The San Gabriel Valley is blessed with an abundance of old school cafés, which serve not just a wonderful first meal of the day, but also define the neighborhoods in which they sit. Iconic spots like Millie’s Café in Pasadena, Flappy Jack’s in Glendora, and the Broken Yolk Café in La Puente — among many others.
And on Huntington Drive in South Pasadena, close to San Marino, there’s Lost Parrot Café. Which isn’t so much a restaurant, as it is an expression of the DNA of the neighborhood. Or perhaps, the local consciousness’s attic in which this, that and the other thing can be found. It’s also a terrific place to go for a cuppa joe. And some nice pastries too.
You enter the Lost Parrot by going past an old style sign reading, “Books Plants Espresso.” Beyond is a jungle of verdant greenery, with an upright piano against one wall. The floor is well-polished dark wood. The tables are well-worn; the chairs assorted. There’s open ductwork over head. Fans too. Books are scattered here and there. Look carefully, and you’ll find a parrot sculpture; it’s not so much “lost” as it’s just there on a shelf.
You order at the counter. And do your eating at a scattering of tables along Huntington Drive, on a block heavy with dog-walkers who seem to know and be known by everyone at Lost Parrot. Like I said … “neighborhood.”
Those at Lost Parrot tend to linger over an assortment of dishes that are retro — but with a modern twist and turn here and there. Just consider the coffee. There was a time when what you ordered was … a cuppa. (There are still places in the Valley where that’s what you get!) But here, the closest we come to a cuppa, is the drip coffee. Otherwise, this is the land of latte, mocha, café au lait, cappuccino, Americano and espresso. The teas are all organic. Of course they are.
And the breakfasts are not something you’d get at IHOP. I guess the closest the breakfast dishes come are the French toast sticks, but far more elegant. As is the house-made granola, created out of pepita seeds, chia seeds and coconut, with fresh fruit, yogurt and thyme agave. You want the yogurt to lose its dairy, and turn vegan, the option is there. There’s an avocado toast, where the egg is very specifically cooked for six minutes, and topped with chimichurri sauce. The bread is rustic and wonderful. The avocado is ripe. Life is good.
Life is good as well with the breakfast burrito, which you can order with house-made chicken sausage, or soy chorizo. The breakfast sandwich, on a house-made “milky bun,” is topped with “fluffy” scrambled eggs, bacon, pickled red onions and micro cilantro. You can add on chicken sausage, soy chorizo avocado as well. And might I suggest getting it with the cilantro-lime fries with garlic aioli. … Wait. Fries? For breakfast? Of course — they go very well with the breakfast sandwich. And with the BLAT sandwich as well. For the chilaquiles, I’ll stick with the chips and salsa. In for a penny…
And speaking of being in for a pound — the pastries run to wonders like a bacon-cheddar Danish, an ale goat cheese turnover, and a very large breakfast cookie. They go well with the smoothies, which are blessed with names like, “Cali Gold Turmeric Latte,” “The Dusty Dena” and “The Orange Grove” — which involved dark chocolate and a candied orange slice. Oh … yum!
Wednesdays through Saturdays, from 5-9 p.m., there’s a dinner service at Lost Parrot, which does not follow the usual pattern of breakfast and lunch only at so many venerable neighborhood places. And in this case — no surprise! — the dishes don’t include such old schoolers as chicken pot pie and meatloaf. Instead, this is a culinary landscape of cilantro-lime arancini — fried risotto balls with slaw and (curiously) a spicy red salsa. There are duck rillettes — duck “bites” with charred corn, pickled red onions, cotija cheese and micro cilantro on charred sourdough.
The fries and the avocado toast reappear. But new is the Latin Cobb salad, the duck nachos, the farro grain bowl — and the fajitas plate with marinated grilled flank steak, cotija cheese and chimichurri sauce. There are churros for dessert. And even they come with a thyme-agave whipped cream, and toasted pepitas.
If the parrot were actually lost, this food would be a good reason to come home. It’s a great reason to live new-old in the hood!
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
Lost Parrot Cafe
- Rating: 2.5 stars
- Address: 1929 Huntington Drive, South Pasadena
- Information: 323-886-0703; www.lostparrotcafe.com
- Cuisine: Casual Eclectic
- When: Breakfast and lunch every day; dinner, Tuesday through Saturday
- Details: Soft drinks; no reservations
- Atmosphere: Funky, eccentric, oddball café, selling books and plants and goodness knows what else, with a counter for ordering, and numerous tables outside, allowing for a meal on rustic Huntington Drive, surrounded by greenery and birds, in a very old school section of town.
- Prices: About $18 per person
- Cards: MC, V
- What the stars mean: 4 (World class! Worth a trip from anywhere!), 3 (Most excellent, even exceptional. Worth a trip from anywhere in Southern California.), 2 (A good place to go for a meal. Worth a trip from anywhere in the neighborhood.) 1 (If you’re hungry, and it’s nearby, but don’t get stuck in traffic going.) 0 (Honestly, not worth writing about.)
"cafe" - Google News
March 19, 2021 at 10:23PM
https://ift.tt/2P794qf
Delicious dining is found at the eccentric Lost Parrot Café in South Pasadena - The San Gabriel Valley Tribune
"cafe" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2FkbMR3
https://ift.tt/3c4yPxW
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25244079/4.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment