Lobster Sliders

Lobster salad piled on La Brea slider buns, with sweet potato fries.     12.95

Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

Charbroiled and served with roasted sweet potatoes and fresh vegetable*.     $23.95

Balsamic Barbeque Chicken

One half boned chicken with skin on, basted and charbroiled with our balsamic BBQ sauce.  Served with roasted sweet potatoes and our fresh vegetables*.     17.95

Pecan/Potato Chip Crusted Snapper with Honey Mustard Mayonnaise

Fresh snapper lightly sautéed and served with fresh vegetables* of the season and jasmine rice.     16.95

Italian Shrimp Quesadilla

Sautéed shrimp, Crescenza cheese, lemon gremolata, chopped scallions.     12.95

Cuban Burger

Our burger, charbroiled, and served with sliced black forest ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickles, garlic mayonnaise and Dijon mustard, pressed together on a ciabatta roll.  With sweet potato fries.    12.95

Shrimp Waldorf Salad

Shrimp tossed together with Fuji apples, red grapes, diced celery, toasted almonds, chives and our lemon buttermilk dressing and served with butter leaf lettuce for scooping.     14.95

Spaghetti with Asparagus, Smoked Mozzarella and Prosciutto

Whole wheat spaghetti sautéed in olive oil and garlic and tossed together with fresh basil and romano cheese.     12.95

Pork Sliders

Our pulled pork, slowly simmered in our BBQ sauce, with cole slaw.  With sweet potato fries.     10.95

Mustard and Pepper Crusted Rib Eye

Charbroiled and served with roasted potatoes and fresh vegetables* of the season.     29.95

Mojito Chicken Breast

Double chicken breast, in our Mojito marinade, charbroiled and served with green rice and lime corn sauté.     15.95

Caribbean Snapper

A taste of the tropics.  Snapper filet marinated with lime juice, cilantro and a hint of garlic.  Pan sautéed and served with jasmine rice and fresh vegetables* and a drizzle of marinade.  16.95

Cowboy Steak Quesadilla with Poblano Corn Relish

In a giant flour tortilla with pepper Jack cheese.  Served with sour cream and guacamole.     13.95

Turkey Patty Melt

On La Brea rye bread, brushed with olive oil and grilled with gruyere cheese, and topped with our balsamic grilled onion relish.     12.95

Crab Louie Salad

Dungeness crab meat piled on a bed of mixed greens and Belgium endive, with tomatoes, chopped egg, green onions and our Chipotle 1000 Island Dressing.     16.95

Pasta Primavera with Seared Seafood

Shrimp and scallops seared with olive oil, garlic, onions, red pepper flakes and red bell peppers and tossed with fresh vegetables and goat cheese.     17.95

Pork Sliders

Our pulled pork, slowly simmered in our BBQ sauce, with cole slaw.  With sweet potato fries.     10.95

Ginger Flank Steak

Flank steak rubbed with our ginger and garlic marinade, charbroiled.

Served with jasmine rice and fresh vegetables* of the season.     24.95

Three Lemon Chicken

Lemon and garlic rubbed skin-on chicken breast, charbroiled and served with lemon orzo and fresh asparagus.     15.95

Mixed Seafood Grill

Skewers of salmon, swordfish and shrimp, charbroiled, and served with our Jasmine rice blend and fresh vegetables* and accompanied with our red pepper sauce.     17.95

Roasted Corn, Asparagus and Crab Quesadilla

In a giant flour tortilla with Jack Cheese.  Served with guacamole and sour cream.     15.95

Brie Turkey Burger

Our turkey burger topped with melted Brie, sautéed apple and red bell peppers and served on ciabatta roll.     12.50

Shrimp Taco Salad

Freshly sautéed shrimp piled on a mixture of romaine, cabbage, jicama, tortilla strips, our fresh salsa, Jack and cotija cheese and avocado all tossed together with our tangy lime sour cream vinaigrette.     14.95

Linguine and Scallops

Fresh China bay scallops, lightly sautéed with olive oil and garlic, then tossed with linguine, pine nuts, red chili flakes, sundried tomatoes and fresh parsley.     15.95

Crab Cakes

Eight mini crab cakes served with remoulade sauce.     10.95

Peach Glazed Grilled Pork Chops

With peach relish, roasted sweet potatoes and fresh vegetables*.     17.95

Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Sage Butter Sauce

Fresh chicken breast, crusted with parmesan cheese and bread crumbs, pan sautéed and served with roasted potatoes and grilled vegetables.     15.95

Lemon Halibut with Caper Sauce

Fresh halibut, rubbed with lemon paste and charbroiled. Served with our jasmine rice, fresh asparagus and topped with Caper Sauce.     18.95

Mango Brie Quesadilla with Charbroiled Chicken

Fresh mangos and chicken together with melted Brie cheese and jalapeno chilies.

