July 2016

FINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREA 

July 2016 

COOK LIKE 

JAMIE OLIVER 

With a raw meal kit 

and chef-driven recipe 

FOOD, 

GLORIOUS 

Leslie Bilderback’s 

GUIDE TO 

GLOBAL SALTS 

TERRY MCMILLAN 

Returns with 

a boomer romance 

FOOD 

CLAUD BELTRAN 

Pasadena’s native top chef 

opens Perry’s at the Constance

2 | ARROYO | 07.16

Lic.653340 Photo by David Gatreau 

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626.486.0510 HartmanBaldwin.com

4 | ARROYO | 07.16

arroyo 

VOLUME 12 | NUMBER 7 | JULY 2016 

11 

PHOTOS: (Top) courtesy of Hotel Constance; (bottom left) courtesy of Paul Martin’s American Grill; (bottom right) Matthew Jordan Smith 

31 35 

FOOD 

11 CHEF CLAUD BELTRAN 

His latest restaurant, Perry’s, is spicing up the landmark Hotel 

Constance. 

—By CAROLE DIXON 

27 THINK INSIDE THE BOX 

That’s where you’ll fi nd raw chef-inspired meal kits delivered to your door. 

—By DENISE ABBOTT 

31 BITES 

Food news around Arroyoland and beyond, freshly picked for you 

—By RICHARD CUNNINGHAM 

35 SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST? 

With I Almost Forgot About You, bestselling novelist Terry McMillan turns her lens 

on the life and loves of a boomer professional woman.. 

—By BETTIJANE LEVINE 

DEPARTMENTS 

8 FESTIVITIES GLAZA’s Beastly Ball, L.A. Chamber Orchestra performs Disney 

“Silly Symphonies” 

9 LÉON BING Halfway home after an unfair sentence 

16 ARROYO HOME SALES INDEX 

37 KITCHEN CONFESSIONS A brief guide to salts around the world 

39 THE LIST The Pasadena Pops plays Billy Joel, American Ballet Theatre returns, 

AmericaFest at the Rose Bowl 

ABOUT THE COVER: Claud Beltran, photo by Matfer Bourgeat USA. 

07.16 ARROYO | 5

EDITOR’S NOTE 

Food, glorious food! Forget that this is bikini 

season. Isn’t a juicy hamburger with black 

pepper aioli and hardwood-smoked 

bacon reason enough to hang it all and 

throw on a light tunic? 

Or pop by the chic Hotel Constance 

for dinner at Perry’s, Pasadena über-chef 

Claud Beltran’s latest restaurant. Beltran 

is truly a native son — after all, why else 

would an ambitious young chef turn down 

mentor Thomas Keller’s invitation to join 

him in Napa Valley when he took over the famous French Laundry? But we 

don’t like to look a proverbial gift horse (okay, so this one comes with a bill) 

in the mouth, especially when it comes to what we put in ours. Because 

Beltran has been delighting foodies at the various acclaimed restaurants in 

his hometown for years. Carole Dixon talks to Beltran about his latest venture 

on page 11. 

If you’re a cook-at-home type — or aspire to become one — you can 

whip up dinners like a professional chef with a meal kit delivered to your 

door containing a recipe and only the raw ingredients you need. No more 

passing off Julienne’s sublime take-out as your own, thanks to Blue Apron 

and other companies that deliver meal kits to Arroyoland. As Denise Abbott 

reports, these are sophisticated meals you really can take credit for because 

you’ve cooked them yourself. And if you’d like to add a pinch of salt or two, 

check out Leslie Bilderback’s guide to colorful salts around the world. 

Bestselling novelist Terry McMillan is currently exhaling in an airy loft near 

Old Pasadena, home base when writing her 13th book, I Almost Forgot 

About You. As Editor-at-Large Bettijane Levine reports, McMillan, who’s 

famous for illuminating the inner lives of African American women, explores 

the options facing many successful boomers in her new novel, as her 

protagonist decides whether to follow the road not taken. 

—Irene Lacher 

EDITOR IN CHIEF Irene Lacher 

ART DIRECTOR Carla Cortez 

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Stephanie Torres 

PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Rochelle Bassarear, 

Richard Garcia 

EDITOR-AT-LARGE Bettijane Levine 

COPY EDITOR John Seeley 

CONTRIBUTORS Denise Abbott, Leslie Bilderback, 

Léon Bing, Martin Booe, Michael Cervin, Scarlet 

Cheng, Richard Cunningham, Carole Dixon, Lisa 

Dupuy, Lynne Heffl ey, Kathleen Kelleher, Rebecca 

Kuzins, Elizabeth McMillian, Brenda Rees, John 

Sollenberger, Nancy Spiller, Leslie A. Westbrook 

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Dina Stegon 

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Lisa Chase, 

Brenda Clarke, Leslie Lamm 

ADVERTORIAL CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 

Bruce Haring 

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Andrea Baker 

PAYROLL Linda Lam 

CONTROLLER Kacie Cobian 

ACCOUNTING Sharon Huie, Teni Keshishian 

OFFICE ASSISTANT Ann Turrietta 

PUBLISHER Jon Guynn 

arroyo 

FINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREA 

SOUTHLAND PUBLISHING 

V.P. OF OPERATIONS David Comden 

PRESIDENT Bruce Bolkin 

CONTACT US 

ADVERTISING 

dinas@pasadenaweekly.com 

EDITORIAL 

editor@arroyomonthly.com 

PHONE 

(626) 584-1500 

FAX 

(626) 795-0149 

MAILING ADDRESS 

50 S. De Lacey Ave., Ste. 200, 

Pasadena, CA 91105 

ArroyoMonthly.com 

©2016 Southland Publishing, Inc. 

All rights reserved. 

6 | ARROYO | 07.16

07.16 | ARROYO | 7

FESTIVITIES 

GLAZA President Connie Morgan, GLAZA Co-Chair Betty White and L.A. Zoo Director John Lewis 

Scene from "LACO @ the Movies: An Evening of Disney Silly Symphonies" 

Ed Begley Jr. with Patti and Stanley Silver 

Linda Kaplan, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff and Gary Kaplan 

Rich Lichtenstein, Melanie Cotton, Slash and Meegan Hodges 

8 | ARROYO | 07.16 

More than 700 animal lovers converged on the Los 

Angeles Zoo June 11 for one of SoCal’s most popular 

benefits — the Greater L.A. Zoo Association’s 46th 

annual Beastly Ball. After an evening of casual eating, 

drinking and visiting bestial residents, including the 

Dinosaurs: Unextinct exhibit dwellers, GLAZA honored 

wildlife and zoo philanthropists Patricia and Stanley 

Silver as well as actor/environmentalist Ed Begley 

Jr., who took home the Tom Mankiewicz Leadership 

Award. Guests included GLAZA Co-Chair Betty 

White, Slash, Jane Leeves, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, 

Federico LaDene of Glendale, Gary Kaplan of La 

Cañada Flintridge and Pasadenans Ethan Eller, Diann 

Kim, Stephanie McLemore and Alex Garcia. The 

event raised $1.1 million… Some 1,200 fans of the L.A. 

Chamber Orchestra (LACO) and Disney animation 

savored the rare opportunity June 4 to watch the studio’s 

vintage “Silly Symphony” shorts accompanied by live 

music, conducted by Emmy-winning composer Mark 

Watters at downtown L.A.’s historic Orpheum Theatre. 

After the rollicking show, donors dined on a lavish buffet. 

Dustin Hoffman co-chaired the event, which benefited 

LACO’s education and concert programs. 

Joe Brown and Dru Garcia Richardson 

Mahnaz Newman, Shaheen Nanji, board President Dana Newman 

of Altadena and Ahsan Aijaz 

LACO Executive Director Scott Harrison, Alex Rannie of Pasadena and Mark Watters 

PHOTOS: (Top left) Tad Motoyama (Beastly Ball); Jamie Pham (Beastly Ball/ LACO); (top right) ©Disney

LÉON BING 

HALFWAY HOME 

“When I was younger I was a straight-up killer. They’d have me killin’…everythin’. 

And when you 11 years old and get you a gun, you got to be a little shook up. 

Then you get used to it, no problem. You got to prove a lot when you fi rst start, see. 

Gotta prove that you down. Then you get used to it — it ain’t no thing.” 

PHOTOS: Gareth Seigel 

The young man speaking was an 18-year-old member of 

the Bloods in Altadena. We were in the park at the Jackie 

Robinson Recreation Center, and he was the initial interview 

for my first book, not yet titled, about L.A. gangs. It was 1988 and 

he would be killed in a drive-by shooting two months later. 

Later that year, I met Keshon Cooper, who had just turned 16, 

on a quiet residential street in what was then known as South- 

Central L.A. We were introduced by a 17-year-old girl wearing a 

tiny gold automatic pistol on a chain around her neck. Keshon was 

not in the mood to socialize: one of his homeboys, another Crip, 

had just been stabbed by a Blood. To break through the fog of 

tension, I suggested that we have lunch at a Mexican restaurant. 

Keshon was unsure about what he referred to as “that foreign 

food,” but he grudgingly went with the plan, and as we drove 

along Western Avenue, he pointed to the entrance of a hospital. 

“I got shot last year for drivin’ through the wrong ’hood and I 

drove myself to that hospital right there. Bled all over the damn 

steps. They couldn’t take me, but they had an ambulance drive 

me to another hospital across town.” He pulled up his T-shirt 

and pointed to a dime-size scar with a number of other, smaller 

scars orbiting it. “See? That big scar’s where the bullet went in and 

them little ones is from the drainage tubes. I only got one lung 

now.” His voice is so young, his tone so casual, he might have been 

describing a high-school football injury. Then, remembering the 

pain and the “enemy” gangbanger who shot him, “Dag, it was 

crazy. Dag!” There is a brief silence in the car and Bianca, a Crip 

homegirl, reaches out and pats his arm. It’s quiet in the car for 

a moment. Then Keshon’s lips curve into a narrow smile. “They 

caught the nigga, though, and tried him as an adult — give him 

19 years.” He shook his head in wonder; that amount of time is 

inconceivable to him; it is longer than he has been alive. 

I found myself liking this kid. I met his family and saw his 

love and respect for his mother. Saw him drive through his 

neighborhood to collect toys for kids who otherwise might not have 

gotten Christmas presents. Watched him with a puppy, his hands 

feather-light and soothing on the tender new fur and I couldn’t 

find anything of the hard-core gang member about him. I decided 

to devote a chapter to Keshon; he represented another side of gang 

life, where kids with single working parents — latchkey youngsters 

— gravitate toward a new kind of order with a strict set of rules and 

a sense of belonging to the world of gangbanging. Many of them 

do not realize that shooting — and often killing — other gang 

–continued on page 10 

Keshon Cooper and Léon Bing 

07.16 | ARROYO | 9

LÉON BING 

Keshon Cooper and Léon Bing 

–continued from page 9 

members is an integral part of that world. 

Two years after my book Do or Die was published in 1991, Keshon Cooper was 

arrested as the perpetrator in a gang murder. It was a strange case from the outset: the 

single eyewitness described the killer as “a light-skinned black male with a goatee.” 

Keshon’s complexion is the color of bittersweet chocolate and he had not yet begun 

to shave. It was a short trial. Keshon admitted to having been one of a crowd of gang 

members at the scene but denied being the shooter. The eyewitness was confused about 

what he had seen and the public defender saw no reason for further investigation. Keshon 

was convicted and sentenced to a term of 26 years to life in a state penitentiary. He had just 

turned 19 and he had no criminal record. This is how justice is meted out to the poor. 

