High-power lunch
Derek’s Bistro, a favorite for sophisticated dinners, introduces its new midday menu Tuesday
By Dan O'Heron 04/29/2010
Fed up with eating in the vague space between ho and hum?
Try Derek’s Bistro, which is normally open only for dinner but will soon be serving lunch. Beginning Tuesday, Derek’s award-winning cuisine — with honors including the “Best Restaurant in Pasadena” award in the Weekly’s 2006 Best of Pasadena reader’s poll, as well as numerous Wine Spectator Magazine and Zagat Survey laurels — will be available at noon for guests with discriminating tastes.
Derek’s itself makes for a most charming anomaly. Located in a strip mall between the city power station and Blair High School — a place that cries out for a Winchell’s — Derek’s remains arguably the most sophisticated restaurant in Pasadena.
“Smirkingly sophisticated, with a sense of humor,” added Tony Auer, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Susan.
For Tuesday’s inaugural lunch, Chef Paul Ragan, whose resume glitters with stints in Madrid, New York City and SoCal private celebrity kitchens, has created a menu that includes many a full-dress dish.
Savory strategies begin with an $8 bowl of cold melon soup or a choice of salads that include an $8 mesclun — a potpourri of young, small greens with crispy, delicate enoki mushrooms that are almost fruity in flavor, unlike the bosky taste of most mushrooms. The mix is enhanced with sweet onion vinaigrette.
Third course choices for $14 are comprised of a roasted lamb chop on meaty lentils, seared scallops on sweet pea risotto and charcuterie with a soft, creamy fromage. Major dejeuner entrees for $18 include a five-spice braised short rib, a Kobe burger with house chips, barramundi (Australian sea bass, as available) dripping in orange sauce and seasoned roasted chicken on crinkly, thickly veined but delicately mild Napa cabbage.
For a $5 dessert, have the warm and rich brioche bread pudding, caramel peach ice cream or toffee cappuccino ice cream.
Tony Auer points out that Ragan builds meals from seasonal local produce, fresh seafood, fine meats, game and poultry selected in prime condition. And, he said, both lunches and dinners procure all the positive indulgences the California/French cuisine came to be known for under former owner Derek Dickenson.
Dickenson, with Caroline Armer, his former catering manager and now partner, continues to operate Dickenson West Catering (626-376-3378) in other locations around Southern California. That is, when he’s not at his Chino Hills ranch teaching horses the finer points of dressage. Today, he has nothing but good wishes for Auer and his wife.
“Tony had been my friend and silent partner for many years at Derek’s, and I wish him the best,” said Dickenson.
For dinner at Derek’s, the best might be Chef Ragan’s 24-ounce porterhouse steak. In effect, it is a giant T-bone with meat from both the tenderloin and the top loin muscle, which Ragan encrusts with salt and herbs and then roasts in a cast-iron skillet.
When prepared to order, he removes the crust, carves the meat from the bone and fans it on the plate — sirloin on one side, filet on the other. Meant to feed two for $85, it comes with red wine demi-glace and crispy fried onions.
Other dinner guests might prefer Ragan’s rack of New Zealand lamb, with peppered gnocchi and port wine reduction ($38), Atlantic salmon en croute ($33) or classic pastry-wrapped and baked beef Wellington ($28). “Or it might be the short ribs on polenta, one of six test dishes that convinced me to hire Ragan,” said Auer. Wife Susan recommends seared scallops on sweet pea risotto with a Bell Wine Cellars chardonnay.
Auer has installed a new intimate cocktail area, with the counter of the bar tiered in such a manner that that the food doesn’t get in the way of the drinks. Stools cuddle up to a fireplace so occupants can relax while contemplating the fine wine list.
So it seems lunch is no longer an off-hour at Derek’s, a place where guests can say they have dined and not merely eaten.
Just remember that reservations for dinner are encouraged, “so we can plan,” said Auer. “But we’ll always talk to walk-ins.”
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