Quadrupel
43 E. Union, Pasadena
We visited Quadrupel Thursday @ 7:45 pm
Dish we will try to cook – Grilled Asparagus Salad $10
Restaurant Visit
Who knew there were so many great restaurants in the Pasadena/Glendale area? Or that we had so many readers who live and dine on that side of town and band together to vote on the poll? Once again, we headed east and made our way to the always bustling area of Old Town Pasadena. Tucked among a plethora of small bistros, tea shops and boutiques sits a very unassuming Quadrupel. That doesn’t mean it’s undiscovered, as the fact that nearly every table on a Thursday night was full points out. The locals certainly seem to know where to go. Tables were filled by families with their kids, larger parties of adults enjoying mugs of beer and couples having a quiet dinner together.
We arrived at 7:45pm and were seated promptly. While the restaurant isn’t overly large, there are a decent number of tables and the décor has a huge presence. Every surface seems to be covered in an ornate, dark wood – from the ceiling to the walls, floor and tables. Large domed lights suspend from the ceiling by chains and turn of the century French prints hang framed on the walls. Light jazz music is played in the background. As Romeo described it – I feel like I’m in a Frank Lloyd Wright house. With all this attention to detail, the restaurant still has a neighborhood feel and the dress is casual. Quoting from their website, Quadrupel “is a cross between a French bistro and a Belgian beer pub.” In other words, foods layered with flavor and beer to suite any palate.
Shockingly, we must confess we did not partake in their extensive beer or wine menu, yet we did enjoy the food immensely. The food offerings are fairly diverse with a lot of seafood. There are a la cart offerings as well as a nightly tasting menu for $35 per person.
Our choice for the blog recipe was almost solely decided on from a self-centered viewpoint – we thought it would be fun to finally learn how to poach an egg. We watch enough Top Chef to know that any cook worth his weight in salt knows how to poach an egg. Therefore, we ordered the grilled asparagus salad (soft poached egg, thinly sliced proscuitto , black truffle-peppercorn vinaigrette and frisse lettuce), $10. In fact, we ordered two because we knew we wouldn’t want to share with each other. We also dined on steamed mussels (in lobster sauce, mariniere style), $8 and the crab cakes, $10.
The grilled asparagus salad felt light, yet was also very filling. A perfectly poached egg sat on top of a mildly seasoned frisee salad accompanied by four grilled baby asparagus and crispy, thick sliced pieces of prosciutto. Finely diced tomatoes garnished the top. We both enjoyed the dish and debated from whose plate a few bites would remain in order for us to bring home for flavor comparison. However we did feel the dish had a few short fallings. One, while we enjoyed the smokey flavors lent by the grilled asparagus, we felt they were a little over cooked. Secondly, we wished there was a bit more of the black truffle-peppercorn vinaigrette on the salad. We couldn’t detect any black truffle at all, or for that matter, much of the vinaigrette. The creamy egg yolk and salty, crispy prosciutto held the plate together.
The steamed mussels and crab cakes, both from the appetizer menu, rounded out our meal. Two different sauces are offered with the mussels and we chose the heartier, mariniere style. The two crab cakes were served with both a creamy sauce and dollop of a roasted tomato sauce. The cakes were lightly fried and full of chunks of crab. Both dishes nicely paired with the grilled asparagus salad to make a complete meal.
We must give props to our friend Gary Kelly for recommending Quadrupel to us, as he did Noir Food & Wine. Quadrupel certainly does not disappoint and we recommend it when you find yourself in Pasadena on any given night – they do not currently offer lunch service. For the beer aficionados out there, they offer over 70 bottled varieties with 4 brews on tap. It’s a quiet restaurant in an energetic part of town that serves not only great tasting food but also enough spirits that any one would be hard pressed to not go home happy.
Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.
Whole Foods
Prosciutto, 6 slices $7.25
Frissee Greens $2.99
Roma Tomatoes $1.82
Asparagus, 1lb $5.29
Recipe
Below is our take on a grilled asparagus salad with poached egg. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online at different recipes, watched a few videos on how to poach an egg and then combined that knowledge with the flavors we tasted in the original dish and went from there.
