The Usual Meating Place

Judging from the crowds convening at Arroyo Chop House, Pasadena’s new steakhouse, you’d think the city had recently lifted a ban on red meat. Of course, it helps to be situated right next to the perennially popular Parkway Grill, the City of Roses’ answer to Spago. The two neighboring restaurants are owned by Bob and Gregg Smith, who also founded the original Crocodile Cafe. Now their Grill patrons hankering for American cooking (and a patio for smoking their stogies in style) can find what they’re looking for across the parking lot.

Arroyo’s long bar, dotted with little reading lamps that glow amber, is welcoming. At the far end is a baby grand complete with pianist. A mural of the leisure class playing golf and tennis, sipping martinis and leaning insouciantly against sleek cars calls to mind Nick and Nora Charles. The rest of the clubby Craftsman-style decor is mahogany paneling, etched glass and upholstered booths, some slightly elevated like those at the Beverly Hills branch of Ruth’s Chris, the New Orleans-based steakhouse chain.

Speaking of Ruth’s Chris, that’s where chef David Tellez learned to cook steaks, and under his tutelage, this kitchen has mastered the 1,600-degree broiler. Which means that if you order your steak char-red and rare at the center, it will be. The wait staff takes pains to explain that because all of the meat is prime, including the filet mignon, sauces are served on the side, all the better to appreciate the taste of the beef. But these steaks, while tender, don’t seem as aged or flavorful as the ones at Arnie Morton’s (Morton’s of Chicago), Ruth’s Chris or even the Palm. In fact, they are somewhat bland and a couple of times have had an oddly sweet aftertaste.

Arroyo’s prime beef comes in the usual cuts. Best is the rib-eye steak for both its taste and texture, followed closely by the Porterhouse. On two occasions, the New York strip, usually the most flavorful of cuts, has been below par. But the restaurant also has the seldom-seen Delmonico, which is basically the New York with the bone. Colorado lamb chops are another good choice. But a massive veal chop, three fingers thick, is as pallid in taste as it is in color. And anyone who loves pork will be indifferent to the lean, dry pork chop.

The sauces--peppercorn sherry cream sauce or a Portobello mushroom Cabernet reduction, say--sound fancy, but I find them too strong and too emulsified to complement steak. Still, I did like one: a roasted tomato salsa with a slightly smoky edge and the mild bite of chile.

Service is willing. One night, after she has already taken our orders, our server rushes back to ask how we want the pork and veal chops prepared. “The kitchen usually cooks them medium,” she says. “Is that all right with you? Or would you prefer another temperature?”

For those who eschew red meat, the menu offers a decent rotisserie-roasted chicken and Maine lobster, which at the time of this writing, goes for $19.50 a pound. Boiled, finished off in the broiler and served with drawn butter, a three-pound crustacean is not only incredibly expensive but also tough. Its flavor only hints at that of lobster on the East Coast. At almost $59, I would definitely pass on it next time.

A piece of grilled meat or fish will set you back anywhere from $22 to $29, and any of the dozen sides cost extra. Served in huge portions, they include French fries; creamed spinach, heavy on the cream and overwhelmed by nutmeg (try the braised spinach instead); steamed asparagus or broccoli; and “mountain” mushrooms, a mix of wild and cultivated varieties marred by an acrid white wine sauce. Potatoes Lyonnaise are freckled with burnt butter (and sit uneaten), and heavy garlic au gratin potatoes are oddly laced with cheddar. Oily onion rings arrive in a jacket of doughy batter. That makes skinny shoestring potatoes and the baked spud the best choices.

Among the workmanlike starters are chilled jumbo shrimp or Alaskan crab legs with a classic cocktail sauce, a spinach and hearts of palm salad cloaked in a cloyingly sweet dressing and a heart of iceberg lettuce salad with your choice of dressing. Avoid the breaded shrimp that are soggy with oil and the scratch tomato soup that tastes like Campbell’s. My vote goes to the thick slices of beefsteak tomato topped with chopped red onion and an assertive vinaigrette.

The restaurant offers a good wine by the glass (or taste) program, with more than 20 choices nightly. The list is strong on California Cabernets but surprisingly weak on Bordeaux. You can find the showcase Lafite Rothschild 1993 at $260, but there are only a handful of other Bordeaux (or Burgundies) worth considering. Among the finds, however, are the cult Chardonnay from Pahlmeyer and the “Childs Mill” Zinfandel from Red and Green Vineyard.

If you make it to dessert, try either the tall chocolate souffle, made with good dark chocolate, or the apple pie. The latter, high and double-crusted, looks like an illustration from an old children’s book I bought at the flea market. It’s bursting with fat apple wedges, freckled with cinnamon, crowned with vanilla ice cream and, like the souffle, meant to be shared.

All this puts Arroyo Chop House squarely in the prevailing steakhouse tradition. Which is all well and good, but when is somebody going to open a steakhouse with sophisticated, interesting appetizers, sides and desserts so that you can enjoy more than a carbonized piece of protein and a bottle of overpriced Cabernet?

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ARROYO CHOP HOUSE

CUISINE: Steakhouse. AMBIENCE: Clubby Craftsman-style restaurant with piano bar and cigar patio. BEST DISHES: sliced beefsteak tomato, Alaskan crab leg cocktail, rib-eye or Porterhouse steaks, shoestring potatoes, chocolate souffle and apple pie. WINE PICKS: 1995 Red and Green Zinfandel “Childs Mill,” Napa Valley; Von Strasser Cabernet Sauvignon “Diamond Mountain,” Napa Valley. FACTS: 536 S. Arroyo Parkway, Pasadena; (626) 57-PRIME. Dinner nightly. Starters, $5 to $9.50; steaks and chops, $21 to $29; sides, $4 to $7.50 each. Corkage $10. Valet parking.