Will be staying tomorrow night in Pasadena; what is your favorite place for dinner there or in the San Marino area? Don't want to drive back down into LA or over to Valley. Want really good Cali food, seafood, not exorbitant or too fou-fou (dinner for 2 without liquor around $150 max); we don't love steakhouses either. Thanks much in advance!

Union...if you can get a reservation. Just went a few weeks ago for the fifth time. Here's my little write-up of a previous trip.

Union - Pasadena, CA - Travels With Mai Tai Tom

Here's another choice if you can't go to Union. Reservations a good idea...try to get a table on patio...quieter.

Maestro - Pasadena, CA - Travels With Mai Tai Tom

Thanks much, Tom, was able to snag a rez at Union, so we're all set.

Great...Hope you like it. The chef has beaten Bobby Flay on Flay's show. It can be noisy, but it seemed they had put in some buffers so our experience recently was such that we could hear each other.

For dessert...Olive Oil cake and Chocolate Budino are something I'd walk down there right now to eat.

And Great Maple for breakfast sounds like we should try it -- never knew about the one down this way in La Jolla

>>The chef has beaten Bobby Flay on Flay's show.

Janis, yes Chef Bruce Kalman was on Top Chef, but I didn't see it. He also has a pasta place in Grand Central Market in downtown L.A. called Knead & Company Pasta Bar.

Don't know if you only have a need for one breakfast spot, but our favorite breakfast spot in Pasadena is Central Park.

>>Janis, yes Chef Bruce Kalman was on Top Chef, but I didn't see it

I didn't realize there is one opened on Washington Street near Park Blvd called Great Maple. And a second one opening in La Jolla at the UTC shopping mall soon.

Great Maple | A Modern American Eatery