Makes 2 servings.
Peppercorn Vinaigrette-
1/4 tsp freshly crushed black peppercorns
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp black truffle oil
In a bowl, whisk pepper, salt and vinegar together. While continuing to whisk, slowly add in olive oil until emulsified. Next, add truffle oil and infuse with rest of dressing. Let sit at room temperature before serving.
Salad-
8 shoots baby asparagus, trimmed
1 bunch frisee, washed and dried
3 slices of prosciutto (for crisping)
3 slices of prosciutto, torn into bite-sized chunks
1 roma tomato, seeded, finely diced
1/4 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste
Start by preheating oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. On a single layer, place 3 slices of prosciutto on baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Prosciutto will continue to crisp.
Next heat grill on medium high. Coat asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Grill until cooked, yet crisp, about 4 minutes.
Tear frisee into normal size pieces. Lightly toss with about half the vinaigrette. If you prefer more dressing, slowly add in desired amount. Mix in uncrisped proscuitto.
Poached Egg-
2 large eggs (at room temperature)
1/2 tsp vinegar
pinch of salt
Bring a pot of water to boil. Next, break each egg into separate bowls. Reduce heat to just under boiling point. Add vinegar and salt to water. With a slotted spoon, swirl water in a circular motion to create whirlpool. With water swirling, pour an egg into the middle of the swirl. Cook for about 2 minutes. Remove egg with a slotted spoon and repeat process for second egg.
Plating
Place a handful of frisee salad in the middle of a shallow bowl or plate. Top with stems of asparagus, poached egg and crisped prosciutto pieces. Garnish with diced tomatoes and serve.
Rating- We give our dish 5 out of 5 stars.
Our thoughts- This just may be the most successful We Can Cook That recipe yet. The two major components to the salad at Quadrupel are the vinaigrette and poaching the egg. Both of which we love that we now know how to make.
The vinaigrette is so simple that we’ve now sworn to never buy salad dressing again. It has to be so much healthier to mix the ingredients at home and also allows you to play with a limitless number of flavor combinations.
Poaching an egg took us two different tries. The first time, the egg white simply fell to pieces in the water and never formed one cooked egg. We recommend looking up a video online to see the process first before trying it yourself. The secret seems to be having the water just under boiling point yet hot enough to still cook the egg and adding vinegar to the water. Vinegar helps bind the white of the egg together. Lastly, swirling the water is what allows the poached egg have an elegant presentation. The whites swirl around the yolk to form a small circular shape.
Whether served as part of a Sunday brunch, afternoon lunch or an appetizer for dinner, this simple yet elegant recipe is a nice one to have in the repertoire. And adding a poached egg to any breakfast makes the whole meal feel a little more upscale.
How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys on your first attempts to poach an egg. How many tries did it take for you to produce perfect results? Anyone have a special vinaigrette recipe you’d like to share? Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the recipe and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!
Tags: asparagus, poached egg, Quadrupel
I’ve been waiting for you guys to give yourselves a 5 out of 5! This salad looks clean and sophisticated. There’s nothing more delicious than a nice warm creamy yolk with truffle oil.
My first time poaching an egg was horrible. The whites kept breaking apart in the water and I was left with a hard yolk with a thin rubbery egg white surrounding it! It was more like a naked hard boiled egg!
This looks delish! Congrats on your successful egg poaching attempt. If I wasn’t allergic to eggs, I’d definitely give this one a try!
Congrats on your first “perfect!”
Beautiful!!! I have a slightly different egg poaching method. Heat water to boiling in large fry pan. Lower heat til there is no bubbling, add vinegar. Drop in eggs side by side from ramekin and let them sit just barely covered by the still water while I do other tasks. In 2-3 minutes return and baste top of egg with a little hot water to evenly cook a sides then scoop out with slotted spoon. Maybe is not quite as Four Seasons room service perfection but has been more fool proof for me, the fool being me in this case.
The salad looks delish! Going to pick up
a new bottle of truffle oil & make this tomorrow.