The instant he hit the yard Keshon was surrounded by his homeboys, many of them 

imprisoned since the ’70s. These older inmates advised him not to make trouble with 

rival black gang members; it took a while for that advice to penetrate, but in a few weeks 

Keshon dropped the gang mentality and became, in his words, “a soldier for the black 

race and taking on another set of hate.” This toxic attitude was directed toward Hispanic 

and Caucasian inmates, and it earned him 15 months in the security housing unit 

(SHU): a form of solitary confinement. The time spent alone offered Keshon a chance 

to reflect on the past. He worked at forgiving rival gang members, including the boy 

who shot him. He tried to forgive himself for the pain he caused his mother, Bonnie. He 

studied and earned his G.E.D. certificate. When he was released from SHU, he took 

classes in masonry, carpentry and electrical service and became proficient in all three. 

At some point during the first year or so of Keshon’s imprisonment, I was invited to 

a 10th–birthday party in his former ’hood. Just before the cutting of the cake, a young 

gangbanger swaggered into the house with a present for the birthday girl, the daughter 

of a woman I’d interviewed for the book. After we were introduced he said, “I know 

who the real shooter was that Li’l Spike [Keshon’s gang name]’s doin’ the time for.” I 

asked him why he hadn’t told the authorities and he looked at me with something near 

contempt. “Y’all crazy? Think I wanna get myself killed?” He turned away and my only 

thought was “so much for homeboy love.” 

Keshon kept in touch, always referring to me as “Momma.” He asked for nothing 

beyond a reciprocation of love, a rarity among inmates. He never forgot to send cards, 

often beautifully drawn, for my birthday and Mother’s Day. He met a young woman, 

Star, during a telephone call to a mutual friend. They spoke often after that and Star 

signed up for regular visits (nearly a four-hour drive from L.A.). They were married at 

Calipatria State Prison in 2013, five years after that first conversation. 

Keshon was granted parole on April 25. A few days later, at the beginning of May, 

Star brought him to see me. There was a long, silent embrace and the three of us wept. 

Keshon is living in a halfway house and adapting to freedom. He tries not to think 

about the hard time he has served; he’s happy to be with his wife, see his family, look 

for work and breathe free air again. |||| 

10 | ARROYO | 07.16

Claud Beltran 

CHEF 

CLAUD 

BELTRAN 

His latest restaurant, Perry’s, is spicing up 

the landmark Hotel Constance. 

BY CAROLE DIXON 

PHOTO: Frank C. Girardot 

HIDDEN OFF A COLORADO BOULEVARD SIDE STREET IN 

PASADENA’S SOUTH LAKE BUSINESS DISTRICT, THE NEW 

DUSITD2 HOTEL CONSTANCE FEELS LIKE IT’S IN AN ART 

DECO–MEETS–MEDITERRANEAN REVIVAL TIME WARP. 

From the modern blue-hued cocktail bar, aptly called the bluRoom, to the 

60-seat dining room swathed in white with pops of yellow (banquettes) and black 

(marble tables), the vibe is sophisticated yet low key — a perfect setting for Pasadena 

native and celebrated Executive Chef Claud Beltran as he launches his flagship 

restaurant Perry’s, named for the Jazz Era socialite who built the original hotel. 

If you have spent any time dining in Arroyoland, you are probably very familiar 

with Beltran’s other two Pasadena restaurants: Bacchus’ Kitchen is a seasonally 

changing, farmers’ market–inspired neighborhood bistro, while at The Eatery on 

Allen, the menu switches monthly from German fare to Argentine to Mad Men 

dinners — the two restaurants have cooked up more than 37 different themes so far. 

“Who doesn’t love a shrimp cocktail?” quips Beltran of the ’60s-inspired menu. 

Beltran introduced a California-Asian menu to Perry’s about six months ago, 

spanning dishes from Thailand, Vietnam and China, such as crispy spring rolls 

encasing braised duck, pork dumpling soup and green curry arancini. “This type 

of food is underserved in Pasadena,” he says. “No one is doing Cal-Asian — lots 

of sushi and pizza but nothing like this.” The wine list is dominated by California 

vintages. The food is fresh, clean and international, while giving a nod to the San 

Gabriel Valley’s plethora of top quality Asian eateries. “I thought this would be an 

interesting direction to take, and it’s what I like to eat,” says Beltran, 52. 

The hotel’s management brought in Beltran because of his sterling reputation in 

his hometown. “We have the most unique hotel in Pasadena and wanted to develop 

a great culinary program,” says Phil Anderson, general manager of the Constance (a 

member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts). “Claud has a great reputation in Southern 

California and particularly in Pasadena. His two restaurants — Bacchus’ Kitchen 

and The Eatery — are fantastic. He has great energy and creativity. He was the 


07.16 | ARROYO | 11

Perrry’s Arcade leads to a bright outdoor patio. 

The Hotel Constance, named for Jazz Era socialite Constance Perry 


12 | ARROYO | 07.16 

natural choice to collaborate with on Perry’s.” 

And collaborate they did, designing a main dining room where you could 

envision savoring long, leisurely business lunches, a drink after work or a romantic 

dinner near the Spanish-tiled patio. Original crown moldings and tiles remain amid 

the glamorous décor — but it wasn’t always like this. The property had fallen into 

disarray during its many years as a retirement home, but that all changed in the 

summer of 2014. That’s when the Bangkok-based dusitD2 hotel group (the avantgarde 

arm of Dusit International, Thailand’s premiere hotel management company) 

partnered with businessman Kin Hui’s Arcadia-based Singpoli Group to open the 

chain’s first North American inn in the historic building. 

The original 124-room hotel was built in 1926 by prominent socialite Constance 

Perry, and dusitD2’s reported $60 million-dollar makeover, designed by Pacific 

Design Group architects and Hong Kong designer Joey Ho, added on 24 suites, 

meeting spaces, an outdoor deck, a pool and two more restaurants, which Chef 

Beltran hopes to open by early 2017. Recognized as a historic landmark, the hotel 

served as a backdrop for scenes in Woody Allen’s new film, Café Society, and everyone 

from January Jones to Dr. Drew has been spotted there recently. “The happy hour 

here is one of the best deals in town,” Beltran says. In addition to staples from the 

lunch and dinner menus, a kogi Philly cheesesteak with kimchi fries keeps the 

cocktail hour menu in tune with the Cal-Asian theme. 

Beltran’s status as one of Pasadena’s top chefs came naturally. “This is my city, 

where I live, and, I practically grew up at Santa Anita with my parents,” he says with 

a laugh. He worked in aerospace, building X-ray equipment, but when the industry 

contracted in the 1980s, he decided it was time to move on. His wife, Julie, was 

working at Trader Joe’s when they started experimenting at home, collecting wines 

and trying new foods for their dinner parties. That led Beltran to a UCLA Extension 

culinary course where he delved deeper into an appreciation of truffles and foie 

gras, brought in by his teacher, a former sous-chef at the esteemed Le Gavroche in 

London. Now Beltran’s car sports a cheeky custom license plate, “GOT FOIE.” 

When he was ready to hunt for a culinary job in the early ’90s, Beltran set his 


PHOTOS: Courtesy of Hotel Constance

07.16 | ARROYO | 13

Perry’s glamorous décor uses a white palette accented by yellow and black. 

The green curry arancini appetizer comes with yuzu 

mayo, shiso leaves and citrus hoisin sauce. 

Perry’s cheese plate has candied fruit and crostini. 

Cocktail shrrimp is a Mad Men –style classic. 

14 | ARROYO | 07.16 


sights high. L.A.’s top chef then was the renowned Thomas Keller, who was running 

the kitchen at Checkers in downtown L.A. “It was the top dining room of that time,” 

Beltran says. After six months of calling repeatedly and dropping by, Keller finally 

called him back personally to offer a coveted kitchen job. Beltran initially thought 

the caller was a prankster friend. “You’re not Thomas Keller,” he said. Persuaded 

that he was, “I told him, ‘Just give me two weeks. If I can’t make it, you can fire 

me.’” Three years later, Keller was so impressed with Beltran’s culinary skills that 

they collaborated on a catering company, run out of Beltran’s home and Keller’s 

apartment, for more than a year. They didn’t serve up your typical ladies-who-lunch 

salads or buffets but elaborate affairs with Margaux Bordeaux for $1,800 per person 

or dinners paired with lavish Romanée-Conti reds. They also ran an olive oil and 

red-wine vinegar company together until 1993, when Keller moved to Napa Valley. 

Beltran recalls a key piece of advice from his mentor: It’s all about “technique and 

zero compromises on anything. That’s hard, and a level of commitment to quality 

that few chefs running a restaurant can afford.” 

But Beltran was not prepared to move to Northern California. “I stayed on down 

here doing some catering gigs for the Beverly Hills Wine Merchant and others while 

continuing to run the catering company we started in L.A.,” he says. After parting 

ways with Keller, Beltran launched his first Pasadena restaurant, Dickenson West 

(with restaurateurs Derek Dickenson and Barbara West). Other notable eateries 

followed, from Cayo and Madeleine’s to the acclaimed Noir Food & Wine, which 

closed in 2013 despite being crowned Zagat Best New Restaurant in L.A. in 2011. 

Beltran still runs his busy catering business, Claud & Co., which operates out of 

the ample kitchen at Bacchus’. “That kitchen is huge,” he says. “We do weddings, 

galas and charity events. I’ve been in Pasadena a long time so I know every charity in 

town. I’m very involved and ingrained in the city, and it all comes back to you.” 

The bustling chef isn’t planning to open up in other cities anytime soon. “I think 

it lessens the brand and I certainly don’t want to do that in a fine dining capacity,” he 

says. As for the menu at Perry’s, “People love salads; the branzino and sea bass all sell 

well.” What he does see in his future is a casual concept restaurant, like a sandwich 

shop or taco place, in Pasadena. 

When the chef has a rare night off at home, he likes to cook in his outdoor 

kitchen and throw dinner parties with plenty of wine. “My wife is a teacher now, so 

there is an ending to what she does,” he says. My life [in the kitchen] will just keep 

going forever.” We can only hope. |||| 

Perry’s is located in the dusitD2 Hotel Constance, 928 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. 

Hours are 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. 

Friday and Saturday. Call (626) 898-7900 or visit dusit.com. 

PHOTOS: (top left) Courtesy of Hotel Constance, (top right and bottom two) Frank C. Girardot

07.16 | ARROYO | 15

arroyo 

HOMESALESABOVE 

~HOME SALES INDEX~ 

HOME SALES 

-11.53% 

AVG. PRICE/SQ. FT. 

