Sesame Grill Brims With Sophisticated Taste From Pacific Rim : The Yu brothers mix flavors from East and West, traditional and nouvelle cuisine at their new restaurant in Arcadia.

Sesame Grill in Arcadia brings a blast of Pacific Rim sophistication to a mini-mall on Huntington Drive.

The menu offers adventurous dishes more often found in Westside bistros than in San Gabriel Valley restaurants. Consider this dinner entree for $13.50: Grilled Chilean sea bass with leek saffron aioli, mashed potatoes and fava beans.

The Westside connection is more than gustatory. Owners Alfred Yu and his brother, Fanda Yu, the head chef at Sesame Grill, formerly ran another restaurant with the same name near the border of Brentwood and Santa Monica.

That restaurant offered traditional Chinese cuisine. When the lease ran out in 1993, the brothers decided to pack it in. But the Hong Kong immigrants, who grew up in New York, soon realized that operating a restaurant is in their blood.

“It’s a hobby, and personally, I like to eat,” said Fanda Yu.

So the brothers decided to try their hand at a new restaurant that would mix East and West, traditional and nouvelle cuisine. And the restaurant would be in the San Gabriel Valley, where both brothers live. The result is Sesame Grill.

“People keep telling us the San Gabriel Valley is more conservative so we don’t dare play around too much; we still have fettuccine Alfredo and chicken Marsala,” Fanda Yu said.

But to the delight of many patrons, Sesame Grill also offers options to the bold of palate.

There is a potato gnocchi with Florida rock shrimp and jumbo scallops in a cognac sauce for $12.50, or lobster ravioli with saffron vermouth sauce for $13.50.

Early bird dinners and prix fixe specials at lunch offer less expensive alternatives. For $7.95, lunch diners can choose one of 10 appetizers, such as shiitake mushroom vegetable rolls, and one of nine entrees, such as pan-seared pork chop with rosemary potatoes.

At Sesame Grill the presentation also is important, with food served on large ceramic plates with geometric patterns, the vegetables and sauces artfully arranged.

The Yu brothers strive to present a unified dining experience in the decor as well. Fresh tropical flowers overflow from vases. Cool jazz plays in the background. And the walls of the airy, open restaurant are splashed in hues of festive yellow and orange.

Sesame Grill is at 308 E. Huntington Drive, Arcadia. Open 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Closed Sundays from May through August. (818) 821-0880.