up, to order lots of variety, to taste the little bundles of joy once again came up, I jumped on it.

Today I went to Mei Long Village for the second time. There were 8 of us so we were able to order a variety of dishes to try. I loved all of them, but my favorite is still the XLB - Soup Dumpling. I can't get enough of these, by the end of the meal we had consumed 5 orders of them!

All in all we ordered hot and sour soup, pork pump, lamb with green onion, black pepper beef, orange chicken, jade shrimp and the crab and pork dumplings and some vegetable dumplings too. It was amazing. We all enjoyed the food, even the less adventurous enjoyed it so much they were willing to try things that they would not normally eat.

We celebrated my sons 19th birthday. Several of his friends were with us and at the end of the meal there was nothing left to take home. I asked the waitress if the XLB would travel and how an order to go would hold up, she said it would not be a good idea, so we had one last order! The people there were nice, some spoke english which helped, one of our group asked for a fork and the waiter giggled so hard we all had to just crack up! I am hooked on those lovely bundles of joy. My new obsession. Thank you Chowhounders for telling me about this wonderful place! A new obsession.

Another Italian Joint

Il Forno is a large open restaurant with a large bar at one side, beer and wine only. There is also a lovely patio that has a fountain. I have been here several times as I work a block away and any time some decent place to eat moves into town we are thrilled, a place for lunch that is walking distance. The owner has been in the restaurant business for years and always greets me warmly when I walk through the door.

Downtown Azusa is known for its purple light poles, and lack of any destination type place restaurant shops etc. However over the last couple years things are changing. Gone are the pawn shops and boarded up hotel, now there is Starbucks, a small Japanese restaurant (which I don't recommend), real estate offices, and Il Forno.


The food is consistent, the only complaint I ever had was the day it opened and my pasta, though good, was served cold. I think their strengths are the pasta dishes and the thin crust pizza and calzones. They have several sandwiches on the menu and other than the sausage or meatball are just sandwiches. There is a selection of salads and now during the summer months there is almost always a salad special on the board. I have had their soups also and find them good and flavorful.



The prices are right, and the owner has been through a couple iterations of the menu, this one seems to be sticking. I will continue to frequent the place, consistent close to the office and friendly. If you are in the neighborhood it is worth a try. But for really authentic Itialian go to Brigante.

A SoCal Gal reivews a Sammie from Philly

So after reading post after post on different CHOW boards regarding the mouth watering Fredo’s Philly Cheesesteak, I decided I had to try it.

First of all I am not an expert on The Philly Cheesesteak. In fact I think I have eaten only one, at Canyon City BBQ, prior to this experience. I think Canyon City’s sammie was good, but far from authentic, so the experts say. They use tri tip, so its more of a tri tip sammie with the philly fixin’s. My experience is based on my love for food, not to vouch for the authenticity of the Philly Cheese steak!

Fredo’s is just north of Orange Grove on Lake Street. I found street parking on Lake, luckily, the place is pretty bare bones. Comfortable tables and chairs with a few condiments, a few Philadelphia decorations and pictures of Cheese steak eaters on the wall, clearly finding a niche, but clean and I felt welcome.

I told Dan (the Owner) I heard great things about his sammies and I ordered the super, which came with onions, pepper, and mushrooms. There is a choice of cheese offerings, but I did not name mine so I assume I got the traditional “white” as the menu offers.

He took my order and immediately told me that the kitchen staff is all new and today was there first day. He was clearly concerned, and chatted with me while I waited for my sammie. He is not from Philly but lived there for several years, and has worked in the business for a while. It sounded like Fredo's is his first restaurant endeavor.

My sammie took about 10 minutesto make, and I got it into the car with the intent to wait until I got home to eat, but since that is 10 minutes away I thought I had better try at least a couple bites. Yum. It was delicious. I took several large bites in the car and then devoured the rest of that half when I got home. Tons of meat, not a single piece of gristle, juicy with out being soggy and just the right amount of melty cheese and pepper, onion etc. so as not to overwhelm. I have no complaints. My bread was soft and fresh, and the roll was large but definitely did not overwhelm the sammie. Plenty of meat in every bite and half was more than enough. Fredos sammie was very large, huge in fact, easily shared.

I hope he does well. I will go back, and I recommend the Super.

The Journey to Babita

I suppose I have fallen into “food block”. I have not put up a bite for weeks. I have even been to Babita recently and couldn't find the recipe for writing a post. So here I am finally, with a main course of words.

Ahh. The journey to Babita has a story behind it. My SO and I had been dating not quite 1 year when we realized that in a week or so the day we first stared into each others eyes over some margaritas and lousy Mexican food would be upon us. We decided to honor the event, to celebrate, and this time to find some delicious Mexican food to do so with that was worthy of the occasion.

Well we didn’t have to look or even think about it as I had wanted to try Babita for months! So thanks to my chow hounding friends no search was needed.
The restaurant is on San Gabriel Blvd right next to Saint Anthony’s Church; it is on a corner, and from the outside you could never imagine the tastes, smells, and the culinary adventure that being on the inside will take you on.

