Stepping out and up
Sun and stars still shine on Pasadena’s famous al fresco scene
By Dan O'Heron 05/13/2010
Pasadena may have taken a hit when the big tent folded up at Twin Palms, but al fresco dining here remains as desirable as a long soak in a hot tub.
At the western gateway to Old Pasadena’s numerous treasures, you’ll find a trove at Villa SORRISO, as an archway opens up to large patio spotted with elegant evergreen shade trees, a cascading water wall and a romantic fire pit.
With a pistachio-crusted Alaskan halibut, it’s an atmosphere that will keep you seated — unless it’s between 3 and 6 p.m. and word gets out about the “$1 Reverse Happy Hour” pitched on the sidewalks up the street at Kabuki: Order one appetizer or sushi plate at regular price and a second is yours for $1.
Later, turning right, it’s OK to make the sign of the cross to pay respects to Twin Palms, the former temple of outdoor dining in Pasadena.
But then — poof, an epiphany — across the street a well-dressed woman is sitting at a sidewalk table at Green Street Tavern. The tables are adorned with white linen, clinking crystal and nattily knotted napkins. And the lady is munching on lamb Panini, gloves off.
Elsewhere in the neighborhood of sunshine and stars, Barney’s Ltd. shows off famous salads with a split personality: a farmhand for freshness, a spendthrift for oil, an intellect for vinaigrette and a madman for tossing.
Then there’s Café Santorini, whose balcony patio on a breezy day is mindful of a ride on great white yacht, jubilant with flags of the Mediterranean. You’ll want to share with other sailors a $19 platter of Club Med veggie, cheese and yogurt specialties.
Across the One Colorado plaza, the 100-seat patio at Il Fornaio is festive with monthly excursions that reflect regional recipes of Italy from hip to Alp to island. June is Sardinia month.
Up the street, famous for its Manhattan-style night life, Mi Piace also gets the nod for summer morning sidewalk breakfasts that include some of the best-imagined omelets that have ever scuffed a pan.
Nearby, Wokcano keeps the haunting hours ticking for picnics: It’s warm, vaulted brick enclosure stays open until 4 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Walnut shrimp past midnight is a curfew-breaking vice.
In midtown, while the once tour de force Pasadena Playhouse has been forced to close for the time being, across the street, El Portal restaurant’s patio puts on a good show: Umbrellas, bricks, palms, weekend mariachis, authentic Yucatecan cuisine and a charming staff work together in most hospitable ways as once they did in elegant Mexican haciendas in Old California.
Elsewhere, in the chic South Lake Avenue shopping district, sidewalk strolling boulevardiers gang up on two places.
One is Cafe 140 South (the redesigned former Crocodile Cafe, same ownership, same menu), since 1986, the advance agent for refinements in California cuisine. In a patio dew-pearled by misters, guests are untroubled even as a day is ablaze. A must try:
a pear salad with Stilton, the king of England’s cheeses, with both cheddar-like mellowness and the pungency of a blue.
The other — a fun patio where the fork may run away with the spoon — is Burger Continental, which features dolled-up burgers
and moderately priced Greek, Mediterranean and American dishes. Here, there are also belly dancers whose stomachs undulate while their feet snap and toe bells jingle — and your burger gets cold.
While the Four Seasons Tea Room is rich with allusion to auspicious occasion — an epic return to Victorian England — the patio is more like a commoner’s garden in Devonshire: twining ivy and floral overlays emitting just enough sun to brighten your day.
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