13 minute read
Dining
Hey That’s Amore
27 E. Holly Street, Pasadena 626-844-8716
The napples (veggie) sandwich, traditional caprese, buffalo mozzarella, tomato and lettuce is a favorite at Hey That’s Amore.
Hey That’s Amore: A sandwich you can’t refuse By Frier McCollister Pasadena Weekly Contributing Writer
Before visiting the Italian sandwich shop Hey That’s Amore, it might pay to review Francis Ford Coppola’s classic film, “The Godfather.”
Many of the elaborately constructed sandwiches are named for the film’s characters, and the small dining room’s walls are covered with framed posters of the movie, along with other mob-related features like Scorcese’s “Goodfellas” and De Palma’s “Scarface.”
No, the Soprano family entourage is not clustered at a back table playing cards here.
“Actually, I loved the movies (especially) ‘The Godfather,’” said Asieh Baghdaserians, the owner and chef at Hey That’s Amore.
Indeed, Patrick also devised most of the sandwich recipes.
“For the names, I drew upon my interests in film, music and sports,” said Patrick, who maintains a successful family law practice in Pasadena.
Asieh lives in nearby Montrose with her husband, Art. Their daughter, Elmida, is a college professor. The family emigrated from Tehran to Southern California in 1984.
Art can be found at the store most days holding court by the front window of the dining room. Patrick describes his father as an “integral” part of the experience at Hey That’s Amore. Don’t be shy. Engage Art while awaiting a sandwich order.
“He’s the mascot. He’s an interesting character. He can chat about everything from World Cup soccer to international politics. He speaks six languages,” Patrick said.
Asieh and Art are also no strangers to Italian cuisine. The Baghdaserianses operated a pizzeria in La Crescenta for 13 years before discovering the storefront on Holly Street in 2006. They bought it from the original owners, who had struggled to maintain the small coffee shop on the site, with the same name.
“When I opened here, there was no Subway. Nothing,” Asieh said.
Hey That’s Amore shut down cold on March 14, 2020, as the state-wide pandemic lockdown was declared.
“I don’t want to stay home. I love my shop. One year is boring, (when) I stayed home. But then I come here. I love to come to the shop,” Asieh said.
Asieh and Art didn’t return to open the shop until early April of this year, with limited hours. Now open 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday to Saturday, Hey That’s Amore reemerged into a new postpandemic neighborhood that is stacked with formidable competition, for the shop’s old lunch-time regulars.
Many of those regulars were nearby office workers and many of them are still working from home.
“They’re from Kaiser (Permanente) and Parsons. They were working from home, so fewer people were coming, not too much. I hope they come back. One by one, they’re coming. They’re happy that I’m open,” Asieh said. “All of my customers are like family to me. They are very nice people. Some customers are very nice. They respect me because I’m old.”
Among one group of loyalists she’s known as “the hottest big mama.”
The 33 elaborately crafted sandwich choices are displayed above the counter on two large panels. They’re grouped under thematic headings. “Wonders of the World” features five options, with the most notable being the former greatest sandwich in the world ($12.99), stuffed with salami, prosciutto, soppressata, sun-dried tomatoes, provolone, lettuce and fresh tomatoes. Right below it is the greatest sandwich in the world ($12.99), with meatballs wrapped in salami and soppressata, red onions, pepperoncini and provolone.
When asked about the relationship between the two sandwiches, Asieh was vague.
“I don’t know. When we made it, it was good, so we put this name on it,” she said, referring to the greatest. She clearly has a favorite, though.
“I like the former,” she said definitively. Patrick revealed that, in a brainstorming session, a childhood friend suggested the successive name scheme.
The cast of characters from “The Godfather” appear in the next section of the menu, under the title “An Offer You Can’t Refuse.”
The Don Corleone ($10.99) features salami and prosciutto with sun-dried tomatoes and provolone, dressed in mayonnaise and mustard. The Michael Corleone ($10.99) swaps in soppressata for the prosciutto and adds lettuce. The Hyman Roth ($9.99) has pastrami and pickles, while the Tom Hagen ($9.99) sports roast beef as the protein.
There are three sandwiches in the section labeled Vampire Repellent, all of which employ garlic pesto, including the Fat Anthony ($11.99). House sandwich designer Patrick notes it represents one of his more original creations. It combines turkey with soppressata and the garlic pesto plus jalapenos, provolone, lettuce and tomatoes.
Patrick also points to another creative sandwich which is the Danny DeVito ($10.99). Listed in the section named With Friends Like These, this sandwich boasts a stratum of meatballs and sausage laced with jalapenos, onions and provolone covered in mayonnaise and mustard.
This section also has the Shavo Odadjian” ($12.99) and the John Dolmayan ($10.99), respectively named after the bass player and drummer of the band System of a Down. They’re also personal friends of Patrick’s and fans of the sandwich shop.
