RESTAURANT REVIEW : Cozy Claude’s Can Warm the Hearth

Claude’s is a country French restaurant in Pasadena whose virtues include a location well away from Old Town crowds, proximity to the Pasadena Playhouse, free nearby parking, not being Italian and a kitchen that can put out fairly good food at moderate prices.

Located in the old Chez Vous space on Green Street, Claude’s opened almost three months ago. The eastern side of the restaurant is a bistro, white-walled, with red-and-white checkered tablecloths and travel photographs on the wall. I have never been seated in that room, nor have I seen anyone but the staff eating there.

We are invariably led instead into the main dining room, which has the trappings of a classic, cozy and pleasantly anachronistic old-guard French restaurant. Windows are dressed in flowery chintz and lace. The ceiling has wooden beams. There’s a fire blazing in the hearth at dinner time, its flames reflected in numerous gradated copper pans hanging from the mantle. Mounted on the wall are china plates painted with quail, pheasant and other game birds. And everywhereare bushels of dried flowers.

Claude’s clientele is unpretentious, predominantly middle-aged and middle class. This is the sort of place where I would feel comfortable bringing my parents or the parents of my friends. The price range and menu are just what my father, with his Depression-era upbringing, would consider fancy but affordable.

Hostesses are gracious and friendly. Young buspersons are charming and helpful. Most of the waiters, however, are distant--neither unfriendly nor personable, but indifferent. Given that this is a French restaurant, such a demeanor is somewhat expected. Yet, if it’s a stereotypical attitude these young men are after, I encourage them to push it: There’s nothing like a rude French waiter to stir the blood.

Sunday brunch at Claude’s is pretty delightful. I am thinking, especially, of an endless supply of the Belgian endive salad. And heaps of juicy fresh fruit with prosciutto and slices of a wonderful plum tart. The omelet we order is overcooked, crispy, disappointing and most of the hot steam table items--lamb curry and chicken wings a l’orange , for instance--are nothing special. Still, we have no trouble overdoing it.

There’s usually a substantial dinner crowd at Claude’s, proving that decent food at decent prices can bring ‘em in. The food at dinner can be spotty, but there are some real high points. Red onion soup is weak and watery, but I love dunking the little goat cheese toasts in it. The steamed black mussels are among the best I’ve ever had: fresh, plump, delectable. Salads in general are pretty and fresh. Salmon carpaccio, sliced not very thin at all, needs a dressing more lively than its few drops of oil.

Several times, the food I receive is not as it is described on the menu. The salade lyonnaise , for example, is described as “endive frisee with diced prosciutto topped with poached egg . . .” and so on, but what I receive is a mound of standard mixed greens, with the quoted toppings. It’s a fabulous salad, but it would have been more fabulous, not to mention truthful, to have made it with frisee . That same evening, I order spinach-and-ricotta ravioli, which allegedly comes in a sage-brown butter sauce. Nope. The dull little pillows of indeterminate filling are topped, instead, in a few spoonfuls of an uninteresting tomato sauce, which the waiter nevertheless insists is sage butter.

We have better luck with the meats. A special of sauteed veal paillards is lightly sauced; braised lamb shank has that wondrous dark, caramelized flavor of long-cooked meat. But the roasted duck comes in tough triangular chunks which, judging from their cold centers, were apparently precooked.

Lunch plates can be demure. Both Provencal quiche and the leek-and-ricotta tart, served on greens with a mustardy vinaigrette are terrific, but the individual portions are simply too small, even for modest appetites.

Crepes suzette are a bit rubbery, but I loved the sauce of warmed marmalade. Napoleons are heavy and sodden, fruit tarts are deadened by a lusterless Bavarian cream, but the creme brulee is pleasantly light and more custardy than most.

* Claude’s, 713 East Green St., Pasadena, (818) 796-9501. Open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, Sunday for brunch and dinner. Beer and wine. American Express, MasterCard, Visa. Dinner for two, food only, $27 to $52.