If there is one theme or message that rings out throughout our coverage of DINE LA week in Pasadena, it’s that no one goes home hungry from any of these restaurant visits despite the reduced prices.
During DINE LA Week (which actually over two weeks, runs until October 28), restaurants all over greater Los Angeles are featuring great specials with lunches as low as $15, to go along with $35 dinners.
There are about 20 participating restaurants all over Pasadena, ranging from New American to Asian to Italian to Argentinian.
You can see the Pasadena list right here.
Saturday night found us at The Kitchen Italian Café and Pizzeria. Seriously, is there anything as comforting as down-home Italian food, especially when you’re famished, as we were?
I’ll take that as a “no.”
The $35 per person dinner menu at The Kitchen offers three starters — minestrone soup; bruschetta, or a Caesar salad, with Romaine lettuce, house, croutons, Parmesan cheese, and Caesar dressing. We went with the Caesar salad, which was a lovely harbinger of good things to come.
There were four main course offerings—Flaky White Fish served in a lemon white wine sauce with capers over pasta or sautéed spinach; meat lasagna with the restaurant’s own signature meatballs between layers of fresh pasta, ricotta and mozzarella cheese topped with marinara sauce; a spinach Ravioli stuffed with spinach, Parmesan and ricotta cheese over a creamy marinara sauce; and a Chicken Marsala with a choice of breaded or grilled chicken breast in a Marsala wine sauce with mushrooms and onions.
We went with the White Fish and the Lasagna. The Flaky White Fish was a very generous portion of fish doused in a lemon white wine sauce with capers over sautéed spinach. Interestingly, the lemon in the white wine sauce helped cut the edge of the sauteed spinach, which can sometimes leave one’s mouth abuzz or tingling.
Yes, that’s an actual thing. And lemon takes care of that.
The meat lasagna arrived, hot and steamy, brimming and bubbling with melted cheese. The restaurant meatballs are a delightful surprise in the mix as opposed to ground beef spread between pasta layers. The meatballs themselves are a treat, so it was doubly satisfying to find them in the lasagna. Talk about comfort food.
The tiramisu and the caramel cheesecake were happily consumed.
The Kitchen Italian Café is everything you want in a down-home Italian restaurant. There is indoor and outdoor dining, the service is fast and smart, and we could only wish for more time to dine.
We couldn’t find that on the menu, so we will come back and look a little harder.
The Kitchen Italian Café and Pizzeria is at 78 West Union St., Pasadena, CA. (626) 796-9802. www.Thekitchenpasadena.com.
