la.foodblogging

It has been a long week of eating non-stop and heavy indulgence. Lots of good food and happy hour. I know… it’s tough to be me. All this celebrating has a great deal to do with yesterday being my last day of work. So now that I am unemployed, I decided to blow part of my last paycheck on taking my mother out to a nice lunch. Lunch today is definitely one of the best meals I’ve had all week.

By chance, we found ourselves at Café Atlantic, a Cuban restaurant in Pasadena. All I knew about this place is that it is owned by Xiomara Ardolina who founded the successful Latin-French restaurant that shares her name, Xiomara, in Pasadena. It turns out Café Atlantic is in its fourth year, and if the service and food is always as good as I experienced today, I have little doubt Atlantic will follow Xiomara’s footsteps in becoming a staple of Pasadena dining.

I’ve enjoyed quite a bit of Cuban food over the years, but despite my appreciation for this style of cuisine, my knowledge in this area is fairly limited. I do know well enough to start off with a mojito ($7.50). Café Atlantic’s mojito is a little different: it is made with vodka instead of rum. I didn’t even notice this at first, as Café Atlantic was very generous with the mint and lime. In addition, this mojito uses pure sugar cane juice instead of plain sugar. My mother had coffee, which she was very happy with. It had great flavor and just hit the spot.

As for food, I asked our server for advice. She suggested a few entrées, including her favorite, the chicken with saffron rice ($14), which I ordered even though that dish takes 25 minutes to prepare. She assured me it would be worth the wait, and it sure was. First of all, the chicken was absolutely succulent. I don’t usually like ordering chicken in restaurants because they are too dry for my liking, but Café Atlantic got it just right! It was well marinated and very juicy and tender. The rice underneath was kind of like a cross between Spanish rice and risotto. The texture was moist and flavorful. Mixed with the saffron rice were some peas and bell peppers. Truly excellent. 3 tostones were placed on top. Tostones, I learned, were like plantains except the bananas are mashed up first and then fried twice. It’s not sweet like plantains, but still pleasant.

Since breakfast is served until 3:30pm on weekends, my mother picked the Spanish Tortilla for her meal. It is basically a little Spanish omelet (eggs & potatoes) served on top of a slice of rosemary potato toast. Also on the plate is a bit of onions and tomatoes and some plantains. Although the omelet was slightly on the dry side, it was still very good.

Although I was full before I was even half way done with my entrée, I just couldn’t stop eating. The chicken and rice were THAT good. I really regretted not stopping myself earlier when I saw the dessert list. I ordered the bread pudding in vanilla sauce and kept my fingers crossed that my stomach wouldn’t explode from eating too much. All I can say is even if my stomach had exploded, it would have been worth it for that bread pudding. The bread pudding was soft and absolutely delightful. The vanilla flavor was very strong in the sauce. Truly enjoyable.

I have no complaints or anything negative to say at all about Café Atlantic itself. If I force myself to find one fault, it is just that though the restaurant is located conveniently across the street from a public parking lot, Café Atlantic does not validate. I easily forgive this because the food was just so excellent.

Café Atlantic
53 E. Union Street
Pasadena, CA 91103
Tel: (626) 796-7350
Fax: (626) 796-2750

By Pauline (see more of her posts).