Birthday dinners should feel a little different from an ordinary night out. So, when it was time to celebrate my sister’s big day, I wanted to do more than simply find a good restaurant. I wanted dinner to feel like an experience. That’s what led us to The Daily Catch Pasadena, and more specifically, its Chef’s Counter.
The Daily Catch has been serving Sicilian-style seafood and pasta in Boston since 1973, and its Pasadena location is the family-owned restaurant’s first West Coast outpost. The restaurant brings that Boston seafood tradition to Pasadena, including fresh New England seafood and its famous squid ink black pasta.
But for me, the Chef’s Counter is where the experience really comes together.
A Front-Row Seat to Dinner
The dining room is large with room for everyone, but the Chef’s Counter only has seats for four. It feels surprisingly intimate and because of where it’s positioned, you’re not just sitting at a counter; you have a front-row view of the action. From close view, we could watch the chef shucking oysters and clams at the raw bar. Looking a little further, we had a view into the kitchen, where the chefs and team were preparing pasta and sending dishes out to the dining room.
There’s something about watching your dinner come together that makes you appreciate it a little more. You get to see the movement, the teamwork and all the little things happening behind the scenes that you normally never notice from a table. And since this was my sister’s birthday, having two of those four seats to ourselves made the dinner feel even more special.
Come Hungry for Seafood and Pasta
Of course, a great view only gets you so far.
Thankfully, the food gave us plenty of reasons to stay focused on our plates. We started with the Fried Calamari ($15 half portion), served with red sauce and lemon, along with Oysters ($12 for three). The fried calamari was a great way to start the meal as it was tender and the kind of dish that you easily finish. As someone who can’t eat oysters, I didn’t touch these. Instead, my sister happily enjoyed them for the both of us.
For our main courses, we went with two pastas.
The White Pasta with Shrimp, Scallops and Broccoli ($40) was packed with seafood, while the Black Pasta Alfredo with Shrimp ($43) was every bit as indulgent as it sounds, made with a heavy cream reduction, butter and Romano cheese. The black pasta is one of The Daily Catch’s signatures, and it’s hard to miss when you’re sitting so close to the kitchen. The restaurant is known for its squid ink pasta, which is part of the Sicilian-style tradition that has made the Boston original famous. While the white pasta was my sister’s and the black was mine, I made no room to try hers after having a bite of my own. The noodles were cooked just right, the sauce had the perfect amount of creaminess to it, and while I thought four shrimp wouldn’t be enough … it absolutely was. I truly loved how great his pasta was and seeing it served in the skillet made it so beautiful I would absolutely return for this alone.
In the spirit of my sister talking with the chef about the clams he was preparing, he handed one to her just for fun. The smile across her face as she received it and tasted it indicated that it was as good as it looked.
And of course, we made room for dessert. We finished with Tiramisu ($8), which in all of its rich sweetness was a perfect way to end a dinner that had already given us plenty to celebrate.
So, Is the Chef’s Counter Worth Booking?
For me, absolutely.
You could certainly visit The Daily Catch and enjoy a great seafood and pasta dinner from a traditional table. But if you have the option to reserve one of the four seats at the Chef’s Counter, I’d take it. Especially for any occasion where you want dinner to feel a little more memorable, being able to watch the chefs do their best work while enjoying your meal adds something you simply don’t get from a regular table. And I believe the best part of dinner isn’t just what lands on your plate. It’s getting to see how it gets there. And for a birthday dinner with my sister, I couldn’t have asked for a better seat in the house.
Thank you so much to The Daily Catch Pasadena and everyone on the team.
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Address: 927 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91106
Phone: (626) 314-1205
Hours: Sunday – 11:00 am to 8:00 pm, Monday and Tuesday – 4:00 to 9:00 pm, Wednesday and Thursday – 11:00 am to 9:00 pm, and Friday and Saturday – 11:00 am to 10:00 pm.
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