Cafe 140 South

Located at 140 South Lake Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101, Cafe 140 is the place I have walked past for almost a year on my way to the Facets Jewellery Store and never had a moment to check it out.  Not so this week -- I just walked right in and asked for a table. I was seated immediately by a very friendly hostess (is "hostess" what what they call them these days? I've no idea, I'm 40 years old, and no longer care about the "in" phrases.)

Cafe 140 South is located on a hustling and bustling area of Lake Avenue, and if you like people-watching, you can sit outside on the patio -- I opted for inside (it was a very hot day - my apologies to East Coasters reading this who are currently enduring over a foot of snow, but yeah, it was in the 70s here).  Cafe 140 South has a nice "upscale" feel about it and has a very well stocked bar.  The interior also has a very classy feel about it, including nicely appointed spot lighting for evening dining.

I perused the menu, while sipping on a passion fruit iced tea. The prices seemed a little more than I would normally pay, but the waitress told me about the "specials of the day" and I just went for it.

To start I had an absolutely exquisite roasted tomato soup, with a deep fried mozarella cheese ball plopped merrily into the middle of the bowl, topped with basil.  It was, in my own words, a "mouth-gasm".

 The soup was accompanied by freshly baked bread with lots of butter.  You can't have freshly baked bread without lots of butter, so don't even think about leaving comments to the contrary :-)

Then, the main course.  It was HUGE, and of course after soup and bread, it looked overwhelming.

 I finished the entire plate.  Perfectly cooked chicken breast, stuffed with Jack cheese and spinach.  The chicken breast was accompanied by a wonderful whole grain mustard sauce, the perfect accompaniment for the chicken.  The vegetables, zucchini, carrot and broccoli were also perfect cooked, not too soggy, not too under-done. I believe the phrase is al-dente...it was utter bliss.  The waitress stopped by my table and I gave my compliments to the chef - she replied "Oh I certainly will, he just made up this recipe this morning". 

Okay, so here's the deal.   My bill came to $28!  Yes, this is WAY more than I would normally pay for a work day lunch (and I didn't even order dessert!!), but to be fair, I wanted to give an overall impression of the restaurant.  So, I asked myself the following questions:

1.  Would I come here everyday for lunch based on the prices? - NO.
2.  Would I come here to impress a potential business client? - YES.
3.  Would I be impressed at being taken here on a first date? - YES

So, there you have it. Classy, elegant, excellent food, helpful and friendly staff. I give Cafe 140 South:
a NICEY-BUT-PRICEY TWO THUMBS UP!!!!

Daisy Mint Oriental Cafe

Daisy Mint is a delightful little place at 1218 Colorado Blvd, in Pasadena.

You can get directions at http://www.daisymint.com/

Walking into Daisy Mint is just beautiful, light, airy and clean, you immediately feel comfortable here, and as for the smells emanating from the kitchen, well, all I can say is if you walk in here and you weren't that hungry, you soon will be.

 My colleague Elsbeth suggested this place, and I can see why she likes it.  The prices are extremely reasonable, and the food is mouth-wateringly good.  (when its served hot that is -- ahem, I'm getting there). 

Elsbeth ordered the Green Curry Beef.  I had a taster, and it really is delicious: curry beef, with eggplant, green beans, bell pepper and basil.  A nice sized portion, and at $6.95 is tremendous value for money.

Colleague Dora ordered the Daisy Noodles.  This dish is comprised of rice noodles, red curry, egg, crispy onions, bean sprouts and crushed peanuts.  Again, as a lunch special at $6.95, is a great deal, and as you can see from the picture below it was a VERY generous serving.  Dora really enjoyed it and pointed out, and I quote "Well its good and peanutty, that's for sure".  I had a taste, and its not what you want if you have a peanut allergy!! 

Yours truly ordered the Yellow Curry Chicken.  The dish arrived, but I couldn't quite smell the wonderful curry aroma I was craving.  And then I understood why.  When I tasted it, it was luke warm (well, it was almost cold). Ugh.  In any event, I told the waitress and she took the bowl of curry, and went back to the kitchen.  While I sat and fumed waited, I took this little shot of the interior of Daisy Mint. 

 Well, despite the little temperature snafu, the dish, when it arrived at a proper temperature, really was delicious, and at $6.95, this simple dish of curry chicken, coconut milk, potatoes and carrot, was a curry-lovers delight.  I ordered brown rice and the side salad that came with it was fresh, crisp, and had a  light sesame dressing, which was a nice contrast to the medium heat of the curry.

