Bistro Na UPDATE - Temple City

Bistro Na has all the red flags for a restaurant that doesn't live up to the hype. The dining room is beautiful, full of ornate carvings and imperial Chinese decor, including ceiling-height alcove displaying traditional ethnic instruments. The service is swift and polite, and all staff seem perfectly bilingual. The menu is a bound book, with every, literally every luxurious dish that's ever been associated with traditional Chinese cuisine. 

There's a small wine list to start, and that includes some teas as well. An iced Yuzu Lemon Tea is perfect for a hot day. It's not too sweet and you can taste every little bit of the fresh citrus rind. 

Jellyfish Salad is a slow starter, with crunchy medusa-heads in a light dash of vinegar. Tastes better the next day, IMO, when everything has had a chance to marinate. 

Na's Spicy Chicken is so tender and carries a spicy kick. Just spicy enough to make your mouth water for more. 

The kitchen comps up a mysterious dish, these gooey strips of jellied, candied carrots. Seemingly simple but the flavor and texture are an all-consuming combination.

Stir Fried Pea Sprouts with Mushrooms are our token green vegetable, fresh and fried just right. A big bland as there's just a hint of salt but a good contrast for what to come. 

DUCK. Peking duck requires a phone call at least two days in advance, but there's no doubt you'll make it. This crispy, fat-dripping, golden-brown wonder is first presented in its entirety, followed by a chef with a rolling tutorial. 

The skin on the breast is to be eaten immediately, dipped in hoisin sauce and sugar, made to melt in your mouth. 

The rest of the skin is supposedly less crispy but when it's so hot and fresh, it's really not far off. 

Each pancake is paper-thin and as chewy as humanly possible, made to hold exactly two pieces of meat, a smear of hoisin, and a couple pieces of everything else. 

They'll prepare the remaining duck as a dry-fry or a soup for a little extra or you can opt to take it home for free. They wrap it and bag it and leave you to do as you please. I opted for the take-home, but I'm sure what they did was better. 

I have to say, I am impressed. It's a long menu with many difficult dishes, and it's hard to make any of them so well, nevermind all of them. That said, whether you decide to eat here should be determined by the experience you want to have. The food is authentic but it's the luxury version and it's a lot cleaner than your childhood memories, to the point that there is some sterility to the experience. If you're shooting for grandma-nostalgia, you'll want a more down-to-earth establishment. But if you want the best duck in town, you know what to do.  

Bistro Na's - Pasadena

Everyone knows that the taste of the Chinese food is inversely proportional to the quality of the service. If you want to know how good the food from Bistro Na tasted, let's just say the delivery person stood in my yard and shouted "WHO ORDERED CHINESE FOOD?" instead of looking for or knocking on my door. 

As predicted, the food was fantastic. Two warm platters, all the way from Pasadena. The first was classic Pork Belly, roasted red, liquid skin and slippery fat, dripping juices marbling meat. Shiitakes soak up a savory syrup and gush with each chew, texture tamed by firm chunks of braised bamboo.

I love a good plate of pork Intestine, but I understand it's not for everyone. I preferred the pork belly, but the intestine is no-regrets. Sauteed chewy with springy straw mushrooms, it's also crammed with cloves of laba garlic that add a sharp and sour pickled flavor to cut the fat.

Sometimes mother knows best. Mine knew I'd want Chinese comfort as I aged, and she made sure I had it on my birthday. Scheduled to arrive within a 4-hour window, hot food delivered, with flavors that deliver. I need to try more to learn more, but after this little sample, I am intrigued!

Roots & Rye - Pasadena, CA

When a midday garden walk leaves you hot and hungry but too hot to be hungry, nothing hits the spot like an ice-cold açaí bowl.

When you need something cold and wholesome in Pasadena, nothing hits the spot like Roots & Rye. Full of fresh fruits and tons of toppings, just the selection of granola alone makes the menu anything but granola.

The sizes are pretty generous, and the prices are fair for how much you get, including unlimited toppings. My bowl has a base of vanilla granola for crunch over a cold and berrylicious açaí. A film of chia pudding adds a lighter sweetness and a texture like superfine poppy seeds. I keep the rest simple, with blueberries, strawberries, and banana. Creamy peanut butter glues it all together with strands of golden honey.