The traditional meatball sub, Danny Leonetti ($9.99), is named after a partner in Patrick’s law firm. Leonetti was also a fraternity brother of Patrick’s during their undergraduate years at Loyola Marymount University.
For Saturday brunch, post-pandemic wait times routinely exceed an hour at nearby venues like The Pan and Russell’s. Instead of a restless wait on an unshaded sidewalk, pop into Hey That’s Amore and try The Goodfella ($9.99), with scrambled eggs, Italian sausage, provolone, tomatoes and onion. Asieh will prep the sandwich in minutes, while Art expounds and the cool, quiet dining room provides a welcome refuge from the ravenous weekend brunch throngs roving Old Town.
By the way, the sandwich rolls at Hey That’s Amore are produced by the wholesale bakery Bread Los Angeles in Montebello, using the family’s custom proprietary dough recipe. The freshly baked rolls are an undeniably critical and irresistible element in each sandwich’s success here.
Finally, Asieh’s face brightened as she said, “I want everybody to be healthy and happy to come back to work. Let’s go back to normal life. I love Pasadena. It looks like Europe.”
Poblano: A tale of two taquerias
The modest and tiny taqueria Poblano opened for business early this year in a storefront on North Lake Avenue, just south of Washington Boulevard.
Sylvia Biviano-Palacios and her husband, Jose Ibanez-Sanchez — natives of Puebla, Mexico — have had the space since 2016, where initially they used the small dining room and kitchen area to prep fruit and provide storage for their two fruit carts.
One cart is parked outside of the store. The other is manned by Ibanez-Sanchez and regularly stationed at the foot of the Rose Bowl’s main entrance, along the popular 5K loop for joggers and bikers, skirting the stadium and Brookside golf course.
At first, Biviano-Palacios activated the kitchen on North Lake, under the banner “Café Ollas” serving a small menu of tacos, smoothies, coffee and fruit with the second fruit cart parked outside. “I only have permission for one cart (for street concession). I put the cart outside so the customers can see I sell fruit here, inside the store,” she explained.
Then, in 2018, local artist and chef Greg Lukasiewicz approached the couple. They were interested in renting out the double storefront and Lukasiewicz had a plan. An experienced restaurateur, Lukasiewicz operated Restaurant Halie and Fish Mama in Pasadena over a decade ago. More recently, he was the mastermind behind San Diego’s Bull Tacos, a mini-chain favorite of local surfers. Lukasiewicz’s new model for Maquina focused on gourmet, artisanal tacos with a sliding pricing scale.
In May 2018, Maquina Taco supplanted Café Ollas with an equally lean operation. Lukasiewicz manned the stoves while his affable father, Richard, took orders and ran the cash register. With its extensive list of exotic taco fillings — written in marker on a whiteboard — stuffed into fresh blue corn tortillas from Kernel of Truth Organics tortilleria in Boyle Heights, Maquina’s opening upended the notion of what a neighborhood taqueria could do.
The whiteboard’s list includes duck, wild boat, pheasant, lamb and mint, grilled octopus, lobster and chapulines (grasshoppers). Offered as tacos or in burritos or bowls, the menu topped out with a grilled ribeye and lobster, street-style taco priced at $12 or in a burrito for $24.
A small bar of housemade salsas was positioned next to the cash register. The dining room sat perhaps 10 diners on simple, painted plywood benches, before the adjoining storefront opened to accommodate more tables, in the wake of the critical praise that ensued.
Soon enough, the lunchtime line to order routinely stretched onto the sidewalk. The adjoining dining room buzzed with activity, decorated with a baby grand piano and audio speakers tuned to jazz radio. Maquina transformed the humble storefront on North Lake into a hot destination.
When the pandemic descended last March, there seemed to be two categories of restaurateurs: those who dug in for a series of hard pivots, determined to survive; and those who simply disappeared. Unfortunately for local taco enthusiasts and most unfortunately for Jose and Sylvia, Maquina Taco and Greg Lukasiewicz apparently fell into the second category.
The Maquina website is down and the Google listing for Maquina Taco still cites it as being “temporarily closed”. Likewise, on the Maquina Instagram account, a post, dated May 18, 2020, stated, “We are temporarily closed. Reopening updates to be posted on IG.” The last post on the account is dated Oct. 17, 2020, with a picture of a taco, soliciting catering inquiries.
“They just left, because of the pandemic,” Biviano-Palacios stated. She knew of no plans for Maquina’s return nor did she have any contact information for it. “They still owed us for rent and gas and utilities,” she added.
At the Rose Bowl, standing by his fruit cart, Ibanez-Sanchez sighed in resignation at the mention of Maquina. “Dio esta grande,” he said with a wan smile. “God is great.” He went on to explain that he had agreed to the arrangement with Lukasiewicz for Maquina’s occupancy but had no written contract. In a subsequent conversation, Ibanez-Sanchez confirmed Biviano-Palacios’ assertions regarding Maquina and Lukasiewicz’s departure. Citing an unpaid electricity bill of $4,000, rent of $9,000 and a gas bill of $1,000,
Sylvia Biviano-Palacios is Poblano’s co-owner.
