Dining Away From the Pasadena Crowds

Two new restaurants in Pasadena, both away from the crowds of Colorado Boulevard.

On Union Street, just behind bustling Colorado, a large warehouse-like space has been turned into a stylish Korean restaurant. Named after a Korean folk song, Arirang is actually an offshoot of a 30-year-old Hong Kong restaurant. The owners have clearly had some experience. Takeout menus are stacked by the door; place mats explain Korean cuisine and boolgogi, Korean for “fire-meat” or barbecue. Service is snappy, and the kitchen is staffed with accomplished cooks.

Tables are large, inset with gas-fired barbecues. Choose from 19 kinds of barbecue: the usual short ribs, rib eye and spicy marinated pork, along with beef tongue, tripe, frog legs and squid. Keep in mind that portions are generous, to say the least. A splendid kimchee and pork pancake ordered as an appetizer would easily feed six or eight. Pan-fried dumplings are terrific. So is the huge bowl of cuttlefish salad and the cold spicy noodles.

A word of advice: The dining rooms are chilly, so unless you plan to order barbecue, bring a sweater.

* Arirang, 114 W. Union St., Pasadena; (818) 577-8885. Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. Major credit cards accepted. Appetizers, $7.95-$14.50; soup and noodle dishes, $8.95-$12.95; barbecue and entrees, $7.50-$15.50.

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Bistro Buzz: Patina’s Joachim and Christine Splichal have just opened their fifth bistro. Hard on the heels of Pinot Blanc in Napa Valley comes Pinot at the Chronicle on the site of Pasadena’s historic Chronicle. And all the former regulars are flocking in to see what’s happened to their old haunt. It’s looking very spiffy, every piece of brass and wood polished, the walls painted a gorgeous marigold. The enthusiastic, dressed-up crowd try out the armchairs in the martini bar, peer at the jazzy new mural along one wall. In the bathroom, a woman puzzles, “Do you remember if that sink was here before?”

Chef Bill Gideon’s menu for the Pasadena bistro follows very much in the Pinot Bistro, Cafe Pinot and Pinot Hollywood formula with familiar dishes like pickled herring, caramelized onion and salmon tart, feta-terranean salad, oven-baked onion soup, roast chicken and frites and, of course, the signature plats du jour. It’s a recipe that has worked for Splichal in Studio City, downtown L.A. and Hollywood. And now this.

* Pinot at the Chronicle, 897 Granite Drive, Pasadena; (818) 792-1179. Open for dinner seven days a week, for lunch Monday to Friday. Major credit cards accepted. Valet parking. Appetizers, $5.50-$9.95; entrees, $15.50-$22.95.