Come for Lunch, Stay for Dinner

Sue Campoy opened Julienne in the mid-’80s, and ever since it’s been a mainstay for everyone in the San Marino area who loves food author M.F.K. Fisher, a good cup of espresso and cream currant scones.

Back then, I regularly cycled down from Pasadena to breakfast at this cute little cafe and market and often came back for lunch as well. The uphill ride home was long and hard but, on balance, worth the trouble. It was wonderful to snack in the shade of Julienne’s huge oak tree, especially before so many restaurants opened in Old Town Pasadena.

I still come to breakfast on bread pudding French toast with fresh peach sauce, crisp salmon hash topped with a pair of perfectly poached eggs and the hazelnut-rich granola with yogurt and fresh fruit--a cyclist’s dream.

Lunch is still good too. Currently the menu runs to summery items such as a classic gazpacho and a salad of garden greens with Gorgonzola and toasted pecans.

For all these years, Julienne has been a neighborhood hangout, a de facto daytime social club and cafe. So I was surprised when Julienne decided to open for dinner (only during the summer months, through the end of September). But I was not surprised to find that dinner at Julienne is a lovely affair. Practically everyone sits on the quiet, leafy patio facing Mission Street, shielded from the sky by giant boughs. The tables are set in crisp white linen. The staff is young and enthusiastic, though it could use a little more confidence when talking about the food.

Happily, many of the dishes speak for themselves. It’s hard not to fill up on the free warm rosemary rolls. (I’d pass, though, on the oily, overly filling Parmesan-and garlic-crusted sourdough, for which you pay $3.50 extra.)

Appetizers are a particular strength here. The warm spinach and frisee salad is good enough to stand on its own, but the addition of pepper bacon and almond-crusted chevre is delicious, and the combination is a real meal. An heirloom tomato salad with arugula, fennel, French beans and ricotta combines intense flavors with a remarkable lightness. Grilled garlic shrimp come with a lively, appealingly crunchy avocado-corn salsa.

As at many a fledgling dinner house, the main dishes sometimes slip. The Provencal shrimp and scallop bourride tastes more of Altadena than of Arles--the broth is watery and has only the faintest flavor of saffron. (The aioli-topped slice of nicely toasted baguette at the bottom of the soup dish deserves better.) And linguine with herbed wild mushrooms, garlic cream sauce and roasted asparagus isn’t really a dish, just a bowl of ingredients.

Still, there are success stories, including Tuscan meatloaf, one of the lunch menu dishes. Made with good quality meat, it’s glazed with a spicy tomato chutney that makes you wonder why anyone would ever eat ketchup. It comes with a pile of great mashed potatoes. The seared rosemary lamb chops, nicely juicy and gamy, are served with a fine summer ratatouille. The classic French bistro dish steak with pommes frites is done with flair. The grilled rib eye comes with correctly crisp potatoes and, as a bonus, an interesting, complex Cognac-mustard Bearnaise.

Pastry chef Marsha Hong does a few complicated desserts at dinnertime, but nothing you’d call fussy. Frozen citrus souffle with lemon curd and blackberry compote is my favorite. Second would be a plate of roasted peaches, honey-sweetened mascarpone and Port/cherry sauce laced with star anise. I’d also come back for creme brulee profiteroles with espresso chocolate fudge sauce or for anything baked and served in the morning, such as croissants, pecan sticky buns or flaky scones. Dinner, unless you hurry, will have to wait for next summer.

Julienne, 2651 Mission St., San Marino. (626) 441-2299. Breakfast and lunch 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays; dinner 6-10 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays, June through September. Beer and wine. Street parking. All major cards. Dinner for two, $55-$69.

What to Get: breakfast pastries, warm spinach and frisee salad, Tuscan meatloaf, grilled rib eye, frozen citrus souffle.