Roger to the rescue
The Barkley saves the day for this critic
By Dan O'Heron 09/06/2007
Where does a restaurant critic go when he's on deadline to write a review, and the strength of his appetite does not equal the duty?
Usually, it's to a bar — hopefully a decent cocktail bar that comes with a restaurant where the food is good to eat even when the critic is not very hungry. Or better, a place where the critic had previously enjoyed eating though he had yet to tell anyone about it.
Hunting down story material the other day around South Pasadena, with my appetite going less than full tilt, I found that the Barkley was just the place.
The Barkley Restaurant & Bar
1400 Huntington Drive,
South Pasadena
(626) 799-0758
Full bar.
Free adjacent parking.
Sidling up to the bar, and seated in a comfortable, high-backed, padded swiveling chair, I stopped worrying about my little problems; after a couple of drinks I'd have all life clarified in a moment of revelation.
Instead, I ordered a glass of water with nothing on the side. Unless reporting about the ritual of mating wine with food, I don't drink on the job anymore, sometimes. Before stepping away to the dining room to join a pal who had an appetite for food big enough for the both of us, I took one last look at the bar and was impressed by the public dimension of its design: The gracefully curving semicircle allows a clear view for sizing up all the other customers before deciding which one to bother or, on Fridays and Saturdays, to ask to dance.
My pal was chomping away on a club sandwich that I managed to snatch just in time so I could take a piece home to relish when my appetite returned. I remembered that this basic Barkley Club (turkey, roast beef, bacon, lettuce and tomato on egg bread for $9.95) had been named "the best of its kind" in Los Angeles by Los Angeles magazine.
However, I was too late for the coleslaw. My old buddy, while clearing his plate right down to the porcelain, paid another tribute: "There are probably as many variations of coleslaw as there are cooks; I wish they all would use this recipe."
Fine, but I wished he would have ordered Chef Ruben Martinez's classic prime rib. I tried to describe the taste of a Barkley's prime rib dinner I had eaten a long while back, but words like "thick,” “tender,” “juicy” and “you can cut it with a butter knife” were not enough to express my praise.
To maintain the highest standard of freshness, the prime rib is served only on weekends. Daily beef offerings include filet mignon and New York steak dinners complete with potato, salad and vegetable, for $26.95. All beef is labeled Certified Black Angus. For lighter eaters the kitchen has a longer reach into full-meal salads, ranging from $6.95 to $10.95. They include everything from a classic Caesar to a New Age mango/papaya, spicy pecan chicken. From swirling platters around the bar, appetizers (from $3.95 to $16.95) feature essentials like garlic toast, potato skins and buffalo wings as well as hard-to-collect armadillo eggs.
The restaurant, which opened as the Crossbow in 1951, and was purchased in 1993 by the late radio humorist Roger Barkley, has not slowed down with age. Glasses sparkle, napkins are nattily folded, there are no hanging chads from the upholstery — and the service makes tipping worthwhile. It looks to me like owners Carlos Quezada and Luis Cruz, both former employees of the Barkley, have done a good job enhancing the traditions of warm hospitality and generosity that were set by their mentor.
Waitress Linda McCollum said she feels that old regulars from the boarded-up Monty's Steakhouse "should come here to get out of the cold."
A lot of new younger faces are warming the dance floor on Friday nights with blistering runs from live Latin rhythms.
I'd rather show up on a Saturday when much of the beat slows down to a two-step. For me, slow dreamy steps, turns and pauses — stealing glances with someone I'd met at the bar — would seem like a victory lap.
CHERRIES BLOSSOM
Hurry! The season for picking dark red cherries from the tree is almost over, but there's still time to taste a fiery, fresh cherries jubilee dessert at CrepeVine Bistro & Wine Bar (36 W. Colorado Blvd., Old Pasadena; 626/796-7250).
For safety reasons, romancing the stoneless Bings is not quite the daring experience it once was: Now the mixture of cherries, sugar and vanilla brandy is flamed in the kitchen — at the chef's peril — before it is spooned over delicious housemade chantilly cream ($9).
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