 I give Daisy Mint a big thumbs up.  Despite my temperature-related gripe, Daisy Mint's staff were helpful, always available and very polite.  I will definitely eat here again!!  Check out their website: http://www.daisymint.com/ for the menu, hours, and directions.

Nine & Nine Thai Kitchen

Nine & Nine Thai Kitchen is my FAVORITE Thai Restaurant, EVER!  Huge praise I know, but thoroughly well deserved.  Located at 754 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91101, it is one of those places you might just drive by and not even notice. To us locals however, it is a staple lunchtime eatery.  Don't misunderstand me, there are a LOT of good Thai restaurants in Pasadena, but given a choice, I'll eat here every single time.  The entrance is nicely decorated and inviting:

The interior of Nine & Nine is small, but inviting and the open plan kitchen at the back looks clean and the smells emanating from the kitchen are to die for! 

Here's the lunch menu! Check out the prices!!

On this particular occasion I met with Heather. We hadn't seen each other in a few weeks because she was so mentally scarred from the last food review lunch of work commitments. Each dish comes with a simple salad and a light peanut dressing:

 I ordered the Pork Garlic dish (my favorite). Should I ever find myself in the unlikely position of having to order a "last meal" this is what I'll order, hands down, no questions asked:

It is so delicious - garlic pork atop freshly (and I do mean fresh) cabbage with a side of rice. The dish is delicately garnished with green onions and served with a side of sweet and sour dip and a vegetable roll.  At $6.95 you simply cannot beat this kind of value-for-money. 

Heather ordered the Chicken Panang, also $6.95.

I tried a little of Heather's dish. If you like spicy (not overly hot, but spicey nonetheless) this is for you.  We washed everything down with Nine & Nine's deliciously sweet Thai Iced Tea:

As a foodie wanna be chef but no time or money for culinary school what I love about Nine & Nine is that you can really taste that they are using fresh ingredients - and it makes a difference, trust me.

Our bill, for the two of us, came to less than $25, and you just can't beat that.  As to the wait staff, they are always impeccably mannered, attentive, and polite and seem genuinely grateful that you have come in to dine in their kitchen. Nine & Nine is a great lunch place, and if you are into REALLY great Thai food, this would be a wonderful option for a first date (if your potential date likes Thai - actually, this would be a winner frankly).

I give them TWO THUMBS UP and I only wish I had more thumbs, heck I'd give them ten thumbs up. Well done Nine & Nine!

Nine & Nine has a website:  http://www.nineandninethai.com/

Wolfe Burgers, Pasadena

Behind this somewhat unassuming frontage lies a culinary delight. Wolfe Burgers is located on Lake Avenue in Pasadena, right across the street from my office.  Rather annoyingly, there is no cross-walk, tunnel or overhead walkway to get directly across the street to Wolfe Burger, so you either have to walk down the street to Colorado, cross and then head back up Lake Ave, or walk up to Union and ....oh, you get the idea.

I love burgers, but I was not sure that I would enjoy the taste of wolf. Fortunately, for me and for wolves everywhere, I had completely misunderstood the concept of this place. Phew!  I ordered the Wolfe Ultimate Burger, and here it is:  toasted bun, tomato, lettuce (not too much lettuce, which I applaud), red onions and blue cheese atop a beautifully cooked burger.  The cheese MADE this for me.  I also loved the fries, which believe me, I could tell were not cooked in 3 day old oil - these babies were FRESH!

My only gripe (and this is not a criticism of Wolfe Burger - its a purely personal thing) was that the bacon was WAY too crispy. I prefer my bacon-al-dente, if there is such a thing (there is now - I just invented it).  Overall I give the Ultimate Wolfe Burger 9.9 out of 10.0.  And I'm not kidding, the blue cheese was just a delicious extra touch. The Ultimate Wolfe Burger was $9.75 (including my large drink) and although I wouldn't spend almost ten bucks every day on a burger, the freshness of the burger and the size of the meal, well, it was money well spent.  Obviously this is also not a particularly healthy lunch, but once a week is a nice treat for me. And I can't blame my extra pounds on burgers (I blame it on my diet-of-facebook-and-blogging-addiction-and-general-innertia...but I digress).

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If you don't want a burger there are other options: Pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, omelettes, pastrami, ruben and steak sandwiches, burritos, tacos, quesadillas, and a wonderful selection of different salads.  You can also select from an excellent variety of side dishes including: mushrooms, onions rings, baked potatoes and zucchini. Heck, they even have biscuits and gravy ya'll!!

