RESTAURANTS • First Word
The Skinny: Matt Molina — the award-winning chef behind Triple Beam Pizza, Everson Royce Bar, and Hippo — opened Cannonball, a charming neighborhood spot on Mission Street in South Pasadena, in May.
The Vibe: Cozy, unpretentious, bi-level brasserie in a century-old building with warm, vintage lighting making everything look good, including you, your date, and even the original brick walls. There’s a small, cozy bar downstairs with a couple of seats overlooking the bustling kitchen, and a bucolic patio out back with bistro chairs, a hundred-year-old oak tree, and hanging lanterns.
The Food: A reasonably priced, crowd-pleasing menu that’s also ambitious without veering into the fussy or overwrought. Dishes like yellowfin tuna crudo, roasted carrots, and crispy calamari get things rolling, while meaty griddled prawns with aïoli and fideos with clams and chorizo showcase its Spanish influences. A shaved celery salad is zhuzhed up with Medjool dates and walnuts. Tender, towering, flaky buttermilk biscuits are made to order and come out steaming.
The burger is a precise, devilishly simple affair (that might remind you of the one at Molina’s Everson Royce Bar), neither an on-trend smashburger nor a hulking pub monstrosity. Instead, it’s a compact patty made of prime chuck, topped with a slice of Tillamook cheddar, served on a glistening toasted brioche bun that’s lightly schmeared with dijonnaise. The burger is complemented by a tall cone of flawless crispy fries. Defying the inflationary spiral of the current moment, it comes in at a rather reasonable $23.
The Drink: Wine by the glass and cocktails are almost shockingly affordable, clocking in at only $14-$17 per. Go for the Thunderbird, a martini riff with blanc vermouth, or the Manhattan riff made with Amaro Lucano. There’s a long bottle list of fairly priced wines that start in the $40 range as well.
The Verdict: A brilliant neighborhood restaurant with multiple uses: a date night spot where you can order a bottle of wine with dinner and still get home before 8p, a sensible place for dinner with the parents, a bar for good cocktails and maybe that burger, or a place to show your friends who live in Silver Lake that, see, Pasadena is worth the trip after all. –Raphael Brion
→ Cannonball (Pasadena) • 1010 Mission St • Thu-Mon 5-930p • Reserve.