A Little Bit of the Islands Comes to Pasadena

To say I enjoyed my evening at Roy’s would be an understatement. I loved it!

Flaming tiki torches light the way to this Hawaiian-inspired restaurant, centrally located in the Playhouse district. Theatre goers rejoice! Roy’s is just a block from the Playhouse on the corner of El Molino and Colorado.

Christopher George is not just the chef; he is a partner who has worked with Roy Yamaguchi for a decade.

“I want to create value,” says Chef Christopher.  “What we’ll do is put that value in great food and great presentation and just an overall great experience from the moment you walk in to the minute you get that dessert.”

Chef is CIA trained (that’s Culinary Institute of America not covert ops!), and he has a lot of influence over the menu. There are tried and true Roy’s favorites, but the rest is all Chef Christopher.

To begin our meal I indulged in a Hawaiian Martini, a little taste of pineapple and a whiff of coconut blended with vodka to create a light refreshing drink. Crunch Golden Lobster Potstickers arrived at our table. The potstickers had a definite lobster flavor and were set off by the slight heat of a Togarashi (Japanese 7 spice) Miso butter sauce.

Lakanilau Rolls followed a dynamite crab, tempura asparagus and avocado roll topped with Kobe beef. There were definite layers of flavor here. The first taste was the crab and sea followed by the smoky beef. This is one to share with your tablemates.

Kim Chee Spiced Sea Scallops made an entrance. I had all but given up on scallops recently; too many times I had to endure rubbery hockey pucks with little or no flavor. Roy’s scallops were the bomb! Large, tender and flavorful, they had a bit of heat and tart from kim chee and were topped with black tobiko (flying fish roe) that popped when bitten into and lent a briny punch to the scallops.

A Filet Tartare rounded off our appetizer course. Chopped beef filet was topped with a raw quail egg and garnished with capers, lomi tomatoes, mango catsup and basil crostini.  All blended together on the palate to form a delicious mélange of flavors and textures.

Roasted Garlic Herb Broiled Hawaiian Ono with Caesar grilled romaine and onion marmalade was brought to our table. The ono was served medium rare “cool on the inside, sashimi-like,” said Chef. Combined with the sweet onion marmalade, this made a very luscious dish. I don’t usually wax philosophical about vegetables, however, the Caesar grilled romaine was out-of-this-world good.

The next entrée we tried was the Uni Dynamite Roasted Alaskan Halibut with herb mashed potatoes and caper lime butter sauce. The halibut was, as Chef said, “really fantastic stuff,” tasting so fresh one imagined it had been swimming in the ocean just that morning. The Dynamite sauce added a bit of spice, a little complexity to this delicious dish.

A Pork Porterhouse with Chef’s “power sauce” came to the table accompanied by whipped potatoes and baby vegetables. The pork was butter-tender and very lean. I asked Chef about the “power sauce.”  “It’s a combination of all three braising sauces,” he said. “We reduce all three of those down together so you get that nice power sauce, that nice sheen.”

For dessert we were served the Melting Hot Chocolate Soufflé and the Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Both of these desserts are specialties of Roy’s and require 20 minutes prep time. The restaurant suggests that you let your server know if you would like either of these desserts. I would say, yes you absolutely do!

The soufflé was heavenly; oozing molten chocolate and served with vanilla bean ice cream and raspberry coulis. The Pineapple Upside Down Cake was a brown sugar cake topped with caramelized pineapple and served with coconut ice cream. It would be hard for me to pick a favorite, they both were so good.

Prices at Roy’s are moderate. They have a great three course Prix Fixe menu that offers a choice from two appetizers, four entrees and two desserts all for just $35.00. Appetizer start at $7.00 and top out at $13.00, entrees begin at $22.00 and go up to $32.00 and most desserts are $7.00. They have a large wine list with many wines by the glass many for $8.00.

Roy’s is located at 641 East Colorado Blvd., on the corner of Colorado and El Molino. They are open for dinner Sunday – Thursday, 5:00 – 10:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 5:00 – 11:00 p.m. For reservations and more information call (626) 356-4066 or log onto www.roysrestaurant.com.