go for the tasting menu!. the raymond is definitely a diamond in the rough. it is in a small craftsman style cottage tucked behind some trees in the pasadena. it is very quaint and serves up good and solid food at pretty darn reasonable prices.
i came here many moons ago and the two of us partook in the tasting menu. although were arrived somewhat late and on a whim, our server was able to run into the kitchen and confirm the tasting menu was still being served.
we picked out a bottle of white which was very refreshing at which time the food started to come out.
- amuse: damn my old self, i do not recall what the muse was but it was quite good
- sauteed john dory: excellent; the fish was cooked perfectly and was topped with a pancetta wine reduction sauce, and sat over potato, corn, pearl onion and spinach. i believe there were lil bits of black truffle in there as well.
- scallop: perfectly seared scallops. scallops is one of my favorite dishes and the scallops at the raymond are top notch. it was served topped with a pea foam and sat on a bed of mushroom ragout and herbs
- duck confit: this was the bust of the evening as the duck confit was dry. as i dug in, there were some moist sections but overall, the confit was dry, dry, dry. the confit came atop a frisse, bacon vinaigrette, port reduction, apple chutney. the tang of the reduction and apple helped me forget about the dryness....for a second. ha.
- filet mignon: very well executed with yukon gold potato and blue cheese hash. the filet itself was topped with a cabernet shallot reduction that was spot on...it held it's own again the red meat while also allowing the beefiness to pop out and say "hello!!" typically, i'm not a fan of filets as the beefiness i not there, but the filet they served at the raymond really was an exception to the rule.
- chocolate dessert: this was uber dense and rich. it reminded me of fudge wrapped in a thin chocolate shell. i had a few bites and could not muster the power to keep going......it was simply that rich. i'm sure the dessert would have been any chocolate-holics wet dream but since i'm not a huge chocolate fan, i had to stop.
please note although this was a tasting menu...the portions are pretty damn large. i am a hearty eater and was stuffed to my gills after the meal. this is not your rinky dink 1.5 bite per dish tasting menu. for example, the john dory was at least a 4oz portion, the filet was at least 5oz, etc. great bang for the buck i must say!
service from our waitress was very good. she would check in on us, pour wine when our glasses got low and made sure we were having a good time.
i will definitely have dinner at the raymond again if i were in the pasadena area.