Poblano
1274 N. Lake Avenue, Pasadena 626-376-0693
Fried pork ribs in poblano sauce with avocado, rice and beans.
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he doesn’t expect a reopening of Maquina at his storefront on North Lake anytime soon.
Maquina and Greg Lukasiewicz did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
At Poblano, tacos are still available, though in a more traditional manner. Served on larger 6-inch tortillas, fillings include: carne asada, pork carnitas, chicken, fish and shrimp. The latter two are served “Estilo Rosarito” or Rosarito-style, referring to the resort town on the Baja California coast, where Biviano-Palacios and Ibanez-Sanchez lived before coming to Pasadena.
The fish and shrimp are breaded, fried and topped with lettuce, pico de gallo and crema. Tacos are $3, while burritos are $10. Handmade tamales, wrapped in plantain leaves are also $3 as is a cup of fresh corn elote, dressed in mayo, butter, cotija cheese, lime juice and Tajin chili-lime seasoning.
Biviano-Palacios has recently added a rich, chicken mole plate and her personal favorite, pork short rib adobo, both priced at $12. Fresh fruit smoothies are $5 and a fruit “bionico” salad is $6.
The traditional fruit cup that Ibanez-Sanchez prepares at the Rose Bowl is also available at Poblano, in a large cup at $6 or tray at $8. Described by Ibanez-Sanchez as “Estilo Mexico” or Mexican-style, his fruit cup includes diced watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber and pico de gallo with lime juice. The requisite traditional addition of chili-lime Tajin seasoning and a generous dash or two of chamoy salsa creates a uniquely sweet, sour and savory blend of flavor and texture. It’s a perfectly refreshing reward after a brisk power walk around the Rose Bowl loop.
A Maquina taco was a glittering novelty. At Poblano, its soul food, plain and simple. An honest, humble integrity has prevailed with Biviano-Palacios and Ibanez-Sanchez’s cooking here. Gentrification in reverse.
There’s no Poblano website and no Instagram account, but Biviano-Palacios is in the kitchen and Ibanez-Sanchez’s cart is not going anywhere. Standing at the door of the small, now storied storefront, Biviano-Palacios smiled optimistically.
Terry Donahue Former UCLA coach Terry Donahue dies at 77
By Matthew Rodriguez Pasadena Weekly Deputy Editor
Terry Donahue, the winningest coach in UCLA and Pacific 12 conference history, died July 4 in his home in Newport Beach, after a two-year battle with cancer.
In his 20-year career as head coach of the blue and gold, Donahue constantly outmatched his peers, beating Pac-12 teams 98 times and with 151 total wins with the Bruins, he more than doubles any other coach’s record.
“There aren’t enough words to properly honor Terry Donahue and what he means to the Bruin family and anyone who has had the pleasure of knowing him,” said current UCLA head football coach Chip Kelly.
“He epitomizes everything you strive to be as a coach and as a human being. Since the moment I stepped on campus, he’s been an incredible mentor and one of the most authentic, humble and toughest men I’ve ever met. He loved UCLA with all he had, and I can’t express how important his guidance and friendship has been for me. He is an irreplaceable representation of the Bruin way.
His career at UCLA began as an undersized defensive tackle struggling to get playing time. However, in his final two years, Donahue got his chance of becoming the first-string defensive tackle and starting 21 consecutive games. He was on the 1966 UCLA football team, who upset the top-ranked Michigan State for the school’s first Rose Bowl win.
He began his college coaching career as an unpaid assistant for Pepper Rodgers at Kansas. He eventually followed Rodgers to UCLA as an offensive line coach in 1971 and stayed when Dick Vermeil replaced Rodgers three years later.
At 31, Donahue took the reins of the football program after Vermeil left for the head coaching spot for the Philadelphia Eagles. In his tenure, UCLA went 151-74-8, winning or sharing five league titles.
Donahue led his teams to constant post-season success becoming the first coach to win seven straight bowl games, winning three Rose Bowl games in 1983, 1984 and 1986. UCLA also won the 1985 Fiesta Bowl, 1986 Freedom Bowl, 1987 Aloha Bowl and 1989 Cotton Bowl. He was also the first to appear in the Rose Bowl as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
In 1996 he retired from UCLA’s football team and moved to the press box, calling games for CBS, Fox and the NFL Network.
He transitioned to professional football, serving as the 49ers’ director of player personnel from 1999-2000 and as the general manager from 2001-2005.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000. He joined the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1997 and the press box at the Rose Bowl was renamed the Terry Donahue Pavilion in 2013.
Donahue was born in the city of angels on June 24, 1944. He grew up as one of five brothers in North Hollywood and played football at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Andrea, his three daughters: Nicole, Michele and Jennifer; along with his three sons-in-law and 10 grandchildren.
