RESTAURANT REVIEW : Two Eateries in Pasadena, Two Different Experiences

On the glass door of Yangstze, a skinny post-modern cave of Asian cuisine in Old Town Pasadena, there are four declarations that form a kind of haiku:

Great Food

Good Love

Loud Music

No Crybabies.

One of my friends clearly didn’t read these edicts because the first thing she does when we sit down is ask the waiter to turn down the ear-splitting rock ‘n’ roll that’s reverberating off the very close walls and their decorative slabs of green glass. Funnily enough, he does turn down the music, although, as the restaurant fills, the volume creeps back up.

Yangstze’s menu promises a culinary glide down the great river and beyond: There are dishes from the Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiansui and Jaiansu provinces of China, as well as barbecue from Korea, many dishes from Thailand and a sushi bar. Here, I thought, one could take a one-stop crash course in Asian eating.

I don’t mean to be a crybaby, but the food here seems to oscillate between inedibly hot and crashingly bland. The Bangkok Inferno is an oily noodle whose dominant impression is chile-inflicted pain. Spicy beef salad, by definition a juicy conflagration, is probably the best dish we try, although again the heat quotient is formidable, even for those of us who court such excruciation. Everything else we try reminds me of the bland Mandarin and Cantonese fare of my childhood. A Hubei dish, black mushrooms on cabbage, shares the blandness of Jaiansu “Golden Shrimp,” a saute of shrimp, snow peas, mushroom, eggs and peas in a lobster sauce. The Hubei mushrooms’ white garlic sauce and the golden shrimp’s lobster sauce tasted exactly the same--like broth and cornstarch.

We order a selection of sushi and featured cut rolls and find neither particularly beautiful or delicious--lackluster, in a word.

Plastic-wrapped fortune cookies, however, are quite delicious.

*

Around the corner, on Fair Oaks, a small Japanese treasure named Kansai has been serving a concise, effective menu for more than a year now. Hot and cold noodles, jyu or rice boxes, and combination trays are always available; a sushi chef comes in on weekends.

Kansai is a small, clean, white space, notably quiet, with a few good-looking Japanese ceramics on display. The kitchen uses a pleasing, eclectic selection of ceramic serving dishes, as well as handsome lacquer boxes for jyu.

Small, virtually bite-sized appetizers can be ordered: a cluster of gyoza (pork-filled steamed dumplings), a few slices of raw squid with fresh-grated ginger, two slim tasty skewers of yakitori, tender, broiled chicken in a teriyaki sauce.

Noodle dishes can be ordered with buckwheat soba noodles or thick, wheat udon. While the soba noodles are quite good, the udon are truly wonderful: thick, supple, chewy, full of personality. I like the cold soba with Japanese radish and adorable nameko mushrooms and a dipping sauce (as opposed to a cold broth).

Hot noodle soup broths can be ordered in two strengths: the mild, light Osaka style and the heartier, slightly sweeter Tokyo style--both are delicious. I like hot udon noodles ordered simply, with shiitake and enoki mushrooms or cooked chicken, or in a busier preparation, such as “Nabeyaki,” a sizzling pot with shrimp tempura, spinach, egg and mushrooms. It’s also fun to order a simple soup and select your own extra toppings--spinach, egg, fried rice cake, etc.

Jyu (rice boxes) arrive on a tray, with an acorn-shaped covered bowl of miso soup, and a few crunchy threads of lightly pickled cabbage called tsukemono. Broiled marinated chicken and onions suffuse a whole box of rice with juice and aroma.

The tempura dinner is a generous sampling of butterflied shrimp, string beans, kabocha squash, onions and other fresh vegetables in a light, golden filigree of batter.

* Yangstze, 58 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena . (818) 405-1994 . Open 7 days for lunch and dinner. Beer and wine served. Visa, MasterCard and American Express accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $16-$40.

* Kansai, 36 S. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena . (818) 564-1560. Open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner. Beer and wine served. Visa, MasterCard and Diners Club accepted. Dinner for two, food only, $13-$34.