The reservation was for 8 and we brought a bottle of 1997 Stags Leap Merlot. We were seated by none other than the chef himself, and I immediately engaged him in a dialog about his menu. He joked quite a bit with me and told me that he wouldn’t order the soup, which I had inquired about, and then went on to describe it in such a matter my mouth watered. I get it he is playing with me! When he opened the wine he poured it he then proceeded to pick up the glass and take a very deep sniff of the bouquet, he was so obviously enjoying it that we offered him some. “No, not while I have to work”, he declined. And then when I asked him for recommendations he told me to close my eyes and pick! He was such fun, we enjoyed the banter immensely!

I noticed he circulated among the tables that had all been seated about the same time. Then disappeared to cook, and his wife took over. It is almost as if they arrange the seating, since they did not have a 7:30 reservation available, but the resturant was far from full when we arrived and during our meal it did not fill up. It was nice.

The Shrimp Topolobampo was on my must try list, but I was discouraged to order it by our waitress as I had indicated I didn’t want anything too spicy. I ordered a ceviche instead and it was amazing. Fresh, light, tangy, not fishy, it was red snapper and perfect We also shared a Cesar salad. I know, who orders Cesar salad at a Mexican restaurant, but this was an incredible blend of flavors.Probably one of the best I have had, you could tell the dressing was just made; it was rich and had a strong bite of anchovy perfect.

The lamb shank was what my SO wanted, but they were out of it when we arrived so he settled on the Barbacoa. I ordered the Cochinita Pibil. My pork was melt in your mouth and 2 tangy cold salads of one of red cabbage and one of onion accompanied the pork. The beef cheeks, which neither of had ever had were very good. My SO thought a little fatty, but I assume that the nature of the dish. Fresh tortillas were on the table and we finished everything!

The evening was perfect, for every reason. I suppose the only complaint I might have is that there was a long wait between courses the evening being a bit of a slow process. It seemed that Roberto and his wife were the only ones there.

I want to go back and try one of his seafood or fish dishes next. Or maybe get daring and get the Shrimp Topolobampo

Tarrantino’s and Scarantino’s

In the last few weeks I have had the opportunity to try both of these quaint little Italian places in Pasadena.

I have been wanting to go back to “Dino’s” for the last 10 years, I had my 21st birthday dinner there with my father, grandfather, and sister back in um 1981! (yea ok so now you know how old I am). I vaguely recall having this after dinner drink called “Lost in the Woods”, I had asked the waiter (and boy those young Italian men were so cute back in ’81) why the name? Ah, because once you drink one you feel as if you are lost in the woods! Yes, it packed quite the punch!

Dino’s evolved to Scarantino’s about a year ago, same family, similar menu. The inside was not as dark as I had remembered, it was busy, but not full on a Saturday evening, the food in front of people looked appetizing, and I was hungry. I opted for chicken piccatta, it was a little over sauced but not overcooked, I ordered my pasta with alfredo instead of a red sauce and the combination was nice. There was the Dino’s salad that I remember, same dressing. Which I liked quite a bit, sort of a creamy tangy Italian.

There were large amounts of food served. I ordered wine by the glass, a Paso Robles chardonnay. I believe it was $9 a glass, which seems a little steep compared to the overall pricing, which was very reasonable for the amount and quality. I would defiantly go back; it was not gourmet Italian, but it was good and I am going to guess that it will be consistent, and a good place to take those who want a typical Italian restaurant with a standard menu.

A couple weeks later I was invited to a birthday dinner at Tarrantino’s. I love this little hole in the wall (seriously). They take cash only, and have rows of tables against the walls, and tables also going down the center of the restaurant, and yes they have red checkered tablecloths! And there was this clique of 4 men sitting at one of the tables that could have been Tony and his Captains. This place gets high marks from Chowhounders and I was anxious to try their food.


One of my favorite dishes is Carbonara, especially when it is prepared traditionally. It was on the menu, so I was in heaven. Other dishes ordered were a spinach pizza which I had been also anxious to try, shrimp pasta and spicy eggplant pasta. Of course we all started with a Tarrantino’s salad. The dressing was a tangy vinaigrette, my only complaint was too much oregano. I think I like Dino's, OOPS, Scarntinos dressing better.

When my dish arrived it looked delicious! My mouth watered. Chunks of proscuitto and pieces of onion, flecks of red pepper; I stuck my fork in and twirled a nice bite to put in my mouth. Mmmmmmmm! The pork was cooked just right, a little fatty a little crunchy a lot of flavor, the pasta was cooked al dente and the sauce was perfect. My only complaint was the fact it was very spicy, a bit too much red pepper. But I am also a wimp when it comes to spiciness. I continued to eat (and share) my dish, drinking big gulps of wine to put out the fire. I also tasted the spinach pizza, what a delight! There was a generous layer of spinach under the melted cheese. Happy food. The prices are incredibly reasonable, the menu is varied, and the food is wonderful. We brought our own wine; the corkage fee is $10. I can’t wait to go back and order the carbornara again, easy on the pepper flakes.

Scarantino's 2055 E Colorado Blvd Pasadena (626) 844-6633
Tarrantino's 784 E Green St Pasadena (626) 796-7836