Be hungry. Be very hungry.
Dine LA Week has begun and we have also begun making our way through the delicious maze of offerings from the score of Pasadena restaurants involved in this year’s eat-centric event.
Restaurants all over greater Los Angeles are featuring great specials with lunches as low as $15, to go along with $35 dinners through October 28.
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.
We begin our culinary journey at Beer & Claw. This eclectic vaguely Asian/Cajun/seafood /pasta collection of everything plus everything, offers a wide variety of combinations one might not have thought of right off the bat, but that make perfect sense once on your table.
We were here for the Dine LA special, which in the case of Beer & Claw is $69, a little more than most of the restaurants involved in the promotion, but frankly, you simply get a lot more here than any other restaurant.
Let’s get right to it: we chose from a range of appetizers that included Ahi poke crisps, firecracker shrimp; shrimp and octopus ceviche, and raw oysters.
We picked the Ahi poke, which was fresh Ahi tuna poke served on fried wonton squares — crispy and puffy, which, with the tart, sweet goodness of the tuna, made for a brilliant appetizer.
There were four entrées on the main dinner menu – a Cajun seafood platter for one which easily could have fed two; a whole Maine lobster served on a large bed of garlic noodles, a pan seared buttered cod, and the restaurant’s own creation, what they call a “LobsterMozza,” which, as it sounds, is a whole lobster served in a huge bed of french fries, and draped with a curtain of mozzarella cheese.
Yes, I’m assuming it is as dangerous as it looks and sounds. You kinda have to see it in person.
The whole Maine lobster was served in the thick and vaguely salty garlic sauce, set against the sweetness of the lobster meat. Almost overwhelming, to be honest, with the amount of food and the simple, glorious luxury of it all.
The LobstaMozza was equally glorious as we dug through the blanket of mozzarella cheese to the lobster.
Ah, french fries and lobster and pizza on a platter, basically. Life should always be this good.
Obviously, given the name, Beer & Claw also serves a wide range of traditional and craft beers.
We chose beer. No disappointment there.
Dessert was a choice of Bananas Foster Cheesecake, or Tiramisu. One of each, please. Both were sweet and friendly and delicious, as is dessert’s job description.
Beer & Claw, with its expansive location, and a full bar behind the dining area, could be your new favorite special occasion place or it could be a place you go when you are especially hungry.
Either one works. It certainly did for us.
Dine LA Week in Pasadena is off to a rocking start.
Beer & Claw is at 61 S. Fair Oaks Avenue, Suite 130, Pasadena CA. (626) 460–8511. www.beerandclaw.com
