Thursday night on Cordova Avenue. The streets are silent. You can hear the quiet clicking of the “Walk/Don’t Walk” signs at Lake Avenue. The buzz of exercise through the glass walls at LA Fitness looks like a video ad with the sound turned down.
But pulling open the heavy glass doors at Marina, Nader Kaiser’s newest Pasadena effort, draws you into a place filled with Happy. Tables are buzzing with happy couples and families. In the back, a birthday party is a silly gaggle of laughing and singing.
If this were just a typical Italian restaurant, with checkered tables and Chianti bottles with candles, you might be happy, but a different happy. This is a youthful energy and giddiness, splashed with discovery and anticipation.
The two-week-old eatery draws on Kaiser’s appreciation of food and wine from everywhere. An Egyptian by birth, his travels have now brought him to a love affair with all things Italian and delicious—a hip, stylish and delicious brand, built on the familiar and the new.
Kaiser (who also owns Republik Coffee Lounge) and Gustavo Landgrebe of Tasca Wine Bar / 1810 Restaurant have said they created Marina with the notion of creating a neighborhood gathering place. That might be the first thing you notice.
Meanwhile, Chef Dylan Stage’s menu was built on an Italian foundation, with California designs and fresh seasonal ingredients.
Marina’s wine program has the same impressive character with a deep range of wines from the expected, to “Oh, you didn’t,” in the very best way.
Under brilliant chandeliers in a designer-chic interior, replete with Pasadena-centric murals, we gazed at a target-rich menu from the opening to the dessert.
From the appetizer, we hungrily chose the Compressed Watermelon, with basil oil, house ricotta, heirloom cherry tomato, and a kombucha vinaigrette. It’s a round, short cylinder of fresh watermelon with the house ricotta in the middle—cold and sweet and refreshing, with the ricotta offering a vaguely salty and irresistible contrast to the melon.
Returning to the traditional, we chose the Pork & Beef Meatballs, simply prepared with tomato sauce and grilled bread. We could have done this one all night long.
Knowing we were hungry, but not wanting to over-indulge too much, we opted to split a pizza and an entree instead of two.
The simple and classic Marguerita pizza, just like I’ve seen on the Adriatic coast of Italy, with tomato sauce, mozzarella, caciocavallo, a type of stretched-curd cheese made out of sheep’s or cow’s milk, produced throughout Southern Italy, burrata, basil, and extra virgin olive oil was a perfect choice. Its elegant simplicity is belied by the rich and textured tastes of the cheeses and the perfect, rough-hewn crust.
Marina also has its fresh cheeses imported from Italy twice a week, we were told.
The Seafood Linguini, another traditional favorite, packed little neck clams, Mexican blue shrimp, and calamari, and the largest scallop I have ever seen in person, into a saffron seafood broth. Any combination of fish and pasta is always a hit, but this one stops you and begs your attention and indulgence at the first bite.
Sated but not full, we asked about dessert. Our waiter, Victor, happily delivered the choices and beamed at our selection. It was an Exotique, delivered daily from a nearby Aux Delices. The sugar-bottomed, pistachio mousse-filled cake is served on a raspberry (strawberry?) syrup drizzle, and glazed with a delicious orange something, and topped with a delicate daisy of frosting—clearly much too pretty to eat, but we weren’t going to let that stop us.
The Exotique was joined by a perfectly prepared cortado coffee, something Kaiser’s Republik has mastered. Having tried one during a visit last week, we were eager for a revisit.
Marina offers a lot to like, all of which is topped by smart and attentive service, which in any restaurant, should be the best and most popular item on the menu. Marina delivers all of it.
Marina Pasadena is at 841 Cordova Street, Pasadena, CA. (626) 714-7228. www.marinapasadena.com.
