Pasadena Perle

I was looking forward to a nice French meal while my friends at A Food Affair were away on vacation in August, and I wanted to eat close to a friend who lives in the Northeast, so we decided to try Perle. After reading the reviews and looking at the pictures, it looked very promising, especially for my friend who lives in the area. 

I had made a reservation, but got caught in Dodger stadium traffic, combined with the usual late afternoon Downtown Los Angeles interchange clogged freeways, I was quite late. The marvelous hostess even called me back after I called to say I was stuck in traffic to check in on me for me friend who was already there waiting for me!    

I hoped the food would be as stellar as the service, but alas the promise of good food was not fulfilled. Our waiter was pleasant and professional, but did upsell us on getting more bread for the escargots we ordered (we only ate half the bread, so it was a total waste of food and a $3 surcharge).

I was so happy to see Wild Burgundy escargots on the menu for $19, and they were indeed the real thing, but the butter and garlic lacked salt, so no one dipped the extra bread into the boring leftover butter.

I needed some salad, so I ordered the salad verte for $15 served with a dijon vinaigrette. It was a pleasant enough salad, but nothing special and a small portion for the price.

Like the escargots, I was excited to eat a true steak tartare for $21. Like the snails, the meat quality was outstanding, hand cut, and served with cornichons and toast. However, it was surprisingly bland and I had to ask for dijon to help perk it up.

My friends ordered the truffle pasta for $50 which I tasted and found overcooked and again lacking seasoning and flavor. Even with the price of truffles, the boring and poorly executed pasta were crimes at this price point.

We ordered a side of the haricots verts for $9 with shallots and soy-balsamic. We found half the string beans were stringy and tough, and the entirety of the side dish was as disappointing as the other dishes we ordered.

The hit of the evening was the chocolate soufflé for $15 made with fair trade chocolate and served with vanilla creme fraiche ice cream and creme anglais. The soufflé was perfect, and I didn't mind the tiny portion as I'm not a huge dessert eater.

The other bright note of the evening was the wine, which I took home to enjoy after we decided that we had had our fill at the restaurant.

Even after all the reviews and pictures from other people, nothing compares to experience, so I am glad I had the experience so that I am no longer curious, but I would only come back for wine and dessert.