There’s a lot to like about the comfortably upscale Lake Avenue eatery, Granville. On this Friday night, there’s a cozy crowd of customers waiting inside and out for tables.
There’s also the massive dining room—split into two separate areas, along with a dark mezzanine—with a bar area playing the Dodger game. At its Southeast corner, food is served at a patio facing the sidewalk, and diners occupy more sidewalk tables on the southern edge.
And the most popular seats are on its 50-seat rooftop, naturally.
Now that you have the lay of the land, avoided all of that, and sat alone at a cozy seat at the far end of the bar. I mean, it’s DineLA Week. The food will be great no matter where I sit.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
The popular Granville offers a wide variety of menu choices for its DineLA Week offering, at $45 a person.
There are four choices for the first course, beginning with the Butternut squash soup with walnuts, cranberries and parsley, or a Garlic Tomato Bisque, with white wine, cream and basil; an Uptown Mac and Cheese with aged cheddar, gruyere, chicken, peas and asparagus; a vegan Thai Ginger Salad with mango, soba noodles, asian slaw, avocado, peanuts, and sesame dressing; and an El Gaucho salad.
We chose the Mac and Cheese, which emerged hot and bubbling from the oven, thick with rich cheese and large chicken chunks—seriously comfortable comfort food.
The second choices were even more difficult to choose from—a Grilled Salmon with creamed corn and a red bell cajun sauce, Yukon Russet mashed potatoes, and lemon butter; pan-seared Rainbow trout, with a pepita crust, preserved lemon and butter pan sauce, and a seasonal organic vegetable; or an Ahi filet with sushi grade sesame crusted ahi, soba noodles, ponzu and wasabi aioli.
And yes, there’s more. A peri-peri half chicken with peri peri sauce, broccolini, Yukon Russet mashed potatoes, and lemon butter; or a thick but-pork chop with a cran-mango compote, sauteed spinach, and those potatoes again.
Pasta on your brain? There is Angel Hair Shrimp Cappelini with artichoke, basil, fennel, tomato, garlic, parmesan, and a white wine clam sauce. Or perhaps a Wagyu Beef Stroganoff with a demi glace brandy sauce, mushrooms, pappardelle, horseradish aioli, and fried onions.
We opted for the salmon. Always a wise choice.
Dessert was a flourless chocolate cake, with vanilla sweet cream and a port cherry, or berry patch shortcake, with fresh berries, sweet cream, in an almond buttermilk biscuit. We went shortcake.
Admittedly, Granville can be a pricey proposition for a small group of people, or even two, but what place isn’t these days? Happily, Granville is a terrific example of why there is DineLA Week.
Eat everything. Well mostly, everything. Oh, and the Dodgers won.
Granville Pasadena is at 270 South Lake Avenue. The rooftop bar is open from 4 to 10pm Monday to Friday, and from 2pm to midnight on Saturday and Sunday.