+7.72% 

may 

2015 

399 

HOMES 

SOLD 

ALHAMBRA (NEW) MAY ’15 MAY’16 

Homes Sold N/A n/a 

49 

Median Price N/A n/a $540,000 $498,750 

Median Sq. Ft. N/A n/a 1409 1320 

ALTADENA MAY ’15 MAY ’16 

Homes Sold 35 35 

Median Price $626,000 $745,000 

Median Sq. Ft. 1434 1580 

ARCADIA MAY ’15 MAY ’16 


Median Price $1,108,750 $775,000 


EAGLE ROCK MAY ’15 MAY ’16 


Median Price $665,000 $816,000 


GLENDALE MAY ’15 MAY ’16 


Median Price $675,000 $680,000 


LA CAÑADA MAY ’15 MAY ’16 


Median Price $1,695,000 $1,655,000 


PASADENA MAY ’15 MAY ’16 


Median Price $650,000 $735,000 


SAN MARINO MAY ’15 MAY ’16 


Median Price $2,990,000 $2,094,000 


SIERRA MADRE MAY ’15 MAY ’16 


Median Price $938,000 $948,500 


SOUTH PASADENA MAY ’15 MAY ’16 


Median Price $1,128,000 $850,000 


TOTAL MAY ’15 MAY ’16 


Avg Price/Sq. Ft. $557 $601 

may 

2016 

353 

HOMES 

SOLD 

RECENT HOME CLOSINGS IN THE PASADENA WEEKLY FOOTPRINT source: CalREsource 

ADDRESS CLOSE DATE PRICE BDRMS. SQ. FT. YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE PREV. SOLD 

ALHAMBRA 

20 North Bushnell Avenue 05/26/16 $1,180,000 8 4470 1930 $275,000 05/20/1999 

26 North Hidalgo Avenue 05/10/16 $910,000 6 3311 1911 $893,000 07/25/2014 

ALTADENA 

2017 Midwick Drive 05/10/16 $2,495,000 4 3012 1937 $1,600,000 04/15/2014 

2163 Midwick Drive 05/20/16 $1,150,000 3 1878 1951 $400,000 07/28/1999 

3024 Zane Grey Terrace 05/17/16 $1,030,000 3 2264 1961 $365,000 10/20/1997 

428 East Mariposa Street 05/19/16 $952,500 3 2337 1965 $385,000 10/18/2002 

2847 Reposa Lane 05/18/16 $908,000 3 1725 1946 $835,000 04/03/2008 

1683 Harding Avenue 05/18/16 $896,000 3 1964 1941 $614,000 01/15/2010 

1285 East Palm Street 05/18/16 $872,000 2 1741 1950 

900 East Mt. Curve Avenue 05/10/16 $870,000 2 1403 1947 $560,000 09/04/2015 

938 East Poppyfi elds Drive 05/02/16 $869,000 3 1798 1959 $625,000 03/29/2012 

4400 El Prieto Road 05/20/16 $856,500 3 1086 1956 

ARCADIA 

659 Hampton Road 05/16/16 $3,680,000 5 5543 2011 $1,200,000 06/03/2009 

1328 Oaklawn Road 05/12/16 $2,785,000 4 5039 1954 $1,125,000 12/03/1991 

1715 Watson Drive 05/17/16 $2,180,000 3 1444 1951 $917,500 10/09/2014 

1283 Oakglen Avenue 05/25/16 $1,380,000 4 2799 1966 

1700 North Santa Anita Avenue 05/09/16 $1,237,000 4 2862 1948 $956,000 03/08/2005 

1206 South 10th Avenue 05/18/16 $1,200,000 3 1707 1937 

110 East Camino Real Avenue 05/06/16 $1,160,000 3 1920 1937 $415,000 10/21/1991 

2130 Louise Avenue 05/19/16 $998,000 3 1805 1963 $320,000 08/07/1991 

2219 El Capitan Avenue 05/17/16 $970,000 3 1461 1953 

1050 Woodacre Lane 05/13/16 $945,500 3 2062 1976 $768,000 03/26/2009 

320 Diamond Street 05/20/16 $905,000 3 2006 2000 $838,000 08/01/2014 

31 East Floral Avenue 05/04/16 $885,000 4 1881 1940 $280,000 02/21/1992 

1327 Linda Way 05/11/16 $880,000 4 1834 1963 

235 East Longden Avenue 05/04/16 $875,000 4 2042 1958 

33 California Street #D 05/17/16 $873,000 2 748 1931 $855,000 04/28/2016 

2419 Lee Avenue 05/26/16 $850,000 3 1768 1959 

EAGLE ROCK 

1325 Saginaw Street 05/19/16 $1,500,000 6 2490 1911 $525,000 09/16/2003 

5232 Vincent Avenue 05/12/16 $1,450,000 2 1471 1924 $707,000 04/17/2015 

5013 Mt. Royal Drive 05/17/16 $1,232,000 3 1434 1923 

5208 Rockland Avenue 05/13/16 $1,150,000 2 1629 1921 $605,000 09/24/2014 

5326 Argus Drive 05/11/16 $1,080,000 3 1766 1958 $665,000 10/05/2015 

4886 Hartwick Street 05/27/16 $1,080,000 2 1410 1955 $780,000 07/08/2009 

2343 Las Colinas Avenue 05/20/16 $1,055,000 2 1784 1932 $590,000 02/12/2004 

1453 Hepner Avenue 05/04/16 $975,000 3 1006 1913 $536,000 11/19/2015 

1336 Hepner Avenue 05/13/16 $880,000 2 1232 1910 

G L E N DA L E 

1423 Glencrest Terrace 05/10/16 $3,450,000 6 8069 1938 $1,150,000 03/27/1986 

652 Robin Glen Drive 05/13/16 $2,250,000 4 3391 1977 

750 West Kenneth Road 05/13/16 $1,690,000 3 2615 1937 $535,000 02/28/1996 

3032 Honolulu Avenue 05/24/16 $1,425,000 9 3626 1940 $1,040,000 03/04/2005 

727 Porter Street 05/20/16 $1,327,500 4 4592 1927 

1528 Moreno Drive 05/03/16 $1,250,000 3 2018 1940 $700,000 09/26/2008 

3310 Beaudry Terrace 05/05/16 $1,200,000 3 2697 1976 $800,000 04/03/2015 

2812 North Verdugo Road 05/16/16 $1,140,000 4 4070 1948 

3615 Mesa Lila Lane 05/02/16 $1,130,000 4 2492 1966 $430,000 04/11/1989 

2123 Lenore Drive 05/17/16 $1,095,000 4 2696 1977 $272,000 12/16/1983 

904 Cherokee Lane 05/20/16 $1,070,000 4 3822 1992 $699,000 07/15/2003 

3218 Kirkham Drive 05/11/16 $1,025,000 4 2187 1975 $80,000 12/19/1975 

1532 Moreno Drive 05/06/16 $1,010,000 3 1852 1935 $720,000 03/26/2004 

1018 West Glenoaks Blvd. 05/27/16 $1,000,000 8 4136 1946 $500,000 03/30/2001 

413 Wing Street 05/02/16 $960,000 7 2903 1927 $370,000 11/21/2002 

1612 Virden Drive 05/23/16 $955,000 4 1670 1965 

1648 North Verdugo Road 05/12/16 $952,000 5 2606 1949 $925,000 09/27/2006 

1555 Parway Drive 05/17/16 $940,000 2 2214 1962 

438 West Kenneth Road 05/09/16 $930,000 2 1718 1923 $750,000 11/30/2012 

3812 Los Amigos Street 05/17/16 $930,000 4 1885 1955 $345,000 11/30/2001 

2066 Chilton Drive 05/27/16 $900,000 4 2354 1925 $675,000 04/13/2005 

753 Foxkirk Road 05/06/16 $889,000 4 1550 1991 $765,000 06/06/2008 

The Arroyo Home Sales Index is calculated from residential home sales in Pasadena and the surrounding communities of South Pasadena, San Marino, La Canada Flintridge, Eagle Rock, Glendale (including Montrose), Altadena, Sierra Madre, 

Arcadia and Alhambra. Individual home sales data provided by CalREsource. Arroyo Home Sales Index © Arroyo 2016. Complete home sales listings appear each week in Pasadena Weekly. 

