Firefly Bistro & The Beginning of the End of the Beginning

Yesterday I mentioned briefly that I would be leaving Pasadena soon and it elicited a few questions from people, so I will do a little explaining now. In just over two weeks we will be moving to Brooklyn. Elizabeth got a job offer that was too good to pass up, and I am ready for something different in my life. So, after spending all but one year of my life within a half-hour drive of Pasadena, I will be heading east.

To answer another question that has come up many times: Yes, I will be keeping the blog. Tracie and Bryce made me promise to do so. I will take plenty of pictures of all the places we eat at on our trip across the country as well as the new things I find in New York. I don't know as if I will be able to keep up the pace of 5 or 6 posts per week - I seriously doubt it - but we'll see.

So anyway, there are some places I want to revisit and write about before I go, and a Thursday night at Firefly Bistro for "Burgers, Beer & Blues" was definitely one of them.  I got together a few friends, some of whom have never been to Firefly before, and my parents, who have been there with me several times on Thursdays, and we headed over for dinner last night.


Here is a picture I took on another occasion of Barry Big B Brenner's setup. He uses four guitars and puts on a great show: country folk blues, ragtime, and his take on some classic rock tunes. 

Every Thursday, to accompany the blues, there is a special burger of the week. As I was emailing Carla earlier in the day, I have enjoyed every single one that I have ordered. Last night's looked great: a Cajun shrimp burger with andouille sausage bacon.

"We are out of the shrimp burger," the waiter announced when he first arrived at our table. It was only 7:30.

So all seven of us decided to create our own burger combinations from the list. There was some discussion as to how many toppings would be "too many." I'm not sure we came to an agreement, but I think we decided three should be the maximum.

Firefly also features two beers every Thursday that go for three bucks. Elizabeth and I both ordered the Scrimshaw Pilsner. One minute later the waiter returned to inform us that they were out of that. (I will say this about Firefly: they don't make it easy. My dad ordered the Downtown Brown and after he finished it he ordered another - they ran out of that, too.) 

Tim was thrilled to see the Schonramer Pils, proclaiming that it might be his favorite beer. So he, my mom and Carla each ordered one. I took a sip and agreed it was quite good.

I had a Turbodog, a longtime favorite of mine. Actually, I had three of them. Elizabeth went with Blue Star. (The waiter said, since they'd run out of the beer specials, that he would give us the Turbodog and Blue Star for the $3 price, although I did not see the bill so I'm not sure if he followed through on that.)

 Dave had an Olde Suffolk English Ale.

With my burger, I opted to get bacon, pickled jalapenos, and red chili mustard.

And it was outstanding. I love the potato buns Firefly uses, their meat is always good, and the crunchy bacon and spicy sauces complemented each other nicely. (Dave hates pickles so he offered them to me and I gladly accepted.)

All of us received fries that were cold. It wasn't too big a deal because the burgers and beer were the stars of the show here, but I mention it because it illustrates what I said earlier about Firefly: in every visit, there has always been at least one - usually more - issue that comes up, whether it's running out of their featured burger or beer by 7:30 or serving cold fries. And yet I keep coming back. That's how enjoyable it is there in the tented dining room. It makes all those issues worth it.

This was a fantastic time. Dave and Tim - both guitar players - loved watching the guitarist, especially when he rocked his 12-string, we all really enjoyed our burgers, and the relaxed atmosphere was wonderful.

There are many routines I will miss around Pasadena, and hitting up the South Pasadena farmers market on a Thursday evening then ducking into Firefly for some blues and cold beer is right near the top of the list.