Pardon me if this is redundant with any recent post, but I don't recall reading about RESTAURANT LOZANO in the recent past. This restaurant, in Sierra Madre (44 N. Baldwin Avenue; 818-355-5945) announces itself as specializing in three cuisines: southwest, Italian, and Caribbean. Eclectic... It had been recommended to us by a friend who knows how to eat right. We went on a Saturday evening (tonight), and I was glad I had made a reservation. A pretty full and happy crowd. A noisy place, owing to the architecture. A friendly place; a happy one. It felt like a neighborhood restaurant (the neighborhood being Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley--we, on the other hand, had come in from Claremont in the Pomona Valley). Attentive and knowledgeable service. My tortilla soup was better than Jean's black bean soup--the black bean soup was rather bland and not nearly as interesting as its counterpart at Parkway Grill (Pasadena). I also was the winner on the entree. I had the house specialty, chicken adobado (with achiote sauce, and a pancake with mango chutney, and a pool of black beans with a jalapen~o in its center). This may sound a bit out of control, but in fact it came off very well. Jean's Jamaican jerk chicken was rather less satisfactory, but it was okay. She did very well on dessert with a strawberry creme brulee. She characterized this as better than the creme brulee at Shiro (South Pasadena). I prefer the texture of Shiro's version, but Restaurant Lozano's had more flavor. The waiter assured me that Restaurant Lozano's "capuccino truffle" was uinique and excellent, and I had to agree. They seem to have some decent beers. The wine list is short but not bad. So we had soup, entree, dessert, and espresso, and we had a bottle of the house Pinot noir (Swan--a Sonoma Valley subsidiary of Sebastiani), and the tab was $55 before tip. In my book, that is a fine value for what we ate. We'll definitely go back there. (bill) +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | William K. Purves phone: (909) 621-8021 | | Department of Biology FAX: (909) 621-8465 | | Harvey Mudd College home: (909) 626-4859 | | Claremont, CA 91711-5990 [email removed] | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
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