The variations are endless if you’re looking to explore. They have creative mixes like the tropical Blue Majik, which sings like a pina colada with pineapple, coconut, and a hint of mango. Tons of wholesome toppers ranging from toasted coconut to matcha powder to kale please purists, health nuts, and pleasure-eaters alike. 

I haven’t had a real açaí bowl since last year’s Oahu wedding, and I had doubts that anything in LA would come close. Roots & Rye got the job done, and I’ll be back for another bowl next time I’m in the neighborhood. 

Huntington Library - Rose Garden Tea Room - Pasadena, CA

Even if you're only here for the food, be prepared for the most beautiful stroll through the rose garden to afternoon tea. 

The room is small but the noise levels are fairly contained, and the service is attentive with just the right amount of pampering.

There's a fair list of great teas, but we're sticking to the caffeine free this late in the afternoon. The Caramelized Pear has a rich caramel flavor, and the Rose Hips and Hibiscus is floral and fragrant. 

The Scones are dense, one savory with the tang of sun-dried tomato and parmesan, one sweet with dots of berry. Load on the lemon curd and clotted cream. 

The mains add up to a light but hearty lunch/brunch, each finger-sandwich as unique as the last. You can't have tea without a Cucumber Sandwich, and this one freshens up with microgreens. Egg Salad sits in a pastry cup, uplifted by a sprinkle of truffle salt. I love the little cheesy Quiche, and The Onion and Parsley has a nice pop. There's a sweeter-finish Chicken Salad that has a nice ratio of meat to mayo. I can't eat the Salmon, but it sounds like plenty of people would gladly help. 

The desserts are always fun, but it's hard not to fill up on sandwiches first. The Key Lime Tart is bright and custard-y, the Rose Tea Panna Cotta is a lovely cream. Fresh strawberries would be better if dipped in chocolate, but you can always combine it with the Chocolate Cup and mascarpone cream.

A family-friendly experience, a fun side-trip from admiring the books and art galleries. Pricey but not outrageous, I'd come back again with family for sure, but I do wish they'd at least give you break on admission to the library. 

Abricott - Pasadena

Two words: Pork. Belly. Foolproof, fail-proof words, both individually and in combination. Put pork belly in a charming Pasadena cafe, and there's no way it could go wrong.

Bahn you? Or Bahn Mi? Let's make it a bahn we; this sandwich is big enough to share. The pork belly is impossibly thin, a fatty, bacon-esque slab soaked through with a sweet marinade, and the baguette is just the right amount of crispy.

That pork sure tastes great in a sandwich, and it's the belle of the bowl. The Sweet Pork Bowl features the same sweet slices of belly-bacon grilled and topped with oozy egg and savory sauteed mushrooms. It becomes bibimbap-but-better with the bed of rice beneath.

Pork and belly are the magic words, and they make Abricott unstoppable. You can't help but stop in for a simple midday meal, but beware the food coma or you'll forever linger...and continue to eat.

Saladang Song - Pasadena

The restaurant is beautiful; simple tables and wicker chairs in an open atrium. Cue the eastern instrumentals with platters of food held high by servants in loincloths. 

Beautiful music may play in my head, but Saladang is not a song I plan to sing. The menu has seen better days, with half the appetizers unavailable, tackily taped over with tiny pieces of paper. Their famous Papaya Salad was fine, but I didn't go all the way to Pasadena for a papaya salad to be just fine. 

At least they do the Red Curry right. The texture is the right thickness, and the predetermined level of spiciness burns sweet.

The Mango Sticky Rice was made with an imposter. I guess Thai yellow mangoes aren't in season because they used regular. They were the nice, pulpy kind, but they weren't sweet, and the discordant pairing with sticky rice was unfortunate.

The curry was photographed through a suncreen-covered cell phone camera so the photo does it no justice. Unfortunately, the papaya salad tasted about as colorful as the blunted lens made it look, and even my favorite dessert was done all wrong. I love Thai food, and I was fully prepared to love this place, but sadly, Saladang is not my Song.