At Pez Coastal, DineLA Week Tastes Like a Day by the Pacific

Just a few steps off Colorado Boulevard, Pez Coastal Seafood is throwing open its doors—and its imagination—for DineLA Week, offering a Baja-inspired three-course menu that’s as elegant as it is adventurous. Chef and owner Bret Thompson sees the annual dining event not just as a prix-fixe showcase, but as a creative playground.

“It’s summer,” Thompson said, gesturing toward the kitchen with the excitement of a chef mid-service. “So we’re pulling from what’s freshest—Coachella Valley dates, peaches, local tomatoes. And it’s also a chance to try out new ideas we’ve been playing with.”

More than 30 restaurants across Pasadena are participating in the yearly event, and all of them are showing off.

Those ideas shine from the first course. Diners choose between a crisp endive salad layered with peaches, almonds, and burnt honey vinaigrette, or a delicate and blissful seared bluefin tuna with avocado, oyster mushrooms, green beans, and a truffle-lime vinaigrette. “That tuna dish—every element is about temperature, texture, and acid. It’s something we tweak constantly,” Thompson noted.

For the main course, diners face an impossible choice: a roasted lamb rack with blistered grapes, olives, lemon-cilantro sauce and silky hummus, or a Pacific seabass in a dashi-black truffle broth with daikon and snap peas—equal parts light, luxurious, and deeply umami. We opted for the lamb, knowing we would be happy either way.

Desserts are no afterthought here. There’s a sun-kissed citrus olive oil cake with lemoncello granite and pistachio cream, or a silky coffee panna cotta with espresso ice cream. And then there’s the sleeper hit of the night: chocolate mint macaron ice cream sandwiches, dreamy enough to warrant a second order.

Two cocktails—cheekily named Island Blossom and The Pharmacist—offer tropical complexity and bracing herbal warmth, respectively. And with a $65 price tag for the whole spread, it’s a remarkable deal.

DineLA Week—which runs through August 8—is more than a marketing campaign, says Thompson. “My wife Lucy and I are actually on the DineLA board. We encourage restaurants to use this moment to try something new, to make it feel special. And people respond—they really come out.”

At Pez, they’re coming out in droves. From weekday lunches to weekend dinners, Thompson says this summer is already trending stronger than last. And with menus like this, it’s easy to see why.

Pez Coastal Seafood is at 61 N Raymond Ave, Old Pasadena (626) 210-0775. pezpasadena.com