16 | ARROYO | 07.16

ADDRESS CLOSE DATE PRICE BDRMS. SQ. FT. YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE PREV. SOLD 

G L E N DA L E 

3031 Paddington Road 05/19/16 $880,000 3 2257 1976 

1313 Hillside Drive 05/23/16 $875,000 2 1824 1954 

3356 Dunsmere Road 05/04/16 $870,000 2 2111 1961 

3745 Burritt Way 05/09/16 $869,000 3 1425 1959 $545,000 10/17/2008 

4421 Rockland Place 05/06/16 $850,000 3 1726 1925 $299,000 11/24/1998 

1406 North Pacifi c Avenue 05/27/16 $850,000 3 1722 1929 $449,500 12/30/2002 

LA CAÑADA 

5126 Greencrest Road 05/04/16 $3,055,000 4 3843 1952 $2,050,000 10/28/2011 

4071 Dover Road 05/02/16 $2,700,000 4 3911 1947 $1,500,000 10/30/2001 

4358 Beulah Drive 05/18/16 $2,669,500 5 2602 1950 $2,065,000 04/10/2008 

841 Greenridge Drive 05/24/16 $2,575,000 4 3793 1991 $2,500,000 08/06/2008 

5127 Oakwood Avenue 05/26/16 $2,450,000 4 2867 1948 

4917 Hampton Road 05/25/16 $2,350,000 2 1237 1948 $920,000 10/03/2014 

1136 Green Lane 05/18/16 $2,298,000 4 3233 1950 $1,150,000 06/22/2006 

4714 Vineta Avenue 05/04/16 $2,200,000 5 4205 1949 $920,000 07/19/1999 

5179 Castle Road 05/12/16 $1,850,000 4 3725 1949 $740,000 04/30/2002 

5227 Alta Canyada Road 05/17/16 $1,660,000 4 2068 1941 $785,000 10/28/1999 

1118 Olive Lane 05/05/16 $1,650,000 4 2298 1941 $108,000 02/13/1981 

4952 Alta Canyada Road 05/20/16 $1,560,000 4 2662 1959 $1,350,000 07/18/2007 

5127 Solliden Lane 05/09/16 $1,500,000 3 1934 1953 

4808 Crown Avenue 05/27/16 $1,461,000 4 2020 1947 $1,033,000 05/30/2012 

5112 Crown Avenue 05/20/16 $1,355,000 3 1480 1951 $301,000 07/11/1988 

5508 Rock Castle Drive 05/24/16 $1,325,000 3 1980 1958 $885,000 10/26/2015 

4620 Ocean View Blvd. 05/25/16 $1,300,000 3 2639 1949 $700,000 08/02/2006 

2032 Orchard Lane 05/04/16 $1,250,000 1 2287 1929 $265,000 06/25/1990 

5311 Palm Drive 05/10/16 $1,106,000 2 1799 1949 

763 Starlight Heights Drive 05/27/16 $910,000 3 1932 1974 $294,540 06/19/1995 

PASADENA 

545 Madre Street 05/04/16 $3,360,000 3 2692 1957 $1,030,000 08/05/2003 

883 South Oakland Avenue 05/13/16 $3,100,000 6 3848 1920 $2,000,000 08/14/2015 

1160 South Oakland Avenue 05/23/16 $2,475,000 5 3340 1922 $980,000 07/15/2002 

969 South Madison Avenue 05/24/16 $2,400,000 6 4134 1909 

3171 East California Blvd. 05/16/16 $2,280,000 3 3612 1947 $1,765,000 11/12/2014 

363 West Del Mar Blvd. #101 05/18/16 $2,056,000 2 1910 2014 $1,239,500 08/29/2014 

3660 East California Blvd. 05/18/16 $1,899,000 5 3408 1949 

367 West Del Mar Blvd. #108 05/19/16 $1,868,000 3 2540 2014 $1,701,500 12/31/2014 

179 Annandale Road 05/10/16 $1,825,000 4 2467 1932 $1,300,000 06/06/2005 

625 Old Mill Road 05/10/16 $1,780,000 4 2479 1947 $1,499,000 09/06/2012 

1501 Normandy Drive 05/10/16 $1,660,000 3 2336 1955 $1,305,000 10/12/2005 

1447 Parkview Avenue 05/24/16 $1,600,000 5 2606 1926 

1735 Outpost Lane 05/17/16 $1,600,000 4 2992 1981 $552,500 07/10/1998 

1460 North Michigan Avenue 05/24/16 $1,592,500 5 3340 1885 $469,000 03/01/1991 

411 South Berkeley Avenue 05/04/16 $1,500,000 6 3885 1927 $128,500 01/30/1978 

1220 Charles Street 05/10/16 $1,415,000 3 1829 2004 $1,350,000 08/27/2008 

1043 Atchison Street 05/20/16 $1,400,000 5 2685 1905 $1,055,000 02/05/2013 

616 South Los Robles Avenue 05/03/16 $1,380,000 2 2180 1982 $1,190,000 06/07/2013 

243 Annandale Road 05/18/16 $1,302,000 2 2083 1937 $831,000 09/21/2011 

1220 Wabash Street 05/20/16 $1,250,000 2 1671 1946 $182,500 12/04/1980 

3657 Thorndale Road 05/18/16 $1,150,000 3 2117 1941 $680,000 08/26/2010 

3815 Fairmeade Road 05/06/16 $1,130,000 4 2734 1951 

3289 George Circle 05/03/16 $1,100,000 3 1734 1950 $680,000 05/29/2008 

979 Brentnal Road 05/20/16 $1,026,000 3 1493 1952 $358,000 03/26/1999 

336 Redwood Drive 05/10/16 $1,000,000 3 1480 1947 $925,000 03/11/2014 

262 South Berkeley Avenue 05/24/16 $970,000 3 1760 1925 $939,000 07/27/2007 

111 South De Lacey Avenue #109 05/13/16 $962,500 2 2010 2007 

2040 Loma Vista Street 05/20/16 $957,500 3 1811 1929 $665,000 06/05/2015 

2115 Oakdale Street 05/16/16 $950,000 3 1691 1927 $157,500 09/01/1983 

1030 Lunada Lane 05/09/16 $935,000 4 2862 2010 

475 Cliff Drive 05/10/16 $900,000 3 2007 1951 $479,000 06/06/2003 

639 South Los Robles Avenue 05/16/16 $885,000 4 1560 1901 $255,000 10/14/1997 

1650 North Holliston Avenue 05/09/16 $880,000 3 1327 1927 $695,000 04/11/2013 

1785 Casa Grande Street 05/06/16 $879,000 4 2061 1929 $325,000 12/21/2001 

944 Roxbury Drive 05/09/16 $870,000 3 1684 1947 $745,000 05/09/2013 

241 North Mar Vista Avenue 05/09/16 $860,000 4 1360 1905 

742 Locust Street #202 05/11/16 $850,000 3 1983 2002 $799,000 07/20/2007 

SAN MARINO 

900 Oxford Road 05/03/16 $6,380,000 5 4546 1961 

1271 Roanoke Road 05/26/16 $2,390,000 4 3000 1926 

1864 Windsor Road 05/03/16 $2,265,500 4 2538 1927 $600,000 11/03/1992 

1420 Bellwood Road 05/18/16 $2,219,000 2 2257 1955 $1,600,000 12/28/2012 

2151 Melville Drive 05/11/16 $2,100,000 5 2638 1932 

1867 Windsor Road 05/24/16 $2,088,000 4 2048 1926 

828 Sierra Madre Blvd. 05/03/16 $1,960,000 4 2288 1960 $1,255,000 07/22/2011 

574 Los Arboles Lane 05/18/16 $1,665,000 3 1914 1941 

1964 San Salvatore Place 05/02/16 $1,500,000 3 1431 1941 

2920 Lorain Road 05/18/16 $1,491,500 2 2072 1940 

SIERRA MADRE 

189 Sycamore Place 05/05/16 $2,900,000 6 5312 1927 $915,000 01/23/1998 

556 Camillo Road 05/03/16 $1,409,000 5 2912 1965 $475,000 04/21/1998 

126 North Sunnyside Avenue 05/13/16 $1,159,000 3 1732 1924 $815,000 10/13/2005 

365 Toyon Road 05/26/16 $1,060,000 3 2155 1941 $178,000 07/27/1989 

90 South Michillinda Avenue 05/20/16 $1,052,000 3 2702 1916 $802,000 05/01/2014 

471 West Grandview Avenue 05/06/16 $1,049,000 4 2186 1921 

SOUTH PASADENA 

1817 Spruce Street 05/25/16 $1,960,000 4 2846 1925 $439,000 02/17/1995 

805 Montrose Avenue 05/17/16 $1,925,000 3 2315 1914 $1,048,500 04/03/2014 

1611 Marengo Avenue 05/13/16 $1,880,000 4 3052 1910 

1625 Oak Street 05/16/16 $1,750,000 5 3908 1908 $85,000 05/02/2003 

1231 Monterey Road 05/06/16 $1,350,000 5 2493 1904 $1,300,000 06/26/2014 

1906 Mission Street 05/19/16 $985,000 2 1169 1922 $505,000 05/22/2003 

166 Monterey Road 05/26/16 $850,000 5 1875 1890 

07.16 ARROYO | 17

ARROYO 

HOME & DESIGN 

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT 

PLEMEN 

BATHROOMS 

GO HIGH-END 

But think about how you use the 

room now and in the future 

BY BRUCE HARING 

PHOTO: Courtesy of Saxum Tile Design Studio 

THE AXIOM IN REAL ESTATE TE IS 

THAT A HOME’S VALUE IS ALL 

ABOUT LOCATION, LOCATION, 

LOCATION. BUT WHEN IT COMES 

TO REMODELING THE BATHROOM 

INSIDE THAT HOME, IT’S ALL ABOUT 

AMENITIES, AMENITIES, AMENITIES. 

Spa showers, double vanities, 

radiant heat, vessel sinks, unique lighting 

and elegant furniture are just some of 

the features popping up in Pasadena 

area bathrooms. No longer confi ned 

to resorts and high-end hotels, these 

unique features are becoming musthaves 

for homeowners who wish to 

change up their décor. 

It’s not all trendy, though. There’s a 

practical side to these former luxuries. Every 

homeowner now knows that their bathrooms 

are one of the features that add value when it 

comes time to sell the house (thanks, HGTV!). 

That means there’s a lot of pressure to meet the 

expectations on the part of the buyer, who is looking 

for modern design and unique functions that will justify 

the huge investment they are planning to make. 

That’s why area bathroom vendors say it’s best to 

dream big when you are creating a new design. Choose fi xtures and 

fi nishes that you love, decide which features you must have (warmed 

fl oors are a big must for many, unimportant to others), and choose whether 

you want a big shower space with multiple nozzles, an Olympic-sized 

bathtub, or both. 


18 | ARROYO | 07.16

07.16 | ARROYO | 19

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT— 

PHOTO: Courtesy of Surfaces USA 


It’s your space, so make it an area that you will luxuriate in for years to 

come, and one that will still be relevant to the next person that occupies 

your building - or may offer features that will accommodate you far into 

your senior years. 

But even if you aren’t planning on moving for a while, it’s wise to 

spend time and carefully think about what kind of experience you wish to 

have on a daily basis in your bathroom. 

As you might expect from a room where some of life’s most personal 

functions occur, the ideal bathroom is all a matter of individual taste. Is it a 

room that’s used quickly? Or are you the type that loves scented candles 

and an oasis of relaxation during a long, luxurious bath? Do you need 

to share the space with a spouse or partner? Will there be a logjam at 

certain moments of the day? 

All of these questions should be answered in your own mind before 

beginning to assess how your bathroom will be redesigned. The next step 

is where the professionals come in. 

CHOOSE WHAT YOU LOVE 

Stephanie Laney is the lead designer for Surfaces USA, a Southern 

California company that specializes in natural stone and tile in all sizes and 

forms. 

The biggest challenge in bathroom redesign, Laney says, is getting 

a customer to understand what their personal style is and not to be 

overwhelmed by a bathroom redesign. “I normally tell them even though 

you are remodeling a small portion of the home, you want to give it an 

updated look, even if the rest of the home is a bit dated,” she says. 

Laney advises remodelers to pick out a slab fi rst, since “everything 

works around that. That tells the most story.” Although everyone has a 

budget, homeowners should not “get wrapped up in the dollar amount” 

when choosing which patterns and materials to use. “You will spend the 

same money putting in a $3 tile and an $8 tile,” Laney says. “We all have 

budgets, but we’re talking 50 square feet (in most bathrooms), and if the 

tile is $1 more, that’s $50 more. We want them to pick what they love. 

That’s the point of what they are doing.” 

Frank Rojas, the general manager of Ultra Bathroom Vanities in Valley 

Village, recommends that customers decide on the layout of the room as 

one of their fi rst steps. “Focus on where the shower, tub and vanity will go,” 

he says. “By getting these large items out of the way fi rst, you can more 

20 | ARROYO | 07.16 

–continued on page 25

07.16 | ARROYO | 21

22 | ARROYO | 07.16

07.16 | ARROYO | 23

24 | ARROYO | 07.16

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT— 

PHOTO: Courtesy of Ultra Bathroom Vanities 


easily visualize where best to place the remaining items.” 

In many cases, moving pieces around the bathroom may not really 

be necessary. A remodeled bathroom may “just need a face lift, as 

compared to a complete overhaul,” says Rojas. “However, if a project 

requires more than just replacing items, the layout may need to change.” 

Rojas recalled a recent favorite project involving a customer who was 

building their home from the ground up. “Although several bathrooms 

needed to be completed, the showcase of the project was the master 

bathroom,” he recalled. “That featured a walk-in steam shower with 

gorgeous fi xtures, including an over-sized rain shower, a beautiful wall 

hung vanity, and an LED illuminated medicine cabinet. The fi nal result was 

a bathroom retreat with the perfect combination of function and style.” 

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE 

Kim Gould, the showroom manager of Saxum Tile Design Studio in 

Pasadena, is another vendor who admits that a remodel can be 

overwhelming for homeowners. While you can get a great idea of trends 

by looking online, “there is no substitute for shopping for materials in 

person,” Gould says. “There are so many different parts of a tile order, and 

it is important to be able to put the pieces next to each other to compare 

colors, thickness and touch.” 

Gould says it’s tempting for homeowners to go the DIY route and not 

ask for professional help in an effort to save on costs. “But in the long run, 

minimizing mistakes and making the best use of your time is invaluable,” 

she says. “We have the experience to direct people to make the right 

choices for the needs of their project. If they come in with a concept that 

is not suitable for the application, our response will be to educate them 

and present options with their ideas in mind.” 

In the Pasadena area, customer trends include incorporating 

freestanding vanities, rain showers, stone, framed mirrors and a 

combination of LED recessed with decorative lighting, according to 

Debbie Kowalski, the co-owner of Modern Lighting in Temple City. 

One caution in your remodeling plans: tearing up a bathroom 

can expose underlying issues in the house. “On a remodel, it ALWAYS 

happens,” says Kowalski. “Adapt and overcome. You are not the fi rst to 

have this happen, no matter what it is.” If the budget is strict and the 

underlying issue costly, “you have to make choices on other things that 

may have to be downgraded or eliminated, or at least put off until later.” 

