365 Places to Eat

I have the occasion to eat lunch at The Athenaeum, CalTech’s private on campus club, a couple time a year. I usually wouldn’t review a place that required membership, or accompanying a member, to get in, it is such a nice lunch that I figured I would drop a few notes about it.

Walking into the building, which looks like it would blend in on an Ivy League campus, I hear a string quartet playing in one room before veering left into the main dining room. How civilized. We walk through the Main Dining Room out onto the West Patio, taking a seat under one of the outdoor heaters. It turns out that the weather is warm enough that we turn the heater off before our backs are broiled.

So, the atmosphere is classy, how is the food? I plan on ordering a cup of the chowder and the steak salad, but my host suggests that I take a walk past the carvery buffet before I make my choice. I do and I decide to have a go at the buffet.

This is one tasty spread. I dive into the ceviche, pile a little arugala salad (with pomegranate seeds), skip the risotto, pick up some poached salmon appetizer, ladel a cup of Boston clam chowder (passing over the vegetable lentil), attack the plump asparagus (which are topped with roasted red and yellow peppers) and finally, I choose a few slices of roast lamb leg over the stuffed chicken breasts.

Now, had I wanted to, I could have piled a bit of everything on my plate (and there is more than I mentioned), just like any buffet. Unlike most buffets, I actually want to pile on a little of everything. It looks that good. I assume that it tastes good, but I know that looks can be deceiving.

The food. It’s good. It’s very good. If I was a member, and CalTech was anywhere near where I worked, I would come here for lunch. Often. The salads are delicious, the salmon moist and tasty, the chowder is decent — not a stand out, the asparagus is cooked perfect and the peppers are a nice touch. The lamb is tender and flavorful. Finally the ceviche. I don’t think I have ever had ceviche at a buffet, although it is a great buffet dish. This ceviche was excellent, plump shrimp and fish swimming in a tart vinegar and citrus.

The bill went on my host’s tab, but I did see that the buffet rings up at a very reasonable $10.75. A side note that the iced tea was very good. I have also had the strawberry lemonade, a crowd favorite, which is refreshing and also very sweet.

An interesting note of history about The Athenaeum:

The first formal dinner was held in February 1931, when Albert Einstein arrived for a two-month sojourn at Caltech. Three Nobel Prize winners, Albert Einstein, Robert A. Millikan, and A. A. Michelson, attended that dinner.

Kevin at LA Observed points out:

The building, by the way, was designed by Gordon Kaufmann, architect for the L.A. Times building and, improbably, Hoover Dam.

The Athenaeum (at CalTech)
551 S. Hill Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91106
(626) 395-8200