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photo credit: Jakob Layman
Dos Besos
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Dos Besos can be summed up in three words: Lovely. Charming. Delightful.
Those words might sound a bit banal, like how you'd describe a friend's cute(ish) baby or an arthouse film you didn't understand. But in the case of Dos Besos, a Spanish tapas and paella restaurant in Pasadena, we really mean it. It's a perfectly nice restaurant in Old Town with pleasant service and very good, occasionally great, food. It's ideal for nights when you want to put on a slinky little top and be charmed out of your seat while sipping sangria. You’ll be comfortable here with coworkers, in-laws, or someone who bases their entire personality on a love of cured meats.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
The menu at Dos Besos focuses on the coastal cooking of Valencia, a port city in Southern Spain. Which is a long way of saying: you should come here to eat seafood paella. Even though Spanish food has had a moment in LA in recent years, very few restaurants have the cojones to call themselves paella specialists, probably because the dish is so difficult to execute well. Not at Dos Besos. The paella, which requires 30 minutes to prepare, is near perfect, with rice that's soft on top but crispy and charred on the bottom, creating that elusive caramelized layer known as socarrat. Each grain is suffused with flavor, courtesy of the garlic and white wine broth it’s cooked in. And by the time it reaches the table, the rice is tinged a lovely shade of orange we call Bad Fake Tan.
The rest of the food here is all about turning simple ingredients into flavorful dishes with just a splash of extra virgin olive oil (give or take a few dozen splashes). The pan con tomate is a good example: hearty, grilled bread is pressed flat and thin, kissed with garlic, then smeared judiciously with tomato pulp and lots of olive oil. Paired with shaved Ibérico ham, it's a straightforward and effective way to funnel meat and bread into your mouth.
When this austere style of cooking goes right, you’ll smile and daydream of recreating it at home (even if the knives in your kitchen are collecting dust). But some dishes are so basic they feel a bit drab. You can probably skip the mushrooms in truffle cream and the gambas al ajillo.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
The dining room at Dos Besos is "contemporary," which here means brick walls, patterned tile floors, gold-plated cutlery, and pale pink plates that look suspiciously similar to the ones at CB2. Most of the tables are situated around a glass-encased kitchen in the corner, designed with large windows that offers views of the chef, a ferocious wood oven, and hopefully, a fire extinguisher or two.
Despite being on the pricier side (expect to spend around $100 per person), Dos Besos possesses all the characteristic of a great neighborhood restaurant. It's intimate, but not too sexy. Equally appropriate for first dates or your great aunt's birthday. Along with our favorite local spots Agnes, Union, and Perle, consider Dos Besos as another solid option for the area. The best, actually, if you’re in the mood for paella. And yes, this is Old Town, so you will have to pay for street parking with quarters or an app. Not everything can be charm, delight, and loveliness, after all.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Jakob Layman
5J Jamón Ibérico de Bellota
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Pan Con Tomate
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Tortilla Española
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Pulpo a la Gallega
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Atún Crudo
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Paella del Mar
Paella En Su Tinta
Coconut Sorbeto
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