Real class in South Pas
Mike & Anne’s offers a dining experience that’s worth the investment
By Erica Wayne 12/04/2008
I love the small-town feel of some of our adjacent and near-adjacent communities. Sierra Madre, Monrovia and South Pasadena all exude a neighborly, sophisticated rusticity that just isn’t part of Pasadena anymore. The main streets of those towns are clean and bright, filled with interesting and unique shops and fooderies that invite exploration.
Yeah, yeah, I know if I look hard enough I’ll find a Subway, Starbucks or Baskin-Robbins. But they don’t seem to have metastasized the way they have in Pasadena. And, in these charming places, parking is still for the most part free — and findable. Frankly, I’m avoiding Old Pasadena like the plague these days (valet parking isn’t in my budget). And, as for the Paseo, I need a GPS to find my way out of the structure.
So, even though most of our much-diminished Christmas funds are going to shelters and food banks, when we wander the pre-holiday streets window-shopping and looking for stocking stuffers, the streets we wander most often are in our smaller neighbors.
Of course a wanderer has to eat occasionally, and all three towns offer plenty of interesting choices. One of the newer ones in South Pasadena is Mike & Anne’s. While most restaurants of this caliber (and priciness) are struggling to attract and keep customers, Mike & Anne’s doesn’t seem to have that problem. Every time we pass or visit, it’s full.
Part of the reason is the eclectic nature of its menu and the inventiveness of the chef. Take the dinner starters, for instance: ricotta-stuffed squash blossoms with piquillo vinaigrette, candied pine nuts and manchego cheese ($10). Pretty cool! New Zealand mussels ($13) come in a broth spiked with vermouth, green olives and chorizo.
Evening entrees include diverse dishes such as Swiss-chard-and-ricotta ravioli with butternut squash and lemon sauce ($16); pork chop with lingonberry sauce, braised red cabbage, sweet potatoes and stone fruits ($19); and petrale sole with lime-yuzu sauce, charred baby bok choy, baby tomatoes and thumbelina carrots ($24).
Mike & Anne’s serves a wonderful breakfast; and, more important for folks like me who try not to start our day much before 10, they serve it until 2 p.m. Until I discovered this perk, it was Coco’s, Denny’s or IHOP — not quite as satisfying as sitting on a sun-drenched patio at noon, enjoying cornmeal pancakes ($8.50) with caramelized blueberries and maple syrup or red flannel hash ($11) made with red and sweet potatoes, beets, onion and bacon and served with two eggs.
On our last visit, I watched a friend devour a barbecue short-rib sandwich ($9) with sliced red onion, tomato and horseradish sauce, while I nursed what the restaurant calls a “classic” grilled cheese ($7). Frankly, my idea of classic grilled cheese is cheddar — sometimes gussied up with tomato or bacon. This one was made with Swiss and whole-grain mustard with caramelized onions. The cheese seemed almost secondary, but it was good. Both sandwiches came with crisp shoestring fries, decorated with sprinkles of parsley. Very nice.
Desserts at Mike & Anne’s are over-the-top, with multiple ingredients that set my heart going pitty-pat. Caramelized apple ($8) comes with apple cream, clove-scented sponge cake, calvados caramel and creme-fraiche sorbet. Pumpkin and pine-nut clafoutis ($8) is dressed with pumpkin butter, lingonberries and (oddly) white chocolate ice cream. And the liquid center chocolate cake ($9) has Nutella mousse, hazelnut brittle and espresso gelato — a magnificent finale.
A lot of care has gone into the wine list. Prices range from the high $20s to almost $70. But the most intriguing beverages to me are the two local (and I do mean local — Pasadena-brewed) beers: Poppyfields Pale Ale and 1903 Lager, both products of the award-winning Craftsman Microbrewery.
But there’s more to Mike & Anne's than innovative cuisine. Service is attentive, and the décor’s as imaginative as the food. From the street, the tree-shaded building looks Spanish (as befits its Mission Street location), but the interior of the main dining room is early 20th century converted garage, with high open-trussed ceiling and concrete floor.
There’s a second elongated space with a bar that’s been opened perpendicular to the first and original dining room, creating an L that encloses the patio on two sides. The woodwork in both rooms is wonderful — dark and rich in the main space (wainscoting, rafter beams and furniture all the color of black coffee) and lighter in the addition. A lowered arabesque blond-wood ceiling over part of the new space creates a “moderne” feel.
Wherever you sit, inside or out, the dining experience at Mike & Anne’s is usually stellar. So, if you've managed to catch a few dollars as your portfolio fell, you might want to splurge on a somewhat magical meal. Go on, you deserve it! Carpe diem and hope for the best.
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