Technique Restaurant

My friend Alik had been telling me how wonderful Technique restaurant is, and I finally got a reservation to try it. It's the restaurant that is run by the students of Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena. They offer a seasonal gourmet menu of three courses for only $10. This is why it's so hard to get a reservation - whattadeal! You have to go on their website the Monday of the week before you would like your reservation. I tried for awhile before I landed a table for two at noon today for Rich and I.

The restaurant is located on Colorado Blvd. just east of Old Town. Here's the entrance:

The restaurant is housed in a very cool old renovated Pasadena building, and the inside is painted stark white and is very chic. Here is the view I had from our table - it was fun to watch the students and instructors prepare the food. There is a lot of hustle and bustle in the restaurant.

You get to choose three courses from their menu and believe me, it is hard to decide. Everything sounds so appetizing and fresh.

We each ordered our own different three course meal, but shared each course. That way we could taste more! We do this by eating half the food on the plate and then switching plates. :-) (Yes, I eat as much as my hubby. Always have.)

The first courses we ordered were the Nicoise Salad and the Caprese salad. The Nicoise salad had a twist - seared Ahi for the traditional canned tuna. Raw or rare ahi is my weakness in life. :-) The Caprese salad also had a twist - the mozzarella was breaded and fried - yum! Here are some pics of the first courses:

We then moved on to our main dishes - Rich ordered the lamb shank on risotto and I ordered the snapper and shrimp. Both plates were amazing. The fish had this yummy crispy skin and was cooked perfectly and the succotash of sweet corn and fresh fava beans was delicious. The lamb was cooked perfect as well and was fork tender and moist. There were actually two shrimp with the fish, but I couldn't resist eating one before I took this pic. And yes, there's a bite out of the risotto too. :-)

Ahhh... then the dessert. Rich ordered the salted caramel pots de creme and I got the pear and cranberry fruit crumble with vanilla ice cream. Both were to.die.for. I just love fruit desserts and the pots de creme was so unique. Just look at the presentation of it:

Me and my date. Rich always tucks his tie into his shirt when he eats -he's cute.

The restaurant is pretty much reservations only, but they also have a cute little walk up cafe inside the restaurant with tables to sit at. They serve panini and other sandwiches, salads, pizza and adorable desserts and coffee. It's definitely worth a try if you find yourself nearby with no reservation.

So, if you want adventure and good food, visit Technique sometime. Pasadena has great shopping in nearby Old Town as well. I love Pasadena, and this experience reminded me how fun it is to live in the Los Angeles area. I'm always discovering new fun things to do here.

Technique restaurant at Le Cordon Bleu
525 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena
Note on parking: Street parking is only 1 hour. You can find extended parking for $1.50/hour on Madison Ave. nearby in the Pasadena Playhouse parking lot.