There’s one other factor to consider when making your bathroom 

remodeling plans, Kowalski adds. “While we can’t plan for everything, 

we must be practical,” she says. “It is always best to plan ahead for what 

your needs will be in ten years. Many people in California move, so plan 

on what would be a positive, saleable room. I’ve seen countertops set at 

40-inches for tall people – not good for resale.” |||| 

07.16 | ARROYO | 25

26 | ARROYO | 07.16

PHOTO: Marie-Louise Avery 

Think 

Inside 

the Box 

That’s where you’ll find the recent wave 

of home-delivered meal kits, with chefs’ 

recipes and the raw ingredients to 

make them. 

BY DENISE ABBOTT 

TIRED OF THE HO-HUM WHAT’S-FOR-DINNER ROUTINE? TOO BUSY 

TO PLAN MEALS AND SHOP FOR GROCERIES? TIME TO START 

THINKING INSIDE THE BOX. THE LATEST CULINARY TREND SPRINGING 

UP LIKE BEAN SPROUTS IS MEAL-KIT DELIVERY SERVICE. UNLIKE 

FRESH-PRODUCE DELIVERY OR TAKE-OUT, THESE COMPANIES 

SOURCE FRESH, HIGH-QUALITY INGREDIENTS (ORGANIC WHENEVER 

POSSIBLE), DO THE MEAL PREP AND PORTION THEM FOR COOKING, 

THEN DELIVER TO YOUR DOOR. THE ACTUAL COOKING IS LEFT TO 

YOU, USING EASY-TO-FOLLOW, STEP-BY-STEP RECIPE CARDS. 

Whether you’ve got serious chops in the kitchen or are a JV, it’s the joy of cooking distilled to 

its essence, usually within a half-hour to 45 minutes. And super-chef wannabes who are short on 

time can still cook like food gurus Jamie Oliver and James Beard Award–winning chef Justine 

Kelly — they create menus for Hello Fresh and Sun Basket, respectively. 

Since Blue Apron and Plated launched meal-kit mania in 2012, the market has heated up with 

a bumper crop of new offerings. Technomic, a food-consulting firm based in Chicago, predicts that 

by 2020, the meal-kit delivery industry will have mushroomed 10 times larger than it was in 2015. 

“Meal kits are gaining some real traction with consumers and represent a change in the way people 


07.16 | ARROYO | 27

Peach Dish’s shiro ramen 


think about and source food,” says Technomic strategic advisor Eric Sorenson. “There’s also an 

entertainment factor involved, so it’s about more than just convenience.” 

These are subscription services, but they’re easy to pause, skip or cancel at any time. If you 

do want to skip a week or more, remember to do so one week in advance or you’ll end up with a 

fridge full of food to cook that you may not necessarily want. Vegetarian, gluten-free and Paleo 

diets are available. 

The process is pretty much the same across the board. You select from a range of weekly 

offerings, and they deliver. The cost ranges from $9 per person per meal to about $12 (usually 

including delivery). Most offer free meals or discounts with your first purchase. 

This is definitely a lifestyle upgrade, but it’s not for the faint of wallet. You’re paying a 

premium for someone else to take care of the planning and shopping for fresher, higher-quality 

produce than you might find at your average grocery store. The farm-to-table philosophy is that 

great cooking starts with well-sourced seasonal ingredients, so they work with small sustainable 

suppliers. 

On the other hand, it costs dough to purchase a jar of exotic spices for a dish you might not 

want to make again. Because all the ingredients are premeasured, you receive just what you need 

without the waste. (Most assume you have the basic pantry staples on hand: salt, pepper and olive 

oil are called for in most recipes.) 

These services, all catering to Arroyoland, are perfect for anyone who loves to cook, wants to 

learn or is simply too busy to deal with planning, shopping and prepping. Also, you can feel good 

knowing that you are eating healthier meals using fresh produce. Many subscribers report losing 

weight as well. You get to be the chef de cuisine in your own domain and, best of all, there won’t 

be a bad table in the joint. 

Blue Apron (blueapron.com), launched in 2012, is considered the leader in the raw meal–kit 

craze and says it now delivers 8 million meals a month. Founder and CEO Matt Salzberg and 

his two partners started by making their first meals in their tiny New York City apartments. 

Friends and family raved, and the business became smokin’ hot. 

Cost: Blue Apron has two plans: two-person and four-person subscription options, both with 

three meals per week. The two-person plan costs $69 per week ($11.50 per meal) and the family 

plan is $129 per week ($10.75 per meal). 

Sample dishes: center-cut pork chops with warm beet, heirloom carrot and hazelnut salad; 

chicken meatloaf with mashed potatoes and garlic sugar peas; butternut squash and kale 

minestrone 

Special “sauce”: No recipe ever repeats in the same year; Blue Apron uses your saved preferences 

to pick menus if you don’t specify your choice; it also offers a wine club that delivers 500-milliliter 

bottles (smaller than standard), selected to pair with the meals. 

Green Chef (greenchef.com), one of only two USDA-certified organic meal-kit outfits, offers 

12 options every week. Choose the one that fits your lifestyle, whether you’re part of a gluten-free 

couple, a vegetarian family of four or a meat-loving household of six. Green Chef makes sure to 

tick all the nutritional boxes, while leaving you plenty of leisure time to enjoy your evening. 

Cost: Prices range from $10.49 per vegetarian meal to $14.99 for a Paleo meal. Each box 

contains three meals for two people. Delivery costs $9 per box. 

Sample dishes: grilled lemon chicken with green-bean and pesto-pasta salad; tabbouleh-stuffed 

peppers; cumin-crusted tuna. 

Special “sauce”: Each entrée has just 450 to 750 calories per serving. 

Hello Fresh (hellofresh.com) lets you choose three meals from five options each week — including 

one created by BBC celebrity Naked Chef Jamie Oliver, famous for mastering the art of 

super-quick cooking that’s uncomplicated, delicious and healthy. 

Cost: Two dinners for two people is priced at $48 plus $6 shipping; three dinners for two 

people goes for $72 with free shipping. 


PHOTO: Courtesy of Peach Dish 

28 | ARROYO | 07.16

07.16 | ARROYO | 29


Sample dishes: sage-butter pork chops with roasted broccolini and citrusy potato salad; 

Mediterranean vegetable tostadas; chili-roasted shrimp with spinach, white bean sauté, feta and 

mint 

Special “sauce”: A Jamie Oliver recipe, such as salsa spaghetti with black olives and fresh basil, 

is always on the menu. 

Orecchiette from 

Purple Carrot 

Peach Dish’s (peachdish.com) Southern-inspired cooking respects the classics but one-ups 

them. Unlike other services that typically deliver one-dish meals in which the veggies tend to get 

lost, this Atlanta-based company includes a main, side and vegetable — a true Southern meal, if 

you will. 

Cost: Prices start at about $12.50 per person per meal, depending on the number of meals 

ordered (up to 12 a week) and U.S. shipping destination. Regular subscribers receive free shipping 

and can order a box delivery as often as they like. 

Sample dishes: herbed hanger steak with green beans, red onions and grits; panko-crusted 

chicken with lettuce and herbs; trout with tomato and cucumber salad over wheat berries 

Special “sauce”: You can order a single box with no further commitment, and it makes a great 

gift for an anniversary, a couple with a new baby, a housewarming or any other occasion. 

Sun Basket’s steak salad 

with summer squash 

Plated (plated.com) takes you back to the future, offering home-cooked meals like mom used to 

make. Plated’s dishes are a bit more complex, requiring more dicing, chopping and various other 

cooking techniques (searing, roasting, etc.) than most other plans. Plated offers the most choice 

— nine meals each week — and the option of ordering as many meals as you want (in two-, fouror 

six-plate quantities). 

Cost: Prices are based on the number of plates you order, with a minimum of four plates per 

order each week. For example, three meals for two people would come out to $72 per week. The 

minimum order is two plates for two people, which costs $48. Plated also offers some specialty 

dishes (filet mignon or seared scallops) that can run as high as $30 per dish. 

Sample dishes: Thai peanut-chicken curry with sticky rice; meatloaf with Parmesan-roasted 

broccoli; cheesy, Italian-style faro and red rice with roasted kale 

Special “sauce”: You can see meal options three weeks in advance but, on the downside, if you 

wait too long to order, some dishes can be sold out. 

Purple Carrot (thepurplecarrot.com) is the only all-vegan service that delivers nationally. It’s 

heavily influenced by former New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman, who created and 

tested all recipes until his recent departure. 

Cost: Meals for two people, three times weekly, is priced at $68 per week; for four people, 

twice weekly, it’s $74. Your box is shipped to you on Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Sample dishes: linguini with crisp mushrooms and saffron broth; crispy rutabaga rösti with 

garlicky balsamic spinach; Manchurian cauliflower with sesame-tamarind bok choy 

Special “sauce”: Purple Carrot is perfect for anyone who is intimidated by veganism or any 

vegan who has fallen into a boring vegan rut. 

Sun Basket (sunbasket.com) is the other service offering organic meal kits certified by the 

USDA. Sun Basket’s new bicoastal distribution centers allow it to deliver fresh organic, nutritious 

food to 34 states or “80 to 90 percent of U.S. households,” says Adam Zbar, its CEO and founder. 

Last year, James Beard Award–winning chef Justine Kelly wrote 450 recipes for Sun Basket, 

which sends out about 150,000 meals each month. Each recipe is vetted by an in-house nutritionist 

for low sodium content, low processed sugars, healthy fats and nutritionally dense ingredients. 

Packaging materials are recyclable and reusable. 

Cost: Three meals for two or four cost $11.49 per meal. Choose from 10 meals a week. 

Sample dishes: Thai steak salad with summer squash and seared scallions; salmon with roasted 

spring vegetables and tahini; Tuscan bread and vegetable soup 

Special “sauce”: The only service to offer healthy breakfasts that take just five minutes to prepare 

as part of a regular subscription; packaging materials are recyclable and reusable. |||| 

PHOTOS: (Top) Eric Tanner; (bottom two) courtesy of Sun Basket 

30 | ARROYO | 07.16

BITES 

Freshly Picked Food News 

BY RICHARD CUNNINGHAM 

Wildwood Ovens owner/chef Michael Gerard is offering three cooking workshops 

this month at his Eagle Rock culinary school: 

• Cooking with Wood Workshop, Saturday, July 9, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. 

Wildwood promises to “break out all our culinary guns in this slightly barbaric 

and mother of all wood workshops” for cooking outdoors. Use rustic culinary 

techniques, such as salt-crust and rescoldo stone-pot baking (cooking in ash and 

cinders), to cook meats and veggies in the forno (wood-fired oven) and infiernillo 

(super-hot oven) or on the parrilla (grill), chapa (portable grill) and assador (spit). 

“We will revel in the taste of burnt,” the website vows. The class will cook four 

dishes, depending on what’s fresh that day. The four-hour workshop costs $200. 

• Tapas Workshop, Saturday, July 9, 4 – 7 p.m. 

Learn the art of preparing small bites pioneered for sherry drinkers at 

Andalusian taverns and spread around the world. Wildwood calls this workshop 

“a class in seduction as we slowly tease your taste buds.” The class climaxes in a 

tapas buffet. The workshop lasts three hours and costs $150. 

• Yakitori Workshop, Saturday, July 23, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. 

Since yaki means barbeque and tori means chicken in Japanese, Wildwood 

sums up this workshop as being “all about the bird.” By the time you leave this 

three-hour class with a tummy full of tori, you’ll be able to butcher an organic 

free-range chicken and make skewered bar bites by cooking over Kishu binchotan 

komaru charcoal kushiyaki. Curious? The class fee is $150. 

