San Restaurant, Pasadena

San Restaurant

124 E. Colorado

Pasadena, CA 91105

Though I've been busy, I haven't really been busy doing anything that is blog worthy lately, and I'm falling behind in my "One Post a Week," goal. I've been to some pretty good places a long way from home, mostly because I've been driving my kids hither and yon, but for whatever reason, haven't written.

Today, I was in my old home town of Pasadena, and I knew that I'd find someplace interesting to eat.

I lived in Pasadena back in the 90's, and was just at a point in my life where I was starting to explore the interesting places there, and then I moved. Pasadena is very dynamic, so though I was on Colorado, I was more surprised by stuff that was still there than by stuff that was gone.

Anyway, there's no saying how many restaurants occupied the space where San stands since I moved away in '98. But it looked good, and my youngest thought the picture of the udon looked tasty, so in we went.

It's a Korean/Japanese fusion, with sushi and Korean dishes. K-pop was playing in the background of the small restaurant, vaguely familiar sounding except that I couldn't sing along. I'd guess about half the tables were occupied at 2 pm on a Sunday afternoon, and we were seated in a booth immediately.

I just glanced at the Yelp reviews, and they seem to run the gamut. I found the service to be quick and attentive. The waiter did forget to bring my edamame order, but after I pointed it out, he immediately brought it out and told me it was on the house.

My daughter ordered the small tempura udon, ($5.95) which was plenty for her, and probably would have been an okay light lunch for me. There was a sweetness to the udon which I really liked.

I had the Hot Stone Bibimbap, which came with miso soup. I've had Bibimbap once before, in the Red Pepper in Koreatown, and remember it being good. This one, at $10.95, was a bit more expensive than the Red Pepper, but everything in Old Town Pasadena is that way now. I've wanted to try another Bibimbap.

The food came out fairly quick, with the servers often asking if I needed my water full, something that I always appreciate. I think there were more things in the Koreatown bibimbap, (no mushrooms in this one) but this was still good. Again, it's still cooking when it hits the table, and it's important to start stirring right away or you'll end up with crunchy rice. I put everything that they give me into it and mixed.

Going on the two times that I've now had bibimbap, I now feel something of an expert, and I've decided that I enjoy the mix of flavors in one bowl, as well as the simplistic nature of the dish.  As for the San Restaurant, I'd certainly eat there again. The other things I saw come out of the kitchen looked pretty good, too.