Served with Sour Cream Lime dipping sauce.     11.95

Grilled Roast Beef Sandwich with Sundried Tomato Mayonnaise

On grilled sour dough with white cheddar cheese, sundried tomato mayonnaise and pickled pepper and onion relish.  With Sweet Potato Fries.     12.95

Turkey Tostada Salad

Smoked turkey, tortilla strips, Jack cheese, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, red bell peppers, green onions and avocado all tossed together with mixed greens and our buttermilk dressing.     13.95

Rigatoni with Summer Squash, Sausage and Goat Cheese

Sautéed summer squash and crumbled Italian sausage tossed together with rigatoni and goat cheese.     11.95

Springtime at Green Street

Even the best dishes take a backseat to Green Street Restaurant’s Dianne salad

By Erica Wayne 03/11/2010 – Pasadena Weekly

I don’t get to Green Street Restaurant as much as I’d like to anymore (so many restaurants, so little time), but with spring and daylight-saving time fast approaching, it just seemed right last week to go green. Actually, my sister was down from San Francisco and I really wanted her to try the Dianne salad.

I remember a visit a few years back, when I first noticed that Green Street’s menu seemed shorter. It was an impression, I believe, partly true but partly born of my focus on the Dianne salad, which was the main reason we went there. It was a sad tale. She had moved to Minneapolis a couple of years prior and said that all she could think about was Dianne’s taste.

Even if this is hyperbole, let’s face it: Many Green Street aficionados are so addicted to Dianne salad that, even if they were tempted to try something else, they couldn’t break themselves of the craving for chicken, iceberg lettuce, almonds, rice noodles, sesame seeds and the spectacular, irreproducible (believe me, I’ve tried) Dianne dressing.

I’ll let you in on a secret. When the Dianne first debuted in the mid-’80s, there were lots of imitators, but they all fell short. One of Pasadena’s best-known and most creative chefs who — I’m sure he wishes to remain anonymous — tried to duplicate the dressing failed time and time again. At long last and wit’s end, he figured out a scheme. He called Green Street and told them his mother had become ill after eating Dianne salad and could they please tell him the ingredients. Even then, they must have fudged, and the formula still eludes him.

But back to last week’s lunch. My sister and I compromised. Since a single Dianne salad ($12.95) provides enough sustenance for two, we decided to split one and share a charbroiled salmon club with bacon, tomato, greens and sautéed red onion on ciabatta ($13.95), since one thing Dianne salad doesn’t have is a side of fries. Don’t get me wrong — I love the moist, nutty zucchini bread that comes with the Dianne. But there’s nothing that can replace hot fries and ketchup when you’re in that springtime mood.

Sure enough, the fluffy steak fries were good. Our salmon filet was delicious and, like all of Green Street’s sandwiches, gi-normous. And the salad was, well, Dianne salad — a Platonic 10. My sister had a guess as to ingredients; honey and kiwi, she surmised. I don’t think that’s even close; but there are some little black specks that aren’t quite round enough to be poppy and the hue is faintly green.

As we stoked ourselves with food, I looked around in my usual attempt to assess how many other diners in the packed dining room were grazing on vast heaps of iceberg. My estimate on this visit was about half; but I noticed a fair number tucking into the huge omelets and juicy, grilled sandwiches that are Green Street’s other staples.

Stephen’s sandwich ($11.95), for instance, has almost as many admirers as the Dianne. Consisting of chicken breast with sautéed mushrooms, onions, avocado, sour cream and cheese on grilled sourdough, it’s what I order whenever I’m taking a break from rabbit food and not worrying about keeping my clothes clean or having a heart attack. It’s got so much fat that it practically slides down my gullet without mastication.

I’ve also eaten and enjoyed the “Big John’s” cheese, beef and spinach meatloaf sandwich, with sautéed onions, cheese and hot, sweet mustard on grilled parmesan bread ($12.50), the breakfast burrito with chicken-jalapeno sausage ($10.95) and the bacon cheeseburger with onion ($10.95). But, I’ve got to admit, they all take a back seat to the Dianne.

Another of Green Street’s salads occasionally challenges my obsession with the Dianne. It’s called the Cornucopia (mixed greens tossed with chicken breast, avocado, raisins, dried cranberries, mandarin oranges, green onions, apples, toasted almonds and blue cheese crumbles). It’s tossed with a magnificent citrus blue-cheese vinaigrette and costs $14.50. Its vibrant colors (red, green, blue and orange) are perfect for springtime; and need I mention antioxidants?

