I normally don’t eat in old town Pasadena cause the food typically sucks but I ventured over after some shopping to try the seasonal raw bar at vertical wine bistro.
Glad I did!! Thing is a beast. $50 for all this fresh seafood. Highly recommend it. Only Thursday-Saturday. The waiter was telling me it still hasn’t caught on which is crazy!!
Spot prawns, abalone, rock crab, oysters, langoustines, shrimp, octopus, lil baby shrimp, sea urchin. Delicious.
Whoa $50 for that amount of fresh seafood is crazy good… though I am wondering, how does one best consume the “lil baby shrimp”? Just grab a handful and toss 'em in, kinda like peanuts?
Went over the weekend, the platters were GOOD. The selection of oysters weren’t quite as geeky as say Hungry Cat or L&E, nor the prep as on point, but the quality of everything was great.
The spot prawns were as good as they look in the pictures! When we went, Tier 1 did not have crab or sea urchin, so we opted for Tier 2 (also downsized since OP), which was still really a good value. The wine list is functional and has a few hits and misses. It’s a very good option compared to what you might pay at Water Grill or Hungry Cat for something similar.
wish i saw this thread before eating in pasadena a couple of nights ago… ended up at pop champagne and dessert… for a place that’s named for champagne and dessert, they have alarmingly little selection of either… food was edible but would have loved some seafood instead…
we were looking for places for small bites and a drink on the fly… and it’s been 4 years since i last frequented pasadena so wasn’t sure what was available… will have to pm baller fu next time i’m looking for spots in la…