Wildwood Ovens is located at 5020 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles. Call (323) 255-6578 or visit wildwoodovens.com. 

Cooking with Wood Workshop 

PHOTOS: (Top) courtesy of Wildwood Ovens; (bottom) Aliza Sokolow 

Tacos line up 

Chicas Tacos, a hot new taco stand in downtown Los Angeles, has a hip, retro vibe and 

uses only locally sourced, fresh organic ingredients in its made-to-order dishes inspired by 

the Valle De Guadelupe region. There’s a smattering of indoor seating, but the bigger draw 

is outdoor patio dining on bright red picnic tables atop a sea of AstroTurf, next to a shiny 

Airstream trailer. Try the fish taco with beer-battered seafood, smoky morita salsa and Chicas 

Caesar salad, or the veggie taco with cauliflower chorizo, marinated mushrooms, panela 

cheese, avocado sauce and chile toreado. Just a block-and-a-half from Pershing Square, 

Chicas plies downtowners with tasty tacos from 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Mondays through 

Thursdays, 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays. 

Chicas Tacos is located at 728 S. Olive St., L.A. Call (213) 896-0373 or visit chicastacos.com. 


07.16 | ARROYO | 31

Bistro Burger 


The Royce Wood-Fired Steakhouse at the Langham Huntington, Pasadena 

has monthly four-course wine dinners planned all summer for the intimate Red 

Wine Room. The restaurant’s winery partner, providing wine pairings, is Napa 

Valley’s Miner Wine Estates on July 21; TBA on Aug. 18 and Ridge Vineyards in 

the Santa Clara Valley on Sept. 22. Dinners begin at 6:30 p.m. and cost $95 per 

person, excluding tax and gratuity. Each dinner only accommodates 12 guests, so 

don’t wait to make a reservation by calling (626) 585-6410. 

The Langham Huntington, Pasadena is located at 1401 S. Oak Knoll Ave., Pasadena. 

Visit roycela.com. 

Salsa-tasting tent 

Burger 

Country 

Northern California–based i Paul lMartin’s American Grill, which recently 

opened its 10th restaurant, in Pasadena, is making a splash with its Wine Nights 

program, which fortunately doesn’t discriminate among days of the week in offering 

more than 100 wines served in generous seven-ounce pours (although there’s 

a wine dinner special on Mondays that includes two entrées and side salads plus 

one bottle of wine for just $50). Pair your vino with menu stand-outs like the 

fresh oysters or the Bistro Burger with angus beef, black pepper aioli, hardwoodsmoked 

bacon, housemade pickles, mushrooms and your choice of cheese. Hours 

are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays 

and Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. 

Paul Martin’s American Grill is located at 455 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena. Call (626) 

773-7600 or visit paulmartinsamericangrill.com. 

Whether they want to prove their personal salsa recipe is “best in show” or just 

enjoy the tastes and festivities, salsa lovers will gather July 31 for the Great Oxnard 

Salsa Challenge 2016. The amateur contest is limited to 50 salsas; competition 

categories include best red, best green, best fruit, best mild, best medium and best 

hot. The Judge’s Choice winner takes home $100, first-place category winners score 

a goodie bag. The competition is the main event of the 23rd annual Oxnard Salsa 

Festival Saturday and Sunday; also on the menu is live music, a salsa-tasting tent, 

food and merchandise vendors and a dance contest for charity. Salsa combatants 

can preregister by the July 8 deadline by calling (805) 535-4060 or visiting oxnardsalsafestival.com. 

PHOTO: (Left) courtesy of Paul Martin’s American Grill; (right) Z studios 

32 | ARROYO | 07.16

252 S.Brand 

The Americana at Brand’s parent company, Caruso Affiliated, is fathering a 

delicious new development across the street from the Glendale shopping center: 252 

S. Brand is the address of a bushel of cult-cool eateries opening this fall. Anchoring 

the walkable stretch of Brand Boulevard will be New York’s groovy Shake 

Shack, which serves its gourmet take on fast-food classics, like the venerable burger 

and crispy fries sauced with a proprietary blend of American and cheddar cheeses. 

Another unforgettable name on the new restaurant row is Eggslut, founded by L.A. 

native son and rising culinary star Alvin Cailin, “inspired by his true love for eggs,” 

as L.A. Eater put it. The purest expression of that love on the menu is simply called 

Slut, described as “a cage-free coddled egg on top of a smooth potato purée, poached 

in a glass jar, topped with gray salt and chives, served with slices of baguette.” 

Eggslut’s breads are made fresh locally every day. Next door will be Chef Kayson 

Chong’s Mainland Poke, serving fresh sushi bowls custom-made with flavorings 

and toppings you select. Wash it down with guava nectar, lilikoi, luau punch or 

other fruit beverages from Hawaii. Then amble next door to Greenleaf Gourmet 

Chopshop, the latest entry in “Commander-in-Leaf” Jonathan Rollo’s chain of 

gourmet fast-casual restaurants around SoCal. You can make your own salad or 

order one of the chef’s specialty salads, such as lemongrass chicken salad or ahi and 

faro salad. Rounding out the menu are burgers, pizzas, tacos and other delectables. 

Finally, the Masonic Temple down the block will have a new next-door neighbor in 

San Francisco–based Philz Coffee, described as “a major player in third-wave coffee” 

(the artisanal coffee movement). 

PHOTO: Courtesy of Caruso Affi liated 

Turning to Arroyoland ice cream news, Sierra Madre’s Mother Moo Creamery has 

branched out into South Pasadena with the spring opening of The Moo on Mission, 

also carrying Karen Klemens’ much-sought-after small-batch, homemade ice cream, 

along with other sweet treats. The Moo on Mission’s hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. 

Saturdays through Thursdays and 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays. Also spreading its wings 

(and accessibility) is Pasadena-based Choctál, whose growing list of retailers now 

includes Target along with mainstays Gelson’s, Von’s and Bristol Farms. Pick up one 

of Choctál’s so-called premium ice-cream “tours,” four-packs of chocolate or vanilla 

flavors, made from “single-origin” cacao or vanilla beans. 

The Moo on Mission is located at 1006 Mission St., South Pasadena. Call (626) 441- 

0744 or visit mothermoo.com. Target is located at 777 E. Colorado Blvd. and 3121 E. 

Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Visit choctal.com. 

07.16 | ARROYO | 33

34 | ARROYO | 07.16

SAVING THE 

BEST FOR LAST? 

With I Almost Forgot About You, bestselling novelist Terry 

McMillan turns her lens on the life and loves of a boomer 

yearning for the road not taken. 

BY BETTIJANE LEVINE 

IT IS 8 A.M. ON A RECENT THURSDAY AND NOVELIST TERRY MCMILLAN IS STARTING THE 

DAY IN HER AIRY RENTED LOFT NEAR OLD PASADENA. SHE APOLOGIZES FOR THE EARLY 

HOUR AND BREVITY OF TIME ALLOWED (“30 MINUTES EXACTLY”), EXPLAINING THAT SHE 

HAS SCHEDULED BACK-TO-BACK INTERVIEWS WITH NATIONWIDE MEDIA FOR THE ENTIRE 

DAY, AFTER WHICH SHE’LL HEAD OUT ON A CROSS-COUNTRY TOUR TO PROMOTE HER NEW 

BOOK, I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT YOU. 

PHOTO: Matthew Jordan Smith 

McMillan’s 12 previous books have all been bestsellers, 

earning her considerable fame and fortune along with 

numerous awards, from her very first novel, Mama (1986), 

which won the Doubleday New Voices in Fiction award, to her 

blockbuster novels Waiting to Exhale (1992) and How Stella Got 

Her Groove Back (1996), which became star-studded feature 

films she co-wrote and executive produced with Ron Bass. 

Throughout, she has continued breaking barriers as an African 

American author, creating black female 

characters whose warmth, wisdom and 

romantic escapades have been exported 

in print and film around the world. 

Her own life story, with its 

dozens of extraordinary ups and 

downs, would make a blockbuster 

movie or HBO series, but at 64 

she’s not looking back just yet. 

In fact, she’s looking forward. I 

Almost Forgot About You reflects 

her theory that growing older 

is a kind of liberation, a chance 

to shed inhibitions, insecurities 

and even material possessions 

and start an exciting new 

chapter of life. 

McMillan’s latest heroine is 

Dr. Georgia Young, a 55-yearold 

divorcee with grown children, a thriving optometry 

practice and all the trappings of wealth. But after decades of 

building all this, the daily routine has become a repetitive bore 

for which the upscale cars, designer clothes and the manse in 

a posh suburb cannot compensate. Dr. Young has an artistic 

talent she’s never tapped; she’s tired of living (and sleeping) 

alone and is thinking of exploring new options before she’s 

too old to enjoy them. She ponders selling her practice and 

her house and decides to look up old lovers and tell them 

how much they meant to her and what she learned from 

them...and maybe rekindle some old flames. The plotline is 

McMillan’s special touch of genius resurfacing, her knack 

for writing popular fiction that strikes at the jugular of black 

women’s angst, while illuminating the universality of their 

concerns. This time she turns her lens on boomer professional 

women who have done everything their parents told them, 

achieved financial and professional success and yet yearn to 

chuck it all and explore the roads not taken. At one point in 

the book, our protagonist’s BFF tells her, “We need to be 

honest with ourselves and do what excites us instead of what 

looks good on paper.” 

It just so happens that author McMillan recently did some 

of the same things as her new book’s protagonist. “I never 

looked up old lovers, but I did sell my house, which was my 

dream home,” she says. “In 1995, I bought land in a really cool 

spot in the Bay Area called Sunnyvale, and I hired really hip 

young people to build it from scratch just the way I wanted it. 


07.16 | ARROYO | 35


Very modern, with colored concrete floors and glass sinks and all sorts of things that people 

really weren’t doing yet at that time. My house was in Architectural Digest, and I loved it. 

I also had a home in Tahoe for 13 years, where I skied like an animal.” But after her son, 

Solomon, graduated from Stanford University, she figured it was time to pull up stakes, sell 

her home and start her own next chapter. With a 30-day escrow, she had to move fast and 

decided to try Southern California, where she’d briefly gone to college and where she has 

family and friends. 

McMillan’s latest book is getting positive reviews. Amy Tan, author of the bestselling 

TheJoy Luck Club, says I Almost Forgot About You “is about what smart women do to reach the 

pinnacle of success and what they must do to get the hell out before it’s too late.” 

The Washington Post’s reviewer wrote, “Self-discovery, second chances and the 

importance of family are...hallmarks of McMillan’s novels, as is the rich and colorful 

dialogue that makes her books so much fun to read.” I Almost “checks all the boxes for trash 

talk, steamy sex scenes, lots of laughs and f-bombs galore... 

[It] will have readers of a certain age looking at their own 

lives and agreeing...that sometimes you know in your heart 

it’s time for a change.” 

McMillan is frequently referred to as “iconic” and 

“beloved” by fans and fellow writers, in no small part due 

to the impact of Waiting to Exhale, her third book, which 

shattered racial barriers in the publishing industry — until 

the early ’90s, publishing was almost all white and reluctant 

to publish mass-market books by black novelists. McMillan 

proved there was a booming market for African American 

popular fiction exploring the concerns of middle- and uppermiddle-class 

black women about love, money, sex and success 

— and that those concerns were universal, transcending 

race or even gender. L.A.-based African American novelist 

Tananarive Due, the daughter of two civil rights activists, has 

compared McMillan’s influence on the publishing industry to 

producer Shonda Rhimes’ more recent impact on television, 

for which she cast her hit series like How to Get Away With 

Murder with a rainbow of actors. 