But, even though I adore the Cornucopia, it’s still almost inevitable that, when I go to Green Street, I order Dianne salad. It’s also almost inevitable that, when I go there with someone else, the person I’m with orders Dianne salad. It’s also almost inevitable that almost everybody at nearby tables orders Dianne salad, too.

So, even after almost a decade of competition with the Cornucopia, the Dianne is still the one Green Street salad that breaks the hearts of those who depart our fair city for far-off locales. As proof, I offer the fact that Green Street is now selling bottles of Dianne salad dressing (for more than $8!) as well as packages of its zucchini bread mix. My sister bought both. Want to know what’s in the bread? Read the label. Want to know what’s in the Dianne salad dressing? Tough luck! It’s still a secret.

Crab Cakes

Eight mini crab cakes served with remoulade sauce.     10.95

Mackey’s Chopped Steak and Grilled Onions

A favorite from Mackey’s Restaurant, served with garlic smashed potatoes and fresh vegetables*.     16.95

The Devil’s Chicken

A double chicken breast, flattened and marinated in our lemon-red chili flakes marinade, charbroiled and served with lemon herb orzo and arugula salad.     15.95

Blackened Snapper with BBQ Sauce

Cajun spiced fresh Snapper, blackened and served with garlic smashed potatoes, grilled fresh vegetables and Southern Comfort BBQ sauce.     16.95

Exotic Mushroom Quesadilla

Fresh sautéed mushrooms wrapped in a giant flour tortilla with sharp cheddar cheese, our warm black bean salsa and guacamole and sour cream.     12.95

Catfish Sandwich

Fresh catfish, breaded in cornmeal and pan sautéed. Served on ciabatta roll with Chipotle mayonnaise and fresh lettuce greens.    With sweet potato fries.     12.95

Charbroiled Chicken and Mango Rice Salad

Steamed brown rice, tossed with avocado, fresh mango, red onion, cilantro and our lime vinaigrette.  Topped with Southwest rubbed charbroiled chicken.     13.95

Seafood Pasta Jambalaya

Chicken, shrimp, andouille sausage, onion, bell peppers, zucchini and tomatoes tossed together with penne pasta and andouille cream sauce.     16.95

Duck Sliders

Four duck sliders, grilled with our Asian marinade, and topped with slow sautéed shitake mushrooms and spicy Chinese mustard sauce.     13.95

T-Bone Steak with Chipotle Chili Rub

Charbroiled and topped with cilantro-lime butter and served with mashed sweet potatoes and fresh vegetables*.     28.95

Maple Mustard Pork Chop

Charbroiled and served with maple mustard BBQ sauce and sweet potatoes and fresh vegetables.*     18.95

Pecan/Potato Chip Crusted Snapper with Honey Mustard Mayonnaise

Fresh snapper lightly sautéed and served with fresh vegetables* of the season and jasmine rice.     16.95

Shrimp and Black Bean Quesadilla

Shrimp, sautéed with garlic, wrapped in a giant flour tortilla with black beans, Jack cheese and cilantro.  Served with sour cream, guacamole and our michoacan salsa.     12.95

Grilled Turkey, Brie and Apple Butter Sandwich

Grilled Rye smothered in apple butter and piled high with sliced turkey, brie and sliced Granny Smith apple.  With Sweet Potato Fries.     12.95

Caribbean Cobb Salad

Mixed greens with fresh shrimp, papaya, black beans, avocado, red bell pepper, Jack cheese and almonds and tossed with our fresh citrus vinaigrette.     13.50

Fiery Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp

Shrimp sautéed with chili oil, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, garlic and parsley, tossed with angel hair pasta and Parmesan Reggiano cheese.     16.95

Duck Sliders
Four duck sliders, grilled with our Asian marinade, and
topped with slow sautéed shitake mushrooms and spicy Chinese mustard sauce.     13.95

Red Chile Crusted Filet Mignon with Ancho Chile Mushroom Sauce
Blackened and pan sautéed, served with Chipotle smashed sweet potatoes and fresh vegetables*.     27.95

Pecan Crusted Chicken
Pan sautéed with chipotle smashed sweet potatoes and fresh vegetables*.     15.95

Caribbean Snapper
A taste of the tropics.  Snapper filet marinated with lime juice, cilantro and a hint of garlic.  Pan sautéed and served with jasmine rice and fresh vegetables* and a drizzle of marinade.  16.95