I sat right in front of the kitchen and ordering area.  They have some neat "wolf" artwork, and a great corner condiment bar for everything you might need. I was also impressed at how clean this place is.  You know how sometimes when you go to a condiment bar and you just cringe at the grease and grime and the goop all over the mustard and ketchup packets? Well, not Wolfe Burger.  The place is absolutely immaculate.

In additional to the interior seating area, which has lots of tables and a big screen t.v., there is an outdoor patio, and beyond that, an additional outside seating area.  All walks of life wandered in through the front door - business people, tourists, locals with theirs kids -- its a nice mix of people, all just wanting a good old American Burger.

In summation, Wolfe Burgers is all about fast GOOD food .  Wolfe Burger is all about the short order cook and FRESH ingredients.  Its not the kind of place I would immediately think of to go on a first date, but if you are in Pasadena, Wolfe Burger is where its at for great fast food, competitive prices and cleanliness.  I should add that the staff at the front with whom you order are very fast, friendly and helpful. Kudos to the Wolfe staff!!

You can check out the menu at:  http://www.wolfeburgers.com/

Avanti Cafe - Pasadena

Greetings foodies! I cannot believe it has been five (yes FIVE) months since I posted a review.  My apologies -- I changed jobs and moved from downtown LA to the wonderful and fabulous Pasadena.  Believe me when I tell you, I have certainly eaten (a lot) since May, which would explain my ever-expanding girth, but thanks to some clever undergarments, I still look about 130 lbs (but trust me, I'm a lot fatter with my clothes off).  Today I sampled "Avanti Cafe", which is a grueling 45 second walk from my office...yes, life is tough.  Here is Avanti, at 111 N. Lake Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101.

Avanti specializes in wood fired gourmet pizza.  The sign outside the store says they are the best pizza in Pasadena, and legendary food critic Elmer Dills says "I Agree" (rest in peace Elmer).

Guess what?  Elmer was right!  The food is utterly fabulous.  Regular readers of this blog (and I sincerely thank both of you) will remember that when I was located on the West Side, I regularly dragged along dined with my friend Kimberly.  Now I am several miles away, I have two new guinea pigs lunch pals, my co-workers Jennifer and Socorro, and WOW what a lunch!

Here is the Linguine Carbonara: Linguine topped with prosciutto ham, shitake mushroom and parmesan cheese and garlic in an alfredo cream sauce - to DIE for!! I also loved that this is a huge dish and its only $12.95!

Just in time to mop up the cream and garlic sauce, some complimentary garlic bread rolls arrived.

Pesto Pasta Fettuccine! Pesto sauce with basil, pine nuts and garlic in a cream sauce.  Again, well done Avanti on the portion size and only $11.50.  

In the age old tradition of saving the best until last, I give you the mouth-watering Glazed Apple Pizza. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven.  What could be more delicious that roasted baby garlic, glazed sliced apples, roasted peeled red peppers, gorgonzola cheese, leeks and roasted almonds. Thank you!!  We ordered the small one which was $10.50.  Lord have mercy, it was a thing of beauty...

Being the team-spirit co-workers that we are, Jen, Socorro and I grabbed our plates and filled up on each of the three dishes. Here is my plate:  Paging LA fitness, is my treadmill ready?

Here is a quick glance of the interior of Avanti.  Its very light, airy and comfortable.  Socorro and I are also curious what olive oil they use at Avanti, (because it is fabulous) but no amount of spying or scoping yielded any results.

Another quick interior shot I took:  Avanti received the prestigious and highly-coveted Elmer Dills "thumbs up".  Quite right too!! 

I would definitely concur with their own sign: 

The food at Avanti is fantastic, and wonderful value for money. Both of my thumbs are in the "up" position! I highly recommend you try this place.

You can reach Avanti at 626 577- 4688
http://www.avanticafe.com

Mexican Cafe

A few weeks ago, I sampled "Uptown Mexican Cafe" in Whittier, California with my good friend Karla.  Here it is:

Uptown Mexican Cafe is located at 7040 Greenleaf Avenue in Whitter, California.  Its the kind of place that you drive by and if you blink, you miss it.  Fortunately for me, during lunch, I noticed that Karla doesn't blink, so PHEW for that!  I'm kidding of course. In fact, Karla grew up in Mexico, where her family owned and operated a hunting and fishing camp, so she knows her Mexican food !!

 Inside the restaurant it is simply furnished but very colorful, right down to the Toucan hanging from the ceiling. Yep, I said Toucan:

Our waiter was a heck of a nice chap, and immediately brought us our iced tea and chips and salsa.  There were two salsas, one mild and one much hotter. I prefer the milder one, and boy I finished that whole bowl, trust me.

There is a regular menu and a lunch specials menu. Karla knew what she wanted, but I was an annoying lunch guest by repeating the phrase I just can't decide about 9 times.

