Ah, the good life! At your large umbrella-shaded table overlooking the pool, with an iced tea or chardonnay in hand, it’s easy to forget about the troubles beyond the walls of the grand old Huntington. The ladies who lunch and the business folk who meet chat quietly over flawless chicken Caesars, gorgeous Cobb salads and [...]
Everything you could ever want in a fast-food joint: vinyl booths, grungy concrete outdoor tables, messy chili fries, huge burgers and its claim to fame, a stupendous breakfast burrito, stuffed with more bacon than your cardiologist wants you to eat in a lifetime. 640 S. Arroyo Pkwy., Pasadena, 626.793.0120, luckyboyburgers.com, American/Mexican. Open daily to 2 [...]
We shouldn’t even tell you about this great neighborhood secret, but here we go: These folks steam an excellent mocha. The flaky apple turnover is from Europane, so what they don’t make themselves they procure from the best. It’s a regulars’ kind of place; one laptop-sporting regular says he knows Café Culture has been here [...]
This place is a throwback–I’m pretty sure I saw Rod Serling musing on a stool in the parking lot. Schreiner’s has been in this location for 50 years, and in Burbank for ten years before that. So says the helpful frau behind the counter in the Bavarian dirndl. We expect a butcher shop when entering, [...]
What is left to say about the hamburger? It’s the quintessential American sandwich. It used to cost a nickel. Now, you can get a gold-flecked burger on Wall Street for $175. At Fleur de Lys in Mandalay Bay, Hubert Keller will sell you a foie-gras and black-truffle-stuffed Kobe burger, served on a brioche truffle bun [...]
Taco Station opened about three months ago in a converted gas station at the intersection of Green and Chester, just west of PCC. It’s a cute little place, with outdoor-only seating under bright red umbrellas. For company you’ll have PCC and Caltech students, dog-walking locals happy to have a decent place to chow down in [...]
A toe over the Montrose line, this shop has baked tasty northern European and Scandinavian goods for eighteen years. Limpa, anyone? Or how about poppy, or Black Forest, or rye currant, or 28 other varieties on the shelf depending upon the day of the week? You’ll also find buttery cookies, cakes and tortes, as well [...]
You might expect a takeout window next to a liquor store to be a chili-fries kind of place, but you would be wrong. Gerlach’s has an extraordinary menu, ranging from Middle Eastern classics (lamb kebabs, falafel, stuffed grape leaves) to excellent fresh grilled fish (salmon, shark, tuna) at low prices. Both the fish tacos and [...]
This one’s going to be at our own Rose Bowl, and it’s set to be a doozy. Why? Two words: crowd control. The Festival‘s previous iteration, like basically every other major street food event since the food truck renaissance began, was a zoo. Huge crowds and long lines, besides being unpleasant in and of themselves, [...]
The owners of this new restaurant/bar in the handsomely restored 1925 Santa Fe Depot at Del Mar Station have thought of everything. Good-value happy hour? Check. Retro-hip mac ‘n’ cheese? Check. Grilled ahi tacos? Check. It’s got it all, from name-dropping martinis to a thoughtful kids’ menu, and at this writing, all of Pasadena was [...]