With her newest book, McMillan is still breaking 

ground; she’s one of the first fiction writers to shatter some 

myths about aging at a time when millions are retaining their 

vitality and mental acuity until very late in life. “I know this 

African American couple in their 70s who had a fabulous 

house and wonderful art collection,” she says. “They sold it all and decided to live their own 

particular dream, which is to travel the world and see the things they’d always wanted to see, 

and revisit the places they loved but hadn’t spent enough time in. It just registered with me. 

These people are not thinking about dying. They’re thinking about living.” 

McMillan says she used that and other true stories as “the launching pads” for her 

new novel. As for looking up ex-lovers, “that part just seemed to write itself. It’s nothing 

I’ve ever done, but my character finds that one of her ex-boyfriends has died, and she 

realizes she never told him that she loved him. That just made me wonder, thinking as 

Georgia, who is my character, what happened to the rest of them? Are they still alive? 

Then Georgia starts thinking what she didn’t say to them, what she did get from them 

— even if the relationship ended badly, which a lot of relationships do. But as you get 

older, you really do start to appreciate what you had and how you evolved and, to some 

degree, people don’t realize that we do grow or don’t grow as a result of how well we leave 

relationships, the condition that we leave them in. Some people never get over a broken 

heart, some hold grudges. I just wondered how many people Georgia has hurt...and how 

many I have in my own life. And I just threw all this in [to the book] and it was very 

cathartic and healthy for me, even though I pretty much knew how things ended in my 

relationships.” 

Is she in a relationship now? “Almost,” she says with a chuckle, and changes the subject. 

McMillan, born in Port Huron, Michigan, did not have an easy childhood. Her father 

reportedly had tuberculosis and other health problems and died when she was 16. Her 

mother worked low-paying factory jobs to support her five children. McMillan recently 

wrote in the Washington Post that her love of literature and language was sparked by her 

discovery of an ancient copy of Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, buried under a floorboard in 

the tiny attic bedroom she shared with a sibling. In high school, she took a library job to help 

support the family, and it was there that she accessed some of the great books she’d learned 

of while studying her treasured Bartlett’s. 

McMillan left Michigan for L.A. City College, later transferring to UC Berkeley, where 

she earned her B.A. in journalism. Then it was on to New York, where she briefly attended 

(and dropped out of) Columbia University’s MFA program. She worked in word processing, 

joined the Harlem Writers Guild and wrote a short story 

titled “Mama,” which the group urged her to expand into 

a novel. After six weeks at the prestigious MacDowell and 

Yaddo writers’ colonies, she had a 400-page manuscript, 

part of which she sent to Houghton Mifflin. They published 

the book in 1987, when she was 35. McMillan knew that 

debut novels are usually ignored by publishers’ publicity 

departments, so she used her word-processing equipment 

at work to write 3,000 letters to bookstores and colleges, 

hyping her novel and requesting personal appearances. Many 

complied. She scheduled her own publicity tour, gave 39 

readings and, six weeks after publication, Mama went into its 

third printing. 

Waiting to Exhale, published five years later, was the book 

that put McMillan on the financial map. (Thecelebworth. 

com estimates her assets at $40 million, ranking her No. 26 

among the world’s richest authors.) A 1992 New York Times 

story, headlined “McMillan’s Millions,” chronicled the huge 

crowds — some topping 1,000 — that gathered for the 

Exhale author’s personal appearances. Loudspeakers had to 

be installed outside bookstores that couldn’t contain her fans. 

McMillan earned $2.64 million for the book’s paperback 

rights; lucrative movie deals followed, attracting stars like 

Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Whoopi Goldberg, 

Forest Whitaker and more. 

These days, McMillan says she’s just enjoying life and not worrying whether this latest 

book has film potential. She’s skeptical about that, she says, since “Hollywood doesn’t seem 

to find older people all that appealing. But those Hollywood people aren’t all 25 or 30, either. 

Sometime they’re going to realize that love and sex and joy and beauty and excitement don’t 

just fall by the wayside after 40 or because you have kids. Puh-leez, I find that insulting.” 

But she’s not at all skeptical about her new hometown, Pasadena. “Everybody said, ‘Oh 

Terry, move west of La Cienega.’ I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ Pasadena is prettier, it’s greener, it’s 

civilized. Old Town is really charming. There are certain little side streets that remind me of 

certain places in Europe, and you get a really nice mixture of age groups and ethnicities. It’s 

this cross-pollination that I really appreciate. And I know it’s growing, but hopefully in a way 

that’s not detrimental. I love my neighbors and I have friends and family a short drive away. 

It’s a great place. For now…” She sees lots more surprises in her future. |||| 

I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan (Crown; 368 pages) is available at Vroman’s 

Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; penguinrandomhouse.com and amazon.com. 

The author will discuss the novel at 8 p.m. July 7 in a Live Talk at the New Roads School in 

Santa Monica. Visit livetalksla.org. 

36 | ARROYO | 07.16

KITCHEN 

CONFESSIONS 

Salt 

of the 

Earth 

A BRIEF GUIDE TO THE RAINBOW SPECTRUM OF SALTS 

AROUND THE WORLD 

BY LESLIE BILDERBACK 

While it is certainly true that there is not much in the world of food that has been 

left undiscovered, there is plenty that can be rediscovered. Case in point: salt. 

I fell in love with salt on a family trip to Austria, where we visited the 

Salt Mine Berchtesgaden. There, we rode a tiny train into a mountain, slid 

down a banister (used by old-time miners before elevators were invented) 

and sailed on an internal mountain lake. It was super fun and sparked a 

new passion in me for this ubiquitous, but often overlooked, ingredient. 

The first thing I learned on my new quest for salty knowledge 

is that all salt is sea salt. Some is collected from existing salt water, 

and some is mined from salt deposits left behind from ancient seas. 

Tall mountain ranges, desert salt flats and underground caverns can 

all contain these deposits, and they all carry unique characteristics. 

The age of the deposit, the compression, the surrounding mineral 

components, local flora and fauna and the method used to extract it all 

determine the salt’s flavor and texture. 

Most food enthusiasts are familiar with fleur de sel — the famous French 

sea salt. But there are hundreds of other salts from around the world, and they 

are all just as interesting, if not more so. But what do you do with these 

interesting salts? Lucky for you, I spent a few years answering that 

question. As a result, coming soon to a bookstore near you is Salt: 

The Essential Guide to Cooking with the Most Important Ingredient 

in Your Kitchen (St. Martin’s Griffin; available now for presale, 

and in stores this September). It is an exhaustive, encyclopedic 

reference book on the world’s artisan salts, with history, recipes and 

a salt tasting. 

Yes, you heard right — a salt tasting. 

All salts are not the same. They each have unique qualities that enhance 

foods differently. Though usually cheap in their country of origin, artisan salts 

in artfully designed packaging can cost a pretty penny here. (Which is why I don’t 

suggest using fancy salt in your pasta water.) Instead, feature them as an essential flavor 

element, or finish a dish with a few exceptional grains. To figure this out, a salt tasting allows 

you to compare a few artisan salts side by side on simple foods that act as a neutral palate. 

The first step is to invite some friends over. Then, prepare some simple foods — 

sliced cucumbers, radishes, grilled steak, a baguette smeared with butter or a hunk 

of chocolate. Offer enough of these foods so that each guest can try each salt and 

compare its effects. You can even prepare a score sheet, so your guests can keep 

track of their preferences. 

Of course, you will also need to choose the salts you want to feature. You 

can find a number of salts at most gourmet grocers, or you can shop online. (Try 


07.16 | ARROYO | 37

KITCHEN 

CONFESSIONS 


themeadow.com, or my favorite, kalustyans.com.) Start with just a few easy-to-find salts. 

(Take it from me — it’s easy to get carried away.) Some good starter salts might include: 

Fleur de Sel de Guerande 

This is the French flower of the sea collected off the coast of Brittany. Seawater is 

channeled from the Atlantic Ocean, via canals, into shallow marshes where it is left to 

evaporate. As salt crystals begin to form on the surface of the ponds, they are raked off 

by hand. Because the aquatic environment varies from year to year, the salt does too. It 

is certainly the best known of the artisan salts. The same methods are used all over the 

world, with similar wooden tools, and just as much reverence and tradition. 

Maldon 

Salt has been made in Essex, England, for thousands of years. We know this because 

archeologists have identified historic salt-making sites. Red mounds of earth (a.k.a. the 

red hills of Essex) were formed by layers of debris that included red clay vessels used 

in Iron Age salt production. The Maldon Crystal Salt Company, established in the 

late 1800s, is the only producer in the area now. Situated at the head of the Blackwater 

Estuary, the company gathers water only during salty spring tides. The water is filtered 

and boiled slowly to produce the wide pyramidal flakes coveted by the world’s chefs. 

Indeed, this is one of the first salts I fell in love with. 

Cyprus Sea Salt 

Thanks to its two salt lakes, the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus has been a 

major salt exporter since the Middle Ages, when it was harvested from lakebeds in the 

dry summer months. Today, seawater is pumped into an industrial facility, where it’s 

gradually heated for two years, using solar evaporation to create the trademark pyramidal 

crystals. 

Black Diamond 

This is a black version of Cyprus pyramid salt. It is infused with charcoal and is 

thought to have detoxifying benefits. Large black pyramidal crystals are very crunchy, 

yet dissolve quickly. The flavor is milder than its white counterpart, which makes it 

suitable for more applications. 

Himalayan Pink 

This salt, from the mountains of Northern Pakistan, is a mined marine fossil salt. 

Estimated to be over 250 million years old, it formed naturally in an ancient sea, which 

was trapped and buried by shifting tectonic plates, gradually dehydrating into deep 

deposits. The modern mine tunnels a half-mile into the mountain range and spans more 

than 40 square miles. Because it has been buried for so long, it is considered some of 

the purest salt on earth. The color ranges from white to deep pink and comes in various 

textures and forms, including blocks, which are fun to use as serving plates. You can also 

heat them and cook on them, which is perfect when your dinner party needs a theatrical 

element. 

After you have tried these common artisan salts, you can graduate to some of the 

more obscure varieties, like blue Persian, black kamal namak, red Hawaiian alaea, 

smoked salt, one of the many Japanese shios, exotic bamboo salt, Incan sun salt or any 

of the hundreds of salts from hundreds of locations around the world. (I am currently 

enamored with Australian Murray River salt.) If there is, or ever was, a shoreline 

someplace, there is probably some artisan salt to be had. If you’re lucky, you will become 

similarly obsessed, and your cooking will jump to a new creative level. |||| 

Leslie Bilderback is a certified master baker, chef and cookbook author. She lives in South 

Pasadena and teaches her techniques online at culinarymasterclass.com. 

38 | ARROYO | 07.16

A SELECTIVE PREVIEW OF UPCOMING EVENTS 

COMPILED BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER 

THE LIST 

Sizzling Summer 

at Levitt Pavilion 

The Levitt Pavilion 

Pasadena’s free 

summer concert 

series features an eclectic lineup 

Thursdays through Sundays. (From Aug. 

21 through Sept. 25, the schedule shifts to 

Fridays through Sundays.) 

July 1 — Jai Uttal (above) performs world 

music at 8 p.m. 

July 3 — Bobby Rodriguez Latin Jazz 

performs at 7 p.m. 

July 7 — Children’s music by The Wiz 

starts at 7 p.m. 

July 15 — Americana music by 

Darlingside starts at 8 p.m. 

