Pez Coastal Kitchen

Downtown’s Pez Cantina trades its chips and guac (and margs) approach for more of a California-meets-Mediterranean affair at this similarly seafood-focused Old Pasadena expansion. The coastal-colored dining room brings some welcomed buoyancy to this formerly pubby street corner, though Pez Coastal Kitchen keeps things slightly more casual than destination-worthy neighbors Union and Perle. Load up on starters and crudo for the menu’s most inventive entries, like the “ravioli,” a pasta-less dish that wraps ahi tuna in raw scallops with a delicious bath of Baja ponzu, or bluefin tuna that comes perfectly seared and ready to mop up the avocado labneh and truffle-lime vinaigrette underneath. Cocktails emphasize gin, tequila and mezcal (we particularly liked the Lady Bug, a beautiful-and-balanced mix of tequila, amaro and blackberry), while the hyperlocal beers are practically begging to be paired with the crispy on the outside, soft on the inside yam skins, which come dipped in a bed of green tahini and whipped feta.