Two Restaurants, Two Movies

I feel judgmental and talkative, which means it must be time for: Reviews of restaurants and movies I've recently tried.

Last night Susie and I had takeout from Brit's in Pasadena. "Warm beer, lousy food" says the menu -- but don't believe it.

The fish and chips were great. They suffered a little the way all fried food does whenkept even briefly in styrofoam, but it was as authentic as British food can be, at least judged by some easy-to-please Calgarian like me. The sausage roll appetizers were bland and flaky; I've never had finer. The service was quick and friendly, with a dry wit, and the prices were fine.

Brit's: 1770 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, California, 91106, (626) 578 1301

Yesterday afternoon, I went with Jordan to see "Master and Commander: Far Side of the World" at the Paseo theater.

Some movies make you want to buy things (or at least, that seems to be the plan for "The Cat in the Hat"). This movie made me want to do things. Specifically, it made me want to be a naturalist, a sea captain, a pirate, cook, a member of the aristocracy, and it most of all made me NOT want to live in the 1800s on a small boat being pursued by a French privateer, where amputations happen with a large knife and a bit of wood to bite down on.

This was not a movie for intellectuals, but at the same time it didn't treat the audience like it needed to be led or explained to or talked down to. There were many things about sailing a giant sailing ship that I didn't understand before the movie, and that I still don't understand, and that's OK -- I had a good rollicking couple of hours at sea and I didn't need to take dramamine.

The previous night, Susie and I went to El Cholo's in Pasadena.

The mango marguerita was excellent, the rest of it was, well, standard Mexican fare for a reasonable price. Service was fine, parking was awful, and the company I was with was swell enough that I went and played a long game of Monopoly with them afterwards.

Also that night, I went and saw "The Triplets of Belleville".

Let me go out on a limb here and say that you probably haven't seen a movie like this recently. It's an animated story of a tiny grandmother whose son is competing in the Tour de France when he's kidnapped. She sets off to rescue him with the help of his faithful old dog whose greatest skill is his ability to bark loudly at passing trains.

The animation is vibrant and whimsical. The whole thing is basically done without any speaking; the movie never seems to drag despite the lack of conversation. It's superb, and deserves to be seen by a large number of people.

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