Out Take Cafe Excels Quietly, Inexpensively

Without much fanfare, a larger version of Studio City’s wonderful Out Take Cafe has opened in the former site of Roxxi in Pasadena. Judging by how quiet this new restaurant is on a midweek evening, the Rose City has yet to discover what a gem has been set in its midst.

The location is not the best in Pasadena--not Old Town, in other words--but that will prove valuable later, when word of this place gets out: Hopefully, the unhip address will keep the inundating crowds at bay so the rest of us--those willing to drive a mile east of the action--can enjoy excellent food at shockingly reasonable prices without any untoward waits.

This new Out Take is so far off the beaten path, in fact, you can park on the street for free--and there’s also a large, well-lit parking lot out back, also free.

So far, the dinner crowd looks a lot like Roxxi regulars: a casual mix of smart Pasadena residents who aren’t about to trumpet their good find to the hordes.

My favorite meal at Out Take is the Ukrainian borscht and the potato vareniki. The beet-based borscht is clear, with cabbage and potatoes and a floating daub of sour cream; the vareniki is a plump, filled noodle, fried to an irresistible crispness and served with sweet, slow-cooked caramelized onion and a trace of cream. With warm rolls drenched in olive oil and herbs, this meal’s a steal for just over $10.

Other appetizers are dreamy, too, like the crab cakes with a smart, classic celery root remoulade. Plump black mussels steamed in a creamy lemon grass broth are astonishing. The Caesar salad would be perfect with a good squeeze of fresh lemon, but a special, luscious salad of wilted endive, radicchio and chewy chunks of pancetta positively dazzles.

The Pasadena menu is identical to Studio City’s except for the addition of pizza. Chef Norman Cheng, a former pizza chef at the Parkway Grill, has worked at the original California Pizza Kitchen, Caioti, the Crocodile Cafe--he can probably make pizza in his sleep. His pies boast a wonderful chewy crust, a temperate, well-imagined scattering of toppings. Lamb sausage with goat cheese and fennel is especially inspired; roasted garlic with shallots and smoked Gouda not as much.

A trio of vegetarian dumplings (actually a quartet with potato vareniki and mushroom-, carrot- and broccoli-filled pastas) doesn’t thrill me: The sauce of pureed red peppers strikes too odd a note. But supple buckwheat pasta with delicately handled scallops and wild mushrooms has its own, earthy allure.

A small green salad comes with any entree for $1--a terrific, friendly deal. Entrees vary from the serviceable to the sublime, but all portions are equally huge. Chicken Vesuvio is a sensational mountain of food for two: delicious, cut-up, pan-sauteed chicken and potato wedges sauced with wine, lemon, herbs and feta cheese.

Roast duckling is a little too sweet, but it’s also rich, tender, moist--and there’s tons of it, and a surplus of a wild rice pilaf and assorted steamed vegetables.

Braised lamb shank is actually a pair of gorgeously caramelized caveman clubs with celery root puree spooned over the top--a nice touch--with a bed of buttery fettuccine below. Less successful is the beef a la bourguignonne, a rolled tube of beef cooked to a meaty but dry and yarn-like consistency: a bit of a chewing chore.

Roast cod would rank as sublime if just served on the good mashed potatoes; all those capers and mushrooms strewn over it are a bit gratuitous. Grilled salmon, sweet and moist, comes on crinkly, mild Savoy cabbage--a clever pairing.

Desserts, while not awful, strike a uniformly flat note. The waiter says they’re all made on the premises. If so, the dessert chef aspires to the blandest, most commercial confections. Tiramisu looks and tastes like a dull mousse cake; a red grape pie most resembles a cherry pie minus the flavor. And I am not convinced that ginger in a creme bru^lee enhances anything.

Oh well. Nobody’s perfect.

* Out Take Cafe, 1065 E. Green St., Pasadena, (818) 449-4519. Open for lunch Monday through Saturday. Open for dinner seven days a week. Beer and wine served. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $26-$52.