Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, August 26, 2017

Mountain Views-News Saturday, August 26, 2017 9FOOD AND DRINK & MORE Mountain Views-News Saturday, August 26, 2017 9FOOD AND DRINK & MORE 
TABLE FOR TWO by Peter Dillsthechefknows@yahoo.com
AVANTI ITALIAN BISTRO AND BAR 


I was going through my last couple of 
hundred reviews and I was shocked/
saddened to see so many restaurants that 
have gone out of business the past five 
years. The list is too long for the space that 
I get here each week. One restaurant that 
has passed is Avanti Café on North Lake, 
for years owner Bobbi Ghorfanian prided 
himself on delicious food in a café style 
setting. But don’t fret pizza and pasta lovers. 
This was a planned exit for an entrance of 
the Avanti Italian Bistro and Bar on Sierra 
Madre in Pasadena. You might remember 
it as the Spring Garden, got to say 40 years 
living in Pasadena I never stopped in. 
Anyway you know

I have made it a point to let my readers 
know that I am in a constant search for 
the family owned restaurant. You may 
accurately say, it is the Holy Grail for this 
Restaurant Critic. It is the American dream 
for many and a business which has put 
many a child through diapers and college. 
It may stem out of some kind of shameless 
guilt which I carry. For I have written about 
the Big Chains when need be. I vowed that 
I would return to my true love, the Local 
Corner Restaurant. I think I found the Grail. Tap 
your heels together three times and just repeat 
the words, “There’s no place like home, there’s no 
place like home.” They are responsible for some 
of the area’s best gourmet pizzas. 
visit I was to enjoy the glazed Apple Pizza ($13) 
and a traditional Hawaiian Pizza for ($12) . One 
of the tests I put to each restaurant that I review 
is their soup. Avanti makes an unbelievable 
Chicken Barley Soup ($7), all I can add is, Wow. 
Need another reason to stop the next time. 
Giuseppe Pizza ($14) is loaded with Spinach, 
Ricotta, Chicken Breast, Mushrooms and Red 
Peppers, all very fresh and perfectly baked in these 
flavorful ovens. The setting at Avanti Bar and 
Grill is somewhat sheik a fireplace, high wooden 
beams and a service bar with a small patio for 
those warm fall nights; the Bistro is unpretentious 
and very welcoming. There is a small parking 
lot in the back, seating is fairly limited here but 

Serving: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, And Catering 
On my last 
The 
Avanti maintains a nice selection of beer/ wine 
and full bar. And has a happy hour that well.. is 
just OK . Well worth the drive from wherever you 
are reading this. My daughter Lauren has to have 
the Garlic Knots with each visit. She knows her 
stuff, and you will love them too!!! 

So all and all the restaurant mortality rate is 
so high, that even with all my experience in the 
hospitality business I would be crazy to open a 
restaurant. Owner Bobbi did the right thing to 
concentrate on one place he might have wished I 
wrote about the additions to the pizza, but that is 
what I was in the mood for. 
Avanti Italian Bistro and Bar 187 N. Sierra Madre 
Pasadena 

Join my new food blog www.peterdills.tumblr.
com tune into my radio show on AM 830 KLAA on 
Sundays at 5 Pm and KRLA AM 870 on Saturdays 


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