DINING BEAT : DOES IT GET ANY FRESHER?Byline: Larry Lipson Interesting to see that the popular Parkway Grill, 510 S. Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena, has its own organic vegetable and herb garden. Five different types of tomatoes, for example, are grown and appear in the restaurant's special salads and special entrees. Also, customers are finding summer squashes, sweet peppers and greens from the garden in many of the dishes. Garden-grown zucchini, yellow sunburst pattypan squash, zuchetta, Swiss chard chard: see artichoke; beet. and spinach are currently being utilized. Also, basils and lemon verbena verbena, common name for some members of the Verbenaceae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and trees (often climbing forms) of warmer regions of the world. Well-known wild and cultivated members of the family include species of the shrubby Lantana and of Verbena; many species of both are native to the United States. are finding their way onto and into salads, pastas and pizzas. Reservations: (626) 795-1001. Pagani arrives Jorge Pagani has finally opened his long-awaited eponymous restaurant and lounge on the former site of Eclipse and the first Trumps at 8800 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Pagani began serving lunch and dinner Monday. Prices are up there, though not astronomic, with lunch costing from $14 to $22 for entrees, and appetizers running from $7 to $22.50. At dinner, the starters range from $7.50 to $22.50 except caviar (1-1/2 ounces of osetra for $75), and entrees go from $22 to $33. Intrigues include glazed Maine lobster with a cockle cockle, common name applied to the heart-shaped, jumping or leaping marine bivalve mollusks, belonging to the order Eulamellibranchia. The brittle shells are of uniform size, are obliquely spherical, and possess distinct radiating ridges, or ribs, which aid the animal in gripping the sand. The mantle has three distinct apertures (inhalant, exhalant, and pedal) through which the inhalant and exhalant siphons and the foot protrude. mariniere, a puree of green peas and curry sticks ($29); truffled veal sausage with oxtail, a sweet onion confit and a puree of potato and spinach ($29); and spring chicken marinated with turmeric turmeric /tur·mer·ic/ (tur´mer-ik) Curcuma longa or its rhizome, which is used to treat dyspepsia and anorexia, and has a wide variety of uses in traditional Chinese medicine, ayurveda, and folk medicine and star anise star anise star anise: see under anise. (Illicium verum), an unrelated, slow-growing evergreen tree native to SE China and NE Vietnam that can reach 60 ft (18 m) in height. The unripe, anise-flavored, star-shaped fruit of the tree is used whole or ground in Asian cooking as spice and in traditional Asian medicine. A compound extracted from the fruit is used to make the anti-influenza drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu). ($22). Numerous wines are ticketed over $100 per bottle, only nine under $30. But there are 10 half-bottles priced from $18 to $35. Information and reservations: (310) 858-5801. Shell game Seafood fanciers searching for a bargain in the East San Fernando Valley should remember the Oyster House, off the beaten track at 12446 Moorpark St., Studio City. Information: (818) 761-8686. |
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