Intelligentsia Pasadena: Preview Lunch, a First Look

Knowing Pasadena residents have been looking forward to the opening of Intelligentsia Coffee's Pasadena outpost for a while now, but few may have known just how special the 3rd SoCal location would be. The space in Old Town comes with a kitchen and will soon have a liquor license. That's right, it will be a full-on restaurant with about 73 seats serving market-fresh menu and a nightly farmer's market prix-fixe dinners.
The food at Intelli-Pasadena is prepared by Matthew Poley, whose partnership with Intelligentsia started when his catering company Heirloom LA catered Intelligentsia's Christmas party. The result of Poley's experience at Angelini Osteria, La Terza, All' Angelo and Barbrix can be seen in the housemade cheese (e.g. goat's milk ricotta and sheep's milk ricotta drizzled with chestnut honey) and charcuterie platters, his specialty mushroom-ricotta and shortrib raviolis, crispy flatbreads, rib-cap lettuce tacos, and an incredible salad of fresh peeled asparagus and fennel. You can also find his famed (super cute and good) lasagna cupcakes a.k.a "lasagnettes" in various flavors, vegetarian or otherwise.

"lasagnette"

This is a definite upgrade in the space that used to be Wok 'n Roll and if Poley can maintain this quality food, Intelligentsia can easily be the best restaurant in Old Town, or at least on that part of Colorado Blvd. This style of eatery, while not new in general (pioneered long ago by Chez Panisse), is a first in Pasadena.

Intelligentsia's pastry case will feature scones, muffins, and cookies from Cake Monkey, as well as lychee tarts and other pastries from Bottega Louie, but if you're dining in might as well indulge in special treats from Cake Monkey: an unbelievably moist chocolate bread pudding and seasonal fruit crisp.

Bread pudding, Fruit Crisp (Cake Monkey)

Lychee tart (Bottega Louie)

Wash everything down with the slightly sweet and caramel-y black cat espresso, or the SCAA "best of origin" prize winner La Isabella coffee. If tea is more your speed, try their staple Iron Goddess of Mercy tea or the sweet and earthy Golden Needle cold brew.

La Tortuga cappuccino

More photos (of the charcuterie and cheese platters, ravioli, flatbread, etc) in this slideshow:

Intelligentsia Pasadena opens tomorrow and will be open for short days (10-4) for the first week but soon you will be able to get a grab-n-go lunch bag and coffee starting at 6 am and stay late for a prix fixe dinner (beer and wine involved).


Intelligentsia - Pasadena
55 E. Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91105
626.578.1270
@IntelliPasadena







Disclaimer: This preview lunch was hosted by Intelligentsia (i.e. gratis)

Recap: Taste of Santa Fe 2010

Taste of Santa Fe was the annual fundraiser for the New Mexico History Museum, apparently a pretty small event that had hibernated over the recent years. This year, though, they relaunched Taste of Santa Fe bigger than ever, gearing it up to be one of the premier food events in the area. For that same reason, they invited Angeleno bloggers who are willing to go to Santa Fe to join them for the event (Disclaimer: we received free tickets to the events and lodging, but paid for own transport).

The main event took place at the Santa Fe Railyard Park on July 17.


It was a hot afternoon in Santa Fe (about 94 degrees!), and having been spoiled in Southern California, we had a hard time bearing with the sun and the heat. That's why I immediately veered towards to gelato booth and got the Blackberry Cabernet Sorbetto from O-Gelato, which had just opened on July 3.
Their other flavors included Ispaha, made with Parisian rosewater and raspberry, and Harry's Peach Bellini.

Mole and taquitos were abound, but there were more than New Mexican cuisine to be found at Taste of Santa Fe, although of course many incorporate ingredients and influences from the area. The resorts and fine dining restaurants participated with offerings such as seared tuna.

A non-VIP ticket to Taste of Santa Fe only gave us one drink, which was unfortunate considering the weather. I had to choose carefully. Since the wines weren't local and I tried many of the beers from the Santa Fe Brewing Co., I opted for the Chicken Killer Barley Wine Ale (yes, partly due to its awesome name).
This was fairly balanced with a bit of both maltiness and hop without being too bitter for me.
You can buy fork up cash for more drinks, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic, though we didn't do so that day.

A sample of the homemade lemonade from Flying Star Cafe was such a lifesaver in the sweltering heat, I even stopped by the actual cafe to buy a full glass.

One of my favorite tastes that day was this BBQ ribs with red chile honey glaze and green chile cole slaw from Josh's Barbecue.

This year's event brought Chef John Sedlar of Rivera Restaurant in LA for a cooking demonstration. Chef Sedlar grew up in Santa Fe and has also given us some restaurant recommendations for the area.
He prepared a dish called Scallops Arabesque which calls for Vadouvan, an Indian spice blend.
Chef Sedlar suggests using grapeseed oil since it can go to high temperature and doesn't burn.

Since Chef Sedlar had also made this dish for a Los Angeles Mag's event, you can find the full recipe for it here.

Chile, both red and green, can be found everywhere, including on your kettle corn. Kernel's Kettle Corn which normally parks its cart on the Plaza, offers three flavors: original, red chile, and green chile. Both sweet and spicy, these were actually pretty addictive.

Can you see the red chili powder?

Little Senegalese at Bissap Baobab (San Francisco)

Senegal (French: le Sénégal), officially the Republic of Senegal ... is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa.

--from Wikipedia

Besides the fact that it was in Africa, everything I knew about Senegal (for example, their official language is French) right before my dinner at Bissap Baobab I owe to a quick read of the Wikipedia article. We were greeted by a tall well-built guy speaking French.

The place was hopping and we had to wait a few minutes for a table. I decided to have a drink and tried the Tusker, a Kenyan pale lager ($4)

My friends went instead with the Coconut-infused rum. Be careful with these, they are as easy to drink as a Calpico soda and you can get drunk in no time (plus they're reasonably priced, making getting drunk even easier).

While we were waiting at a bar for a table, the bartender gave us some piping hot plantains for free!

Aloko (fried plantains, tamarind sauce - $4.75)

Well, it's hard to mess up fried plantains, and the tamarind sauce was an unusual but delicious accompaniment.

Though I was wary having African cuisine given my first experience involving mango pits (Nigerian), the appetizers we tried all had familar flavor profiles. The somone was similar to a potato croquette, a bit sweetened by corn and served with a creamy avocado sauce instead of aioli.

Somone (mashed potatoes mixed with corn, parsley, garlic, flour, and milk. Served with avocado sauce - $6.25)

The menu explained where many of the dishes came from, and I had no choice but to order the Tiep Dien since it was supposed to be the official dish of Senegal.

Tiep Dien (Red Snapper cooked with red Jolof rice - $18)

This somewhat reminded me of a seafood paella + jambalaya. The snapper is meaty and while it could be a little more moist, it was plenty flavorful and so was the rice. A rustic, comfort food dish. The Brazilians have their feijoada and the Senegalese have their tiep dien.

Bissap Baobab was a much better African food experience than my first, with more familiar flavors (I'm not trying to say the restaurant I went to before was bad, perhaps I'm just not used to it). It was a good, hearty meal with tasty and reasonably priced drinks and a fun vibe. Service was pretty slow though, so don't come here when you're in a hurry.

Bissap Baobab
2323 Mission St
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 826-9287
http://www.bissapbaobab.com/