Coffee, tea and what?
Complete lunch and dinners now at Equator coffeehouse
By Dan O'Heron 12/27/2007
To survive in a field dominated by Starbucks, many independent coffeehouses have gone from catering to creative loungers to making things efficient for high-tech loiterers; from passing the sugar to refoaming the latte, from serving simple cinnamon buns to labor-intensive slurps and sandwiches.
But there’s one old-line coffeehouse — Equator — that has upped the limit: Now you can go in for a good cup of coffee and stay for a real dinner.
“With the high rents in Old Pasadena,” said owner Teddy Bedjakian, “the only way for Equator to survive in business is to keep its good name and remodel with a totally new concept”
Equator
Asian fusion restaurant
and café
22 Mills Place, Old Pasadena
(626) 564-8656
By linking a full-service restaurant to the coffeehouse, Bedjakian said he’ll be courting the wider patronage necessary for Equator to continue as a place that brings people together for nourishment, connection, celebration and surprise. “And, I mean business. I’ve signed a 30-year lease.”
In for the long haul with Bedjakian is Jack Zhang, former general manager of the popular Wokcano restaurant located right next door. “Jack became a big influence for me to change the Equator. I would drop in to Wokcano after hours and he would cook up something special. It was delicious. He was the right man for my kitchen. He’s now my partner.”
In auditioning, Zhang said he prepared dishes for Bedjakian, not by rule or recipe, or from Wokcano’s menu," but from inspiration." These fancies now make up the menu at Equator, which is billed as a marriage of Asian styles — Japanese, Chinese and Thai with imaginative sallies from Zhang. (The menu includes knickknack noshes of dim sum on weekends.)
I too have been inspired by samplings of Zhang’s lunch and dinner offerings. These include appetizers like steamed Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, the prized white flesh of seared albacore tuna topped with crispy onions, and spicy tuna tartar, tiered with avocado on crackling wontons ($8 each).
Signature entrees include beef filet mignon cubes, redolent of a marvelous basil, honey and black pepper sauce ($14). And my all-time favorite fish, black cod, is enhanced by Zhang’s cooking.
Often black cod, or sablefish as it is sometimes called, is marinated so long that its plump flesh becomes melt-in-the-mouth soft. That’s dandy, but much flavor is diluted in the process. In Zhang’s special brew of miso paste, sugar, herbs, sake and mirin (a golden, rice wine sweetener), the soaking time is cut in half and natural flavor is not lost in the firmer texture.
Only one item was taken from Wokcano’s menu — honey-glazed shrimp with walnuts ($14). "It was so popular, I couldn’t leave it behind," said Zhang. "But I’ve added ground pineapple and made it crispier."
With food this good, I won-
der if it’s possible for a fine restaurant to co-exist with a
coffeehouse. Can you imagine well-dressed people waiting to get seats for dinner that are occupied by slack-limbed youths reading free weekly newspapers? Is Equator to be a house divided?
"Yes," said Bedjakian. "The right of the entrance is for coffee; the left is reserved for dining. A hostess will direct traffic."
A proponent of Zen Buddhism, Bedjakian said he will apply the fancy footwork of feng shui design to carry the day. He describes it as a design of "insight and calming," aimed at combining the restaurant and a coffee-
house indivisibly.
Right now, compelling paintings of Michael Hussar are especially congenial for pondering the yin and yang — pleasure and pain — balances of life. One depicts an attractive nude couple having dinner at a restaurant. In the background, an older woman shows displeasure; a drunken man, indifference. Underneath the table, busboys grin. Another painting shows a graceful swan descending on a bathtub filled with the effluvia of a fat lecher and blood.
Hussar’s art alone is worth coming to the restaurant. Soon, complete fish dinners like sea bass filets, steamed with fresh scallion and sweet soy, will be added to the menu. With attractions like these — in the spirit of feng shui — Bedjakian will have to add a big mirror to reflect on the cash register. Already, the room is illuminated by chandeliers, their thousands of glittering prisms strung bead by bead by Bedjakian.
There’s a taste of yin and yang in an Equator exclusive black tea. A blend of Queen Victoria and Blue Lady teas, it’s called "Queen of the Damned." It heads a lengthy list of herbal, fruit and floral loose-leaf bowls, reputed to be Zen-fed with calming and rejuvenating qualities.
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