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Note: My apologies, readers, for the tardiness of this post. This entry was actually 80% finished, but I went out of town and had (gasp) no email/internet access for days, so it was left incomplete, until now. The tapas tasting event at Bar Celona that I attended was actually a week ago, but I decided to not change the time frame of when the article was written, so you know that the following were my thoughts right after the event.

I am relatively familiar with Old Town Pasadena. Restaurants open and close all the time along Colorado Boulevard, but I’m not sure how many of them successfully reopen after a major revamp. I do think the odds are in favor of Bar Celona. This Spanish-styled restaurant has reopened with a brand new menu. Chef Josef Centeno has been consulting for Bar Celona for the past month and created some new items that will surely be a hit. Last night, I was invited to sample some selections from the new menu. Here are some of what I sampled:

Drinks
First up was the featured specialty drink, Montresor & Fortunato. This is one of the drinks that is currently a candidate for favorite Grand Marnier cocktail for the Travel & Leisure’s Beverage Arts Challenge. This drink is basically a mix of sherry, vermouth, and of course, grand marnier. I think the drink by itself was just okay at best. It was too sweet, somewhat reminiscent of caramel, for my taste. What I liked was how this sweetness contrasted the saltiness of the 3 olives that the drink was served with. I also tried the sangrias ($8). Personally, I preferred the white sangria. This was interesting to me because most of the white sangrias I have tasted in the past were citrus heavy. I believe Bar Celona’s white sangria used more apples. The white sangria is still very sweet. In fact, a guy next to me tried the white sangria and had it sent back for a red instead for that very reason.

Tapas Menu
For the most part, everything was good. There were just a few items that I felt really stood out. My favorite of the entire night was the citrus grilled shrimp. The shrimp retained the slight crispness on the outside without tasting charred. The inside of the shrimp was very tender. I know based on this description, the shrimp doesn’t really seem special or unique, but my taste buds were entranced anyway. The other one I liked a lot was the whipped salt cod. This was an elegant concept with a homestyle comfort. Basically, it tastes a little like a croquette, but not as fine, which I actually preferred because I wanted to know I was actually eating fish. I liked how the whipped salt cod was topped with pomegranate, creating a contrast in both texture and taste. I am also biased towards pomegranate. I think it is the key to this dish. Without it, the whipped salt cod would probably be less sophisticated.

So now that I’ve shared the positives, it’s time for the negatives. While I enjoyed most of what I sampled last night, I do think Bar Celona leans a little more towards the expensive side. For instance, the grilled shrimp is $8 and the whipped salt cod is $9. Earlier in the night, there was this one blond server who kept passing me by without ever offering me any of the food. She was the only server who did this to me - REPEATEDLY! Everyone else was friendly and courteous. At one point she even made eye contact with me and walked with the tray of sample chicken empanadas right by me and offered it to the party next to me. Those people were a great bunch and laughed with me and my guest about how ridiculous that was. They then gave us the chicken empanadas they actually ordered, which was $8. These were a little larger than the sample ones that were given out as samples, and they were served with a romesco sauce (red pepper and hazelnut sauce) instead of garlic aioli like in the samples. Now even though they were (a smidge) larger than the sample ones, there were only 2 empanadas given per order. I imagine the rest of the tapas items are also going to be similar, including the grilled shrimp and whipped salt cod. I think there are many other restaurants on Colorado Boulevard that are overpriced, and Bar Celona is very close to entering that area, but the restaurant has not crossed that line yet. I can not really recommend Bar Celona as a restaurant, but I do support them as a bar. Hanging out there, meeting new people, and enjoying one of their specialty cocktails and ordering a couple small plates items. Beyond that, it’s at the risk of your own wallet.

Bar Celona
46 E. Colorado Blvd.,
Pasadena, CA 91105
626-405-1000

By Pauline (see more of her posts).