2361 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena CA. Phone: 626.793.7100
Worth visiting in a 10 mile radius.
Across America’s suburbs, college towns, and downtown city districts, a certain type of restaurant is ubiquitous: the gastropub. These places serve the American standard of soups, salads, and sandwiches, but with a classy edge and significantly higher prices. Although I’ve been to quite a few gastropubs in my life, I’ve always found the idea off-putting; the food at these establishments tends to aspire to be fancy, but the caliber of chefs and ingredients doesn’t reach the level needed to make their variations worth the high prices.
Plate 38 is located in Pasadena, the city north of Los Angeles best known for hosting the Rose Bowl. The setting is nice but not anything special, with a comfortable wooden interior and a small porch complete with heat lamps for (semi) chilly California winter nights.
Plate 38 uses locally sourced ingredients to make all its dishes, which is not uncommon in high-end restaurants, but always appreciated. The menu is mostly typical of a gastropub, with interesting appetizers, salads, burgers, and a few entrees.
The interior is equipped with a full bar, so I took advantage of this to get a Shirley Temple, which was a bit watery but had two cherries instead of the usual one. The adults in my party who ordered alcohol all agreed that it was good.
For appetizers, we ordered a yellowtail crudo and a grilled octopus dish. The crudo was simply amazing. The fish was tender with little skin or gristle, and it was served with a soy-based sauce and big chunks of avocado, giving it a taste reminiscent of California rolls. I didn’t care much for the octopus at first, but as the meal went on, it grew on me. This was in large part due to the chorizo, which I did not expect to be served with octopus. The smoky flavors of both meats ended up clashing. However, the rest of this dish made up for the strange choice of chorizo. The octopus, while not super fresh like the octopus I’d had in Greece, still retained tenderness. The fruits and vegetables alongside the octopus were well-picked to bring out a sour flavor in the meat (lemon, radish, pickled carrots), and the presentation of the dish was pretty.
The fried chicken was the standout of the meal. If you want to order it, keep in mind that it is only served on Sunday and Monday nights. The chicken is served in a generous portion which includes a good amount of both white and dark meat. The white meat was a tad on the dry side, but this was hardly a problem because the chicken was served with an excellent rich gravy. The dark meat was adequately juicy and required no gravy. The skin held on to the chicken and didn’t fall apart, yet it remained crisp. The sides served with the chicken were a cheesy jalapeno cornbread (very fresh and warm, but could use a bit more spice), mashed potatoes (these were superb, I appreciated that they left in chunks of mashed potatoes instead of completely pureeing it like baby food), corn on the cob, and an assortment of vegetables. If you like fried chicken and you come to Plate 38, this should definitely be your entree.
The steak was perfectly cooked medium rare, with a rosy pink center, and came with gorgonzola cheese sauce. My only previous experience with any sort of cheese sauce was the sickening orange sludge served on ballpark nachos, but the sharp, tangy flavor of the sauce on this steak changed any preconceived notions I had. On the side were garlic fries that weren’t overly salty and crunchy asparagus, both delicious.
After visiting Plate 38, my opinion on gastropubs has changed. I no longer see them as establishments trying to bite off more than they can chew. I now know that a gastropub can create a fine dining experience, without abandoning the comfortable food that many Americans know and love. For anyone in the San Gabriel Valley, I would recommend going to Plate 38 to get a new take on American food.
Bluebell Reviews 