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Altadena wine bar builds on a strong rebound from the Eaton fire

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First, there was Betsy, which declared with dishes that dazzled and amazed, and in food distinctive and strong, that while fire can destroy, it can also — must also! — be tamed and used to cook life-affirming sustenance.

We traveled through the devastation of the Eaton fire, to the upper reaches of Lake Avenue, past buildings burnt and demolished to a single block of Mariposa Street, which has become a destination for locals hungry for the cooking of Betsy’s open kitchen — cooking on display from the counter that’s a front-room seat to a culinary stage show.

And while Betsy is open only for dinner, that show has been gifted a second stage next door, once again with a counter that’s for me the place to sit. It’s called Bar Betsy, which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And for the pleasures of a complex wine list that goes on for so many pages, you expect it to expand into volumes: Book the First will be dedicated to whites, followed by tomes of reds, roses and oranges, and sparklings.

But then, I was there during the day — when the drinks of choice for me were the coffees. The espresso and Americano. The cappuccino and cortado. The latte and flat white. The iced.

Or perhaps the green tea matcha variations from the Japanophilic American company Tezumi. Or the juices fresh-squeezed from citrus from Schaner Family Farms in Valley Center, California, in the middle of San Diego County, just a short distance from the wonderfully named Hellhole Canyon. Being near a hellhole makes for very tasty oranges.

And the beverages go very well with the breakfast, served from 8 in the morning till three in the afternoon — an acknowledgement of the pleasures of a couple of eggs on some very good toast eaten at noon.

  • Eggs on toast at Bar Betsy in Altadena (Photo by Merrill Shindler)

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Eggs on toast at Bar Betsy in Altadena (Photo by Merrill Shindler)

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Indeed, Bar Betsy (3.5 stars; 871 E Mariposa St., Altadena; www.barbetsy.com) loves its breads — the thickly cut sourdough toast smeared with “cultured” butter and marmalade or “maybe jam.” The breakfast sandwich on a chive dotted biscuit, topped with eggs, bacon and white cheddar — which tastes like yellow-orange cheddar, but perhaps with a hint of an edge. (Or perhaps it’s the color that makes me imagine that.)

There’s more bread. Avanthi’s rye bread (a small baker with a near cult following) smeared with cream cheese, topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, house-cured smoked salmon and green peppercorns. And a trio of sandwiches served on very thick, rustic tasting stecca bread.

Stecca is described by AI as “a rustic, no-knead Italian bread originally made famous by Jim Lahey of New York’s Sullivan Street Bakery. Often described as the ‘lovechild of a baguette and a focaccia.’ It is long, thin, features a shatteringly crisp crust, an airy, chewy interior, and is heavily topped with olive oil and sea salt.” (A real definition from an artificial source!)

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In between the slabs of bread, you’ll find chicken roasted in a wood oven (perhaps the one next door at Betsy?), along with sundry picked-from-the-field greens, cucumber, white cheddar and a tarragon Dijonnaise mustard. There’s Parisian ham with butter, comte cheese, cornichons and more Dijon. And there are roasted carrots with tahini spread, clover sprouts and the sauce from the Catalonian region of Spain called romesco, made from roasted red peppers, tomatoes, garlic, roasted nutsy, olive oil, vinegar and paprika.

I love the idea of a carrot sandwich. If I didn’t like the chicken sandwich so much, I’d say it was my fave.

There’s more, of course: The fermented milk yogurt-like drink called kefir flavored with lemon curd, blackberries and almond granola. The Anson Mills grits mixed with bacon, tomatillo salsa, scallions and topped with a poached egg. The mix of English peas, avocado, onions, greens, feta and sumac, called rouge de Bordeaux. And the very lunchy “Niçoise-ish” salad built around bigeye tuna and sundry other ingredients that are more kitchen sink than French Riviera.

Interestingly, the menu shrinks a bit after 3 p.m. when breakfast and lunch cede to dinner options that could, for the most part, join the earlier dishes. There’s sourdough bread with butter or olive oil. Red beets topped with pistachios and Humboldt Fog goat cheese — with its line of ash running through its middle. There’s asparagus with avocado and basil — which lives somewhere between a salad and a side dish.

As does the tuna crudo (marinated in black lime juice from Schaner); the tomatoes with burrata, arugula and strawberries; and the wood oven roasted carrots. The only big feed (or at least, biggish feed) dishes are the cavatelli pasta with smoked pork belly and walnut pesto. And the Black Hawk Wagyu beef burger on a Parker House bun.

There’s also one more dessert early in the day (sticky buns, banana bread, almond cookies, double chocolate chip cookies) than there is later (lemon pie, cookies and milk, an almond cookie). But then, later in the day is the time to hit the wine list. A nice crisp Sancerre is always a treat with a cookie.

Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.

Bar Betsy

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