South Pasadena Basketball & Cafe Bizou

Today we won our 4th game (3rd straight) at our South Pasadena Adult Basketball League. A league where my brother (who missed the game because he was in NOLA) and I play on a team with our cousin Ryan and all his buddies. We're finally starting to get some chemistry going, as always seems to be a problem with this team every season. Our roster is like a revolving door, so guys have to get used to playing together. In any case, we're getting some wins under our belt (4W-5L for the season), and it looks like the guys are finally starting to have fun out there. My Agent/Wife said I need to work on my shooting. I was a struggling 0-2 from the floor... Terrible. I even managed to pick up 3 fouls in the first half. What can I say? I came to bring the pain, I guess.

After the game, the wife wanted to do a little shopping in Old Town Pasadena. So, after perusing through a few shops, we decided to seek out a new restaurant to try. We fell upon Cafe Bizou on Raymond Ave. What caught our eyes was the Prix fixe Menu.

$19.95 for a 3 course meal? Sold!!!

So after ordering our drinks (Glass of House Shiraz & a Stella-ella-ella Artois... okay not so funny when typed), we got to the menu.
From this point on, I'll be giving our Gordan Ramsay-esque critique. Not that we're food snobs or anything (though some may beg to differ)... but it's our blog, so why the hell not.
We ordered the French Onion soup. If this item is ever on any menu and any joint we visit, you better believe we're ordering it.

We'll have to describe this straight from Chef Ramsay's vocab: bland, boring, tasteless. It was missing that little zing from the worstershire sauce (assuming they even put any in there). Even worse, it was almost missing the onions. Well, at least they got the gruyere cheese right. They put a pretty thick slice on that little crock.
Then we had a caesar salad (1st of the 3 courses from the prix fixe). It was typical. Nothing to blog home about.
Moving on.
The wife had their grilled veggies plate. If any of you really know anything about my wife, this should come to no surprise. The dish comprised of your typical mixed veggies (broc, tomato, string beans, asparagus, carrots, mushrooms).

It also had a mushroom ravioli (located in the center) which she said was rather tasty. The downside to this one was the orange cous-cous. She thought they meant it would be orange in color. Nope. It was orange in flavor. So, imagine something rice-like with this oddly sweet citrus flavor. A couple points for creativity... but, not such a hit in the flavor category. She said it made her tongue itchy ("I feel like my tongue has a rash" to quote her). I sampled it, but didn't exactly have that type of reaction on my tongue. I just thought it sucked.

Other than the cous-cous, she was happy with her veggies.

I went for the Lamb Shank (2nd course of the prix fixe). It was moist, tender, flavorful, well executed (that's Ramsay talk). I have no complaints on this one.

The meat just fell of the bone... Literally.

To finish off the 3 courses, we selected the tiramisu.

It was nice. Nothing too fancy. We liked how the marscapone had the espresso blended in it.
Would be go back? Sure. Their prix fixe didn't dissapoint.
Here's Jan's Flintstones impression with the lamb shank. Yabba Dabba Doo.

One side note, while we were cruising the mean streets of Old Town Pasadena. We stopped by Dots Cupcakes. Jan tried one (red velvet) when we got home. Not impressed. She still places Sprinkles as her top choice, with Miss Priss (Long Beach) as a close second.

Pics courtesy of the Blackberry Storm (not too shabby, eh).