Madeleines Restaurant

My Eat Venture Event #2
Event Date: 10/7/09
Restaurant: Madeleines Restaurant & Wine Bistro
Location: Pasadena California

Thank you for coming back for our number two event. Tonight we are dining at Madeleines Restaurant located in Pasadena California on Green Ave a little passed Lake Ave. The place looks like a house, in fact it is a house with a cute sign in front.

As you enter, the place splits in 3 ways, to the left is the main dining area, to the right is where the Wine Bar is located and straight ahead is to the indoor patio. I’m serious, this place still looks like a house and I think people live upstairs, possibly the Chef and the rest of the staff. There is a “No Trespassing” sign on the way to the stairs. Usually when I see a “DO NOT” I get curious and I “WANT TO DO” happen in my head. Luckily I have my leash on connected to Jen, so I was well behaved.

We were seated right away in this tiny room that looked like it sits about 10 people, a bar is available on the side and a fire place is lit to keep the room warm. We were greeted right away by our server Daniel and we chatted a bit about the place and what to eat. Since this night still falls in the Dine La week, we took advantage of that option. We made our decisions and asked Daniel if he could give us a quick tour of the place. And so we did, this is what we found.

If you were here, you would notice the decoration and art that smothers this place. They are all come from Glenn Green Galleries, I will show you some samples at the end of this entry.

On our way back to the table we got to meet one of the managers, his name was Andrew Rouse and chatted a bit about the place. Did you know Mr. E = mc^2 had an office in this place during his Cal Tech days? Andrew was saying that back in the day, there was a rumor that he built an underground tunnel as an escape route out to the city. Well it’s not a rumor, after talking to Andrew; I snooped around and met a little mouse named Jim, who claims to be Remy’s double in the Disney movie “Ratatouille”. He pointed towards the huge fireplace by the main dining room. I asked him what he was doing in Pasadena, he told me that he heard about the new female Chef, and when he saw her, he was instantly in love.

Ok, let’s get back to reality, and get back to the table. They hook you up with this bread which is so yummy with their “Made from Scratch” butter. 2 kinds of butter, one has some orangey taste and the other has garlic and chives in it. I couldn’t stop eating it. Jen also brought wine from her collection, William Hill Estate 2004 from Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Alrighty, so here is what we have ordered. We started off with an appetizer called the “Seared Sea of Cortez Scallops with Saffron Risotto, Proscuitto Crisp, and Fine Herb Oil”. This was very good; I was close to not wanting to share with Jen. This is also not part of the Dine LA menu.

Now for the Dine LA Menu:

Jen chose the Farmers Market Inspired Soup and “Roasted Tomato and Eggplant Tart with Shaved Fennel and Basil Salad”. Did I tell you I love eggplant? Well again, I tried not to share with Jen.

Taking some more pictures, I finally realize why I like to drink wine. I get to that good feeling after my 2nd glass.

Finally, the food is here and I’m almost done with my third glass. Jen ordered “Australian Sea bass – Roasted Sun Choke and Fennel Slaw, Citrus Beurre Blanc” and I got “Rack of Lamb – Traditional Ratatouille, Garlic Roasted Red Bliss Potatoes”. They also had the Duck Confit, but when I heard Lamb, it’s over! Decision made.

I took a piece of Jen’s Sea bass, it was great, but once you had Chilean Sea Bass, you get spoiled and it’s hard to try something different. It was well prepared, but my attention was at my rack of lamb. I definitely didn’t share this with Jen because she’s one of those “I don’t like the after taste of lamb blah blah blah” type person. She missed out, muahahahahaha.

During dinner, Andrew came back to visit to see how we are doing, and also got to meet the new Chef Margaret Alsop. At first I thought Cat Cora from Iron Chef was in the house, not saying she cooks with the same style but do you see the resemblance?

We talked a bit about her experience and where she was from. She talked about the powers of Uni, (ok since she has been lagging about her bio, I’m going to make one up) She is originally from the New Jersey and decided to move to Japan and face her fears of Sushi. She learned that facing your fears is the best way to understand her. Years later after she was trained by her Sensei Master Yoshi Noya, she defeated all her demons of Sushi and grew a personal bonding with Uni. Now she can’t stop making everything out of it. Uni shots, Uni-colada, uni-corn, uni-icecream and the list go on.

Ok so that was fun, we had our discussion of my mission to find a gumbo replacement from my favorite place in Las Vegas Palace Station. I continued to finish off my lamb, since it was a Dine La portion, its not as much as the original dinner portion you see on the website. Another episode of Man vs FOOD, I defeated FOOD once again.

Finally to end the rest, Daniel hooks us up with all Three the deserts presented on the Dine LA menu. Creme Brulee
Served with homemade cookies, Pumpkin Blueberry Cake – Spiced Crème Anglaise, Candied Walnuts, Blueberry Compote and Roasted Pear and Frangipane Tart – Kirsch Whipped Cream, Brown Sugar Syrup. He also paired it with a mixture of fruit and champagne and wine to go with the rest of the dessert.

The dessert was great, it is really nice to get a variety instead of just one. We decided to hang around a little longer to take a look at the Art and as promised, here are some samples.

Ok that sums up our whole evening, and would like to thank you all for reading this entry. Now for my final comments about this place. I would definitely come back to this place, it is very cozy and its just a good place to hang out. It feels like home, they have a good wine collection.  This is a perfect place to set up a gathering for little events here and there as they have a good environment or setting for any type of event. Maybe next time I will disclose my discoveries of Mr E=mc^2’s underground tunnel.

The food was prepared well, I loved the rack of lamb, the sea bass was also great, but the lamb took all the attention.  I would come back to try some of the other ones as well. I also wanted to make a correction to others classifying this place as a French Restaurant, it really is more of an American restaurant with french influence.
I want to end this by thanking Daniel for being his hospitality and Andrew and Chef Alsop for spending time with us.  It was great meeting all of you and I hope to be back soon with some friends.