Tea for Two

Pinky firmly extended, our Managing Editor drags her boyfriend to the Scarlet Tea Room.
by Lucinda Michele Knapp

I’m a woman who likes her tea to blow her backward from the breakfast table. A double-strong cup of lapsang souchong with [soy] cream and honey is the perfect smoky, sandalwood-y steward to guide me up the foggy morning hours into consciousness. So when I visited the Scarlet Tea Room in Old Town Pasadena, I didn’t expect much from what I was sure would be restrained, mild, primly British teas and clunky scones. I met my hapless boyfriend out front, whom I’d cajoled into coming with me, but who probably would rather have been poked repeatedly with a sharp stick than seen entering a tea room. “Are you ready?” I asked. He nodded mutely, grim. We went in.

One step into the ebullient and lush interior revealed white walls with gold trim, glittering chandeliers, and large mirrors, making for a graceful, elegant but unfussy setting. Orchids bloomed throughout the room and each table was meticulously set with rustic white china and silver. My boyfriend T.J. cringed but soldiered on, and we were seated.

Diners have several options: A full-service, five-course “Scarlet Tea Ceremony” ($25 for the whole shebang), a “Mini Tea” ($8), or the lunch menu’s soups, salads and sandwiches. The full tea begins with a sorbet, includes scones served with lemon curd, a seasonal jam and cream, and rounds off with assorted little desserts and Strawberries Romanoff (a light and tasty version of the classic dessert, with buttery-rich whipped cream and fresh strawberries in orange-infused liqueur). A selection of tea sandwiches are prepared in the classic English style, crusts trimmed, perfectly right-angled rectangles of soft sandwich bread that melts the second it hits your tongue. Fillings include mozzarella and sundried tomato, prosciutto and roasted red peppers, olive tapenade with roasted red peppers, ham and cheese, and green apples with cheese; particularly tasty were the salmon and chive spread, turkey and cranberries, and mortadella with chive spread. The ubiquitous cucumber and watercress came with paper-thin cucumbers sandwiched with cream cheese; the chicken tahini spread had a robust, almost smoky flavor.

All scones and preserves are made from scratch, in-house. Today’s scones were dotted with delicate little blueberries-an old family recipe, says proprietor Karen Mikaelian. With berry season approaching, expect raspberry scones and preserves, and, enthuses Karen, even fig preserves. The scones themselves were a welcome departure from the prosaic bricks ingloriously served up at Starbucks: Scarlet Tea Room’s scones are a little larger than a baseball, light with a fluffy crumb, and dusted with a flutter of browning sugar. Flavorful and buttery, they aren’t heavy at all, and we glopped cream and jam all over them. The lemon curd is tangy, not too sweet, and without the flat, eggy flavor that comes from overcooking the spread.

The STR also offers cheese plates: a selection of artisanal cheeses comes with figs, dates, and oven-roasted walnuts ($18.00); plated with warm rounds of toasted French bread, a cup of mascarpone with wild honey and roasted pistachios ($8.95) is rich enough to eat without ordering anything else. We slathered the French bread with the soft cheese and honey, and when we ran out T.J. surreptitiously spooned a little right into his mouth. “Sure,” he joked, “It starts out small: a little mascarpone here, a little there…then it gets worse, and before you know it you’ve gotta have it every morning just to get out of bed…then one day you wake up in the gutter, begging for packets of cream cheese…”  Beware the addictive mascarpone.

The lunch menu consists of café stand-bys and favorites, often with a slightly Mediterranean tweak or a touch of fusion/California cuisine. The Prosciutto Roll appetizer ($7.95) delivers sautéed prosciutto around fresh mozzarella and drizzled with a pomegranate reduction; a “Scarlet Club” ($13.95) is a robust arrangement of marinated and grilled chicken breast with sweet caramelized onions, provolone, flavorful organic tomatoes, mixed greens and avocado on grilled flatbread. The accompanying couscous salad was a winner, brightly flavored and with a warm, wheaty body. A grilled salmon salad ($15.95) is served atop spinach with a cucumber dressing and marinated cucumbers. The side of marinated potatoes is unconventional, with several slices of fork-tender-but not mealy-potato, glistening with jalapeno olive oil and a fruity vinegar, miniature dices of tomato sitting on top like rubies.

Of course, this is a tea house, and there are 17 teas on the menu, several of which are organic-a quality you can taste in a broader bouquet and a deeper flavor. Offerings include Darjeeling, Assam, Mao Jian Green, various flavored black teas, Oolong Jade Prince, infusions, decaffeinated teas, and a boutique Earl Grey brewed with rose petals called Mademoiselle Grey. T.J’s organic Earl Gray (sans the Mademoiselle roses, thank you very much) was a heady hit of floral notes without the metallic ring that often accompanies overprocessed, mass-produced teas. My organic Assam was soft, fragrant, and slightly spicy. The friendly servers take your tea order, steep it as you choose your meal, and deliver it in baroque, white china teapots, pouring it through a strainer into your teacup-a charming flourish that really makes for a special experience. It’s obvious that Mikaelian has a passion for tea and the ritualistic, Zen-like activities that surround it, and she’s made a restaurant where that central ceremony is the bedrock for delicious light meals as well-all in the service of creating a space of relaxing time where two (or more!) people can sit across from one another and connect.

STR offers plentiful desserts, including bread pudding ($6.95), petit fours ($6), and various cakes ($6). We couldn’t stomach a single one, poking at our daunting cup of mascarpone. But we’ll be making a return trip just to sample what we missed out on: “This is the kind of place I’d never set foot in,” admitted T.J., “but the food is fantastic, and the tea is great.” He poured more tea, deliberating. “Of course,” he said slyly, “I’d probably come again if my girlfriend made me.”   LAA

Location: 18 W. Green St., Pasadena.
Phone: (626)577-0051.
Vibe: Casual dress, fancy-schmancy room.
Service: Attentive and quite Continental.
Price: Appetizers $5.95-$9.95; soups, salads, and sandwiches $5.00-$15.95; desserts $5-$6.50; full-service tea, $25/person.
Recommended: “Scarlet Tea Ceremony,” scones, “Scarlet Club,” mascarpone with wild honey and roasted pistachios, teas.
Etc.: Tues. thru Sat., 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Credit cards: Major.
Overall: 5 out of 5 sporks