I am not often inspired to write food reviews. This is a typical case of a passive, unpasionate desire to do so. I find I have so little enthusiasm that I don't even wish to expend the calories to lift a finger to the task. Luckily I have Swype on my Android phone so in fact, I do not even need to lift a finger to write a word.
And yet I am writing this review of my inexplicably not forgettable experience at Northwood Cafe.
It was a long day, which began at 4 am as we loaded the kids into the car for our pre-planned trek out to Pasadena for the Rose Parade. Aside from the slight delay due to my intestines playing a cruel joke on my colon causing me to make an emergency pitstop at Dennys for relief, it was a smooth get away.
Arrival was painless despite warnings of draconian parking accommodations; we paid our $15 and parked half a block from the parade route. We got the 4th row of seating and we brought fold out chairs, it was perfect! We even saw that somebody we knew was in the front row. A cafe on the corner provided hot cocoa and coffee and despite the apparent owner's slight gruffness, everyone else was super nice and accommodating. Almost makes me want to move to Pasadena.
The smell of bacon wrapped hotdogs throughout the parade set me up for some good eating which we were saving for lunch time. We ended up waiting until getting to the park to see the floats up close, and I ended up with a pretty respectable mexican carnets taco plate which I wolfed down. The only importance of this is to illustrate that my taste buds were working correctly.
On the way home, after a nearly perfect day of family fun, we decided on one last hurrah: having dinner out. Our first attempt, a random restaraunt spotted from the freeway, the San Antonio Winery, resulted in a conciliatory bottle of Moscato D'Asti because they told us on the phone they were open for dinner still.
Still high on the days events and armed with the joy of a free bottle of wine we settled on "that place with the snow covered roof next to the Elephant Bar that we've never been to". Some things just remain better when you've never experienced them.
On entering, we were greeted with a very pleasing faux log cabin style decor with tiffany styled lamps and still replete with almost garish christmas decor. The kids loved throwing peanuts on the floor and took this simple pleasure to its logical ends.
We ordered potato skins for an appetizer. Unfortunately between these and the salad which consisted only of iceberg lettuce and ranch dressing, I was not appetizer. Potato skins always seem like such a tasty proposition; what could be better than a slice of potato with skins that are covered with cheese and bacon and chives? Yet I've never had a good potato skin at any restaurant. On that account, they delivered exactly what I expected.
Now, I love corned beef and pastrami sandwiches; the classic ruben is my favorite. There's nothing better in this universe. Not being super hungry I opted not for a steak or fried chicken but for what I thought might be a tasty sandwich.
In terms of flavor, I would have to say, this is a case where the whole flavor is actually somehow less than the sum of its ingredient parts. It is a sad day when corned beef on rye is this bland. Oddly, there were not condiments on it, nor were any offered. No mustard, no thousand island, no secret or public sauce of any kind. Being tired I didn't consider this discrepancy until I'd eaten half of it.
The bread was also curiously not toasted, which I had assumed it would be. If it had been toasted, that would have made the tough crust a little crispy, but without it, the bread was too chewy to eat without tearing it apart in bigger than desired bites.
I've had many sandwiches that approach having too much meat on them, but this is a logarithmic function. You can never have too much corned beef. This sandwich errs on the side of not having enough, combined with a third slice of bread to drive the point home.
In bored desperation I tried a piece of cheesy bread, but it seemed more like a slice of wonder bread with a little bit of burned butter and maybe some kind of hint of cheese on it. Even then, it didn't taste particularly burned, which would have at least added some kind of flavor, if not good.
To sum up my experience, I would have to say, this was the best not bad place I've been to in a while. I neither enjoyed nor hated my meal. I am completely ambivalent. So much so that I would be remiss in not reporting my lack of a strong opinion either way.
Update: the other half of the sandwich, after micro waving and adding mustard, was actually improved. this is wrong in so many ways I can't even begin to explain.