Cowboy Steak Quesadilla with Poblano Corn Relish
In a giant flour tortilla with pepper Jack cheese.  Served with sour cream and guacamole.     13.95

Cuban Burger
Our burger, charbroiled, and served with sliced black forest ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickles, garlic mayonnaise and Dijon mustard, pressed together on a ciabatta roll.  With sweet potato fries.    12.95

Turkey Tostada Salad
Smoked turkey, tortilla strips, Jack cheese, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, red bell peppers, green onions and avocado all tossed together with mixed greens and our buttermilk dressing.     13.95

Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Pasta
Penne pasta tossed with caramelized onions, portabello mushrooms, blue cheese and romano cheese.     12.95

Happy New Year! Hope yours is off to a good start. The good news on the weather front is that it will be a dry weekend….perfect to get of the house and enjoy a Green Street meal. Green Street’s year is off to a busy start as we take part in dineLA, offer our annual Oscar contest, celebrate Valentine’s weekend and we’re giving you, our loyal email subscriber, a chance for free tickets to the Northern Trust Open (aka the LA Open)….so keep reading.

DineLA: A couple of times each year the dineLA people invite restaurants in the LA area to offer a three course meal at a special price. It’s really a choice of three appetizers, three entrees and three desserts. We’re also adding a three course menu for our lunch guests at $16 while our dinner feature remains at $26. dineLA weeks start this Sunday, Jan. 24, running through Friday, Jan. 29 and the second week starts Sunday, Jan. 31 and concludes on Friday, Feb. 5. Here’s our menu:

Lunch:

Appetizer (Choice of one): Dinner Caesar or Southwest Caesar (no chicken), Cup of Soup or Oven Roasted Tomato Bruscetta

Main (Choice of one): Smoke and Fire Quesadilla, Stephen’s Sandwich or Dianne Salad (Luncheon portion only)

Dessert (Choice of one): Chocolate Cake, Mixed Berry Cobbler or Dr. Bob’s Ice cream

Dinner:

Appetizer (Choice of one): Dinner Caesar or Southwest Caesar (no chicken), Cup of Soup or Oven Roasted Tomato Bruscetta

Main (Choice of one): Parmesan Chicken with Herb Roasted Potatoes, Orange Chipotle Snapper with Yellow Rice or Steak and Dianne

Dessert (Choice of one): Chocolate Cake, Mixed Berry Cobbler or Dr. Bob’s Ice Cream.

Pick the Oscar Contest: Every year our guests fill out their Oscar ballots and predict who will win the Academy Award for best picture, actor and actress. Winners will receive Green Street meals and movie tickets. This year’s contest will take place from February 12-21.

Valentine’s Weekend: Valentines is too important for only one night so we’re celebrating the special occasion all weekend (Friday, February 12 – Sunday, February, 14). We know you are busy and sometimes life gets in the way of designated holidays. So if you can’t get together with your Valentine on the 14^th, no problem!  Come on Friday, February 12 or Saturday, February 13. Or if you have multiple Valentines….never mind. Starting at 4:00 each day we’ll have a special Valentines menu but all of your usual favorites will also be offered. Reservations are now being accepted online at www.GreenStreetRestaurant.com.

Free Tickets to LA Open: We purchased some tickets to the Northern Trust Open from the Pasadena Chapter of the First Tee. This is a wonderful chance to watch many of the finest professional golfers compete at the historic and beautiful Riviera Country Club in Brentwood.  We have two sets of two tickets for the Saturday round. If you’ve never attended a professional golf event this is your chance. It’s fun …you can walk around the course and follow your favorite golfer (as long as he isn’t on a self-imposed sabbatical) or sit at one hole and watch all of the competitors play through. If you are interested in two tickets for Saturday, February 6 reply to this e-mail and let me know.  The deadline to enter is Thursday, January 28. I’ll let the winners know on the 29^th.

Salad Bowl for Super Bowl: Super Sunday is February 7. If you’re having guests over to enjoy the game (and the commercials) give us a call and we can provide the food….bowls of salad, wrap trays, wings, tri tip and more are just a phone call away. Click here to see a hassle free catering menu.

Looking for a Quiet Dinner Location?: The Sunday night of the Super Bowl (Febraury 7) is traditionally one of the slowest nights of the year at Green Street. If you have no interest in the game join us for an evening of great food and solitude.

p.s. With all of the special events in February I forgot to mention that on February 9 we will be celebrating Green Street’s 31^st anniversary. We have no planned celebration for our 31^st…just an opportunity to thank you for making it possible to serve you for all these years.

Click on the Specials page and you can see what we are now serving.