Brix 42 turned 700 covers last night during their grand opening celebration. At the average price of $15 per entree, at least 2 person per table, it’s easy to see the cost of this public relations event. And the benefit? See for yourself:

For the record, it was a great time, even tho Brix 42 is clearly not a gastro pub. Anchor & Hope, Waterloo, London? gastropub. Brix 42? Clearly a brewpub.

We last read about this event back in April but many had forogtten. Through the power of Twitter/Eater/Bloggers/street pluggers/etc., the restaurant was packed from 7pm onwards.

After a chilly 45 min wait and some Munich Dunkel in the bar area – morality incident 1: you can NOT bitch about waiting for free food – we were seated in a wide comfy booth meant to seat 6 non-chub souls. Using cheat sheets via text messages from previous diners, we selected the omnipresent sliders in addition to 2 entrees from the menu, by now defunct of steak choices.

The food was great, for free. Portions huge, for free. Salmon with mango dressing, just a wee bit over cooked, was great, for free. Pot roast with some type of wine reduction, was tender and again, well portions. Sides were stir fried gai-lan and tame garlic mash for both. Sliders were gently assembled with small squares of cheddar on top of 3″ patties as well grilled onions. You were free to add mixed greens to your sliders, as well as thick-cut pickle slices. 2 of the 2 sliders came nearly medium rare, 1 medium. While these were extremely well constructed within great buns, they were no match for Morton’s sliders served perfectly medium rare.

Morality incident 2: Infinite Fress calls these events “cross manipulative” and to a certain extent, you must agree. Restaurant gives away $25K+ worth of free food in 1 night, 1000+ people leave full, some will come back, some won’t, but everyone had a good time. It’s hard not to. It’s hard to pan an independent restaurant that just dropped oodles of funds serving cheap booze and half decent food for free. If I’m in Pasadena after work, jonesing for some locally brewed IPA, you betcha arse Brix 42 will be on my short list.

PS: Can someone please explain what “Brix 42″ means? Googled to death to no avail. Especially odd since Brix 42 isn’t billing itself as a wine bar…

Brix 42
42 S De Lacey Avenue
Pasadena, CA
(626) 405-9114

Browse Timeline

• « Someone tell Morton’s Chicago there’s a recession
• » Special Prix Fixe Starting May 22