July 24 — Louie Cruz Beltran plays jazz at 

7 p.m. 

July 28 — Children’s music by Rhythm 

Child starts at 7 p.m. 

July 31 — Jazz by Billy Mitchell starts at 

7 p.m. 

Levitt Pavilion Pasadena is located in 

Memorial Park at Walnut Street and Raymond 

Avenue, Pasadena. Call (626) 683- 

3230 or visit levittpavilionpasadena.org. 

Innovative 

Play Staged in 

Garages 

July 1 through 3 

— Chalk Repertory 

Theatre presents a new site-specific 

production performed in the garages of 

private homes — In Case of Emergency, 

the story of Meredith, a single woman 

who’s filled her garage with supplies for 

any emergency. It’s gotten out of hand, so 

she hires help to get organized, but nothing 

prepares her for the personal disasters her 

younger sister brings home. The garagedoor 

curtain rises at 8 p.m. Friday and 

Saturday at 7 p.m. Sunday in Pasadena. 

Ticket prices range from $20 to $30, with 

locations provided with purchase. 

Visit chalkrep.com. 

Americafest Fires 

up the Rose Bowl 

July 4 — Beatles 

tribute band Liverpool 

Legends headlines 

Americafest at the Rose Bowl, where TNT 

Motocross riders perform motorcycle stunts 

and fireworks cap the evening. The annual 

Independence Day celebration starts at 

7 p.m. Tickets cost $13 for general admission 

DINOSAURS FLY AT 

NATURAL HISTORY 

MUSEUM 

July 3 through Oct. 2 — Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs, the country’s 

largest display of the winged reptiles, opens July 3 at the Natural History 

Museum of L.A. County and runs through Oct. 2. Pterosaurs were the first 

back-boned animals to evolve into powered flyers; using the latest research 

worldwide, the exhibition explores the vast, newly discovered variations among 

the creatures, which ranged from sparrow size to that of a two-seater aircraft. 

The museum is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except New Year’s 

Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Timed exhibition tickets 

including museum admission cost $22 for adults, $19 for seniors and students 

and $10 for students; reserved tickets are free for members. 

The Natural History Museum is located at 900 Exposition Blvd., L.A. Call (213) 763- 

DINO or visit nhm.org. 

and $25 for reserved seating; children 5 

and younger are admitted free. 

Rose Bowl Stadium is located at 1001 Rose 

Bowl Dr., Pasadena. Call (626) 577-3100 or 

visit rosebowlstadium.com. 

American Ballet 

Theatre Comes to 

Music Center 


— South Pasadena 

native Stella Abrera joins fellow principal 

dancer and SoCal-raised Misty Copeland 

onstage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 

as Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at 

the Music Center hosts American Ballet 

Theatre in four evenings entirely choreographed 

by ABT Artist in Residence Alexei 

Ratmansky. Both stars perform in the series 

kickoff Friday evening, a benefit performance 

of Firebird. Tickets for prime orchestra 

seating and a post-performance party 

cost $500; for the performance only, prices 

range from $50 to $168. Friday through 

Sunday performances also feature Firebird 

as well as Symphony # 9 set to music by 

Shostakovich and the West Coast premiere 

of Serenade After Plato’s Symposium. The 

curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 

Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Ticket prices 

start at $34. Dance writer and historian 

Elizabeth Kaye gives a talk at the venue’s 

Stern Grand Hall one hour before each 

performance. 

The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is located 

at 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. Call (213) 972- 

0711 or visit musiccenter.org. 

Spelling Bee Musical Opens 

in Sierra Madre 

July 8 through Aug. 21 — The 25th 

Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, 

an acclaimed musical comedy about 

ambitious young spellers, opens at the 

Sierra Madre Playhouse on July 8 and 

continues weekend performances through 

Aug. 21. Young regional winners vie for a 

spot in the national bee and a shot at 

further prizes and glory. The contestants 

include a chunky, troubled boy who spells 

with his foot, a girl whose mother lives 

overseas, a boy gripped with self-doubt 

and more. As in the original Broadway 

production, audience members will be 

asked to participate in the contest. 

The score is by Tony winner William 

Finn (Falsettos) and the book is by Rachel 

Sheinkin. The show opens at 8 p.m. July 

8 and continues at 8 p.m. Fridays and 

Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays through 

Aug. 21. Tickets cost $35, $32 for seniors 

over 64, $25 for youth 13 to 20 and $20 for 

children 12 and younger. 

The Sierra Madre Playhouse is located 

at 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. 

Call (626) 355-4318 or visit sierramadreplayhouse.org. 

Family Jam, 

Roaring Nights 

at L.A. Zoo 

July 8 — The L.A. Zoo 

hosts its annual Family 

Jam, an evening of live music, dancing, 

food trucks and up-close encounters 

with some of the zoo’s residents, as 

guests get a rare, after-hours view of 

animal exhibits. It starts at 6 p.m. Tickets 

are $25 for adults, $20 for children ages 

2 to 12 ($22 for adult Greater L.A. Zoo 

Association members, $17 for children 

members). 

July 29 — Roaring Nights at the L.A. Zoo 

continue with live country music, a DJ 

dance party, food trucks, full-service bars, 


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THE LIST 

L.A. FOOD FEST VISITS 

EXPOSITION PARK 

July 8, 9 and 10 — The L.A. Food Fest comes to Exposition Park for a tasty weekend 

showcasing more than 100 of the city’s top chefs, award-winning restaurants and 

food trucks. Festivities start at 7 p.m. Friday with the chef-hosted, family-style Rose 

Garden Kick Off Party offering wine, beer and bubbly pairings; tickets cost $150. 

On Saturday and Sunday, $69 buys a ticket to VIP Golden Hour with all-you-can-eat 

dining from noon to 2 p.m. Also on Saturday and Sunday, the Rose Garden Pop-Up 

Restaurant serves chef-crafted meals with beer and wine pairings. Brunch is served 

at 11 a.m. for $95 per person, lunch at 2 p.m. for $95 and dinner at 7 p.m. for $125. 

All the above tickets include return admission to a subsequent MKT event (where 

food tastes cost an additional $5 to $9) from 2 to 11 p.m. Saturday or 2 to 8 p.m. 

Sunday. For MKT admission only, tickets cost $10 in advance or $20 at the door. 

Exposition Park is located at 700 Exposition Park Dr., L.A. Visit lafoodfest.com. 


pop-up zookeeper talks, visits with zoo 

inhabitants, a game area and a painting 

party where guests can paint a favorite 

animal on a small canvas to take home. 

Tickets cost $25 ($22 for GLAZA members). 

The L.A. Zoo is located at 5333 Zoo Dr., 

Griffi th Park. Call (323) 644-6001 or visit 

lazoo.org. 

Norton Simon 

Hosts Summer 

Concerts 

July 9 — Baroque 

Music for Solo 

Cello: Gabrielli and Bach features a 

return engagement by cellist Maksim 

Velichkin (above). 

July 16 — Pianist Polli Chambers explores 

works by the Swiss artist and musician and 

contemporaries in Harmony = Blue and 

Orange: Paul Klee in Art and Music. 

Museum members can secure early 

seating from 4:30 to 4:45 p.m., general 

admission seating opens at 4:45 p.m. and 

concerts start at 5 p.m. Free with regular 

museum admission of $12 and $9 for 

seniors over 61; members and youth 18 

and younger are admitted free. 

Norton Simon Museum is located at 411 

W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 

449-6840 or visit nortonsimon.org. 

Pasadena Pops Salutes Billy Joel 

July 9 — The Pasadena Pops Sierra 

Auto Summer Concert Series at the L.A. 

County Arboretum salutes the music 

of Billy Joel, starting at 7:30 p.m. Vocal 


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THE LIST 


soloist and pianist Michael Cavanaugh, 

hand-picked by Joel for the lead in his 

Broadway musical, Movin’ Out, reprises 

the soft rocker’s hits, including Piano Man 

and Uptown Girl. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. 

for picnicking (guests can order from food 

trucks or Pops restaurant partners for onsite 

pickup). Larry Blank conducts. Ticket prices 

start at $25. 

The L.A. County Arboretum and Botanic 

Garden is located at 301 N. Baldwin 

Ave., Arcadia. Call (626) 793-7172 or visit 

pasadenasymphony-pops.org. 

History Lit Returns 

July 9 through 

31 — Unbound 

Productions revives 

its History Lit series at 

the Pasadena Museum of History with 

stage adaptations of two short stories: 

Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party” 

and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Two Pictures 

in One.” In “The Garden Party,” a stranger 

who lives down the road from the Sheldon 

estate is injured in an accident, and the 

hostess’s life may be changed forever. “Two 

Pictures in One” interweaves the stories 

of two early Massachusetts families: one 

white, during the American Revolution; the 

other, African-American, living just prior to 

the Civil War. The play juxtaposes them to 

explore ideas of freedom and personal 

consequences during turbulent times. 

Performances start at 7 p.m. Tickets range 

from $40 to $65. 

The Pasadena Museum of History is 

located at 470 W. Walnut St., Pasadena. 

Call (323) 332-2065 or visit unboundproductions.org. 

Discoveries 

for All Ages at 

Huntington 


— The Huntington 

Library, Art Collections and Botanical 

Gardens hosts the Huntington Explorers 

summer program for children ages 5 to 

12. Explorers examine the mysteries in a 

painting, roam the gardens for specimens 

and take classes such as “Mini Chefs at 

Art,” “Geology Rocks” and more. Sessions 

run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through 

Fridays July 11 through 29. The cost is $400 

per week ($350 for members). 

July 14 — Edward Bosley, director of 

Pasadena’s Gamble House, leads a 

private tour of the exhibition Yasuhiro 

Ishimoto: Bilingual Photography and the 

Architecture of Greene and Greene 

at 4:30 p.m. The show of 46 black-andwhite 

photos of the work of Pasadena’s 

famous Arts and Crafts architects 

continues through Oct. 3. The photographs, 

produced in 1974 for the Japanese 

magazine Approach, have never been 

shown in the U.S. Tickets cost $20 ($15 for 

members), available on the Huntington 

website. 

July 27 — Facilitator Judith Palarz leads 

a discussion of Tell about Night Flowers: 

Eudora Welty’s Gardening Letters, 

1941–1949, edited by Julia Eichelberger, 

exploring the Pulitzer Prize winner’s 

previously unpublished letters to two friends 

about gardening, nature, friendship. The 

discussion runs from 10 a.m. to noon. The 

cost is $35 ($25 for members). Register 

online. 

The Huntington Library, Art Collections 

and Botanical Gardens is located at 1151 

Oxford Rd., San Marino. Call (626) 405- 

2100 or visit huntington.org. 

Hershey Felder 

Portrays Irving 

Berlin 

July 19 through 

Aug. 6 — Actor and 

author Hershey Felder 

portrays the great American songwriter 

Irving Berlin in a Pasadena Playhouse 

production, opening at 7:30 p.m. July 19 

and continuing through Aug. 6. Felder 

explores Berlin’s life story, from the anti- 

Semitism he experienced in Czarist Russia 

to his life on New York’s Lower East Side, 

where he wrote the score to the American 

Dream. The production includes Berlin’s 

most enduring songs, including “God Bless 

America,” “Always,” “White Christmas” and 

more. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. 

Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 

2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 and 7 p.m. 

Sundays. Ticket prices range from $25 to 

$125. 

The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 

S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Call (626) 356- 

7529 or visit pasadenaplayhouse.org. |||| 

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July 2016

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