Karla has eaten at this place for many years, and went for her usual (and delicious looking) Cheese Enchilada served with rice and beans.

I continued on perusing the lunch specials. Here is a sample of what they offer:

After many Oh but that looks good too and oh wait they've got this as well I decided on the Corn Tortilla rolled with shredded beef.  The dish is served with rice, beans, guacamole and sour cream.  I cannot even begin to tell you how delicious it was. Oh. My. Goodness.  I finished the whole plate (If my mum had been with us she would have said Oh Wendy, honestly love, you've practically scraped the pattern off the china).

And all was right with the world that afternoon. Although we were there during lunch-hour, the place wasn't over-crowded, which surprised me, but perhaps the people walking by outside were busy blinking.  After the meal, we thanked the staff, who were wonderful, and here is Karla with our amigos.

I would not hesitate to eat at Uptown Mexican Cafe again. GREAT value for money, wonderful service, and of course outstanding food.  They also have locations in Industry, Cailfornia and La Habra California.

By the way, as I have previously mentioned, ALL of my friends are very talented (I'm the only exception).  Karla is an extraordinary Western Riding Instructor AND pet portrait artist.  Check out her riding site here:
www.karlaflippinridinglessons.com/info.html
and her pet portrait site here
http://karlaflippinpetartist.com/

WOKCANO

Greetings Foodies!  It has been a while since I've posted, but that hasn't let me stop eating, I assure you.  (Note to self: just answered my own question about why am I not losing weight...but I digress). Back in April, I was on stay-cation.  Stay-cation (for those of you that don't know) is when you are on vacation from work but cannot actually afford to go anywhere.  That said, I had a great relaxing time, and caught up with some friends in and around the Los Angeles area.  I had to return some books to the library and noticed WOKCANO and decided that I would check it out.  I contacted my buddy Dairenn who works in the area and asked him to please please come eat with me so I don't have to eat alone join me.

WOKCANO http://www.wokcanorestaurant.com is (yet another) Asian-Fusion restaurant chain which is becoming very popular.  They have several locations in Los Angeles. Pictured above is where I went with Dairenn, and Angeleno foodies will immediately recognize this as downtown Los Angeles at 800 W. 7th Street (between Figueroa and Flower).  Non-foodies will immediately recognize it as that place next to Macys.

We were seated immediately and after briefly catching up with the hellos, how are you's, how's life and here are those books and that DVD I'd promised to lend you's, we ordered.

The Miso Soup was okay, but as I have discovered in many restaurants these days, it was TOO SALTY !! As my good friend Susan down south would say "honey, it had more salt than Carter had liver pills".  Maybe if there were less salt in Miso Soup, we might all liver little longer?? Just saying....

Oh, but OH OH OH the next course completely redeemed WOKCANO in my eyes. Oh for the love of all things holy (and I'm not religious so it had to be good for me to say that), behold the GARDEN SALAD.  It wasn't just the salad that sent me into a When-Harry-Met-Sally-I'll-Have-What-She's-Having moment, it was the dressing !!  The menu described a "Ginger Dressing", and it certainly contained ginger, but there was something else in that dressing that gave it a creaminess and a slight sweetness that was the absolute BEST dressing on a salad I have ever eaten.  The salad was light and crisp and I practically just put my face down onto the plate and just noshed away.  All this excitement for $5 !!

When I finally regained my composure (I'm so going back there just for the salad) I ordered the Roasted Duck ($18).  I really enjoyed this.  It was cooked perfectly, and had just the right amount of crispness on the skin. It came with a bowl of rice and some nicely-blanched broccoli.  By the way, the serving was huge, and I had to do what all classy foodies do and take it home in a box.

Dairenn ordered the Orange Crispy Chicken ($13) which was also delicious.

Here is Dairenn, giving his dish a hearty "thumbs up".

With our drinks, our bill came to $40, and for the amount of food (and the salad dressing) it was very good value for money.  WOKCANO is a great place to have lunch with folks and given the quality of the food (salty miso aside) I would recommend this as a place to perhaps impress a date.  Our waitress Jen was an absolute delight.  I highly recommend WOKCANO.

By the way, Dairenn is a very talented musician/singer/songwriter, and he has just released an album. (seriously, all my friends are more talented than me, all I do is eat).  So if you feel like some cool new music in your life, check out his music samples here http://www.starfiremusic.com and then (in my best Emeril Lagasse voice) Go buy yourself a couple of hundred copies will ya?


Next up on the review?  Mexican food with my friend Karla !!  Stay tuned.....