Paul Martin's Restaurant, Pasadena, CA

252 pounds (original weight 296, exactly 3 months ago).

Nice lighting, convivial atmosphere, and attentive staff. Paul Martin's sits amid a bustling Pasadena Mall area and the outdoor seating is nice in the evening when the traffic dies down.

Emelina was our server and was friendly and knowledgeable. Expos were unobtrusive and effective.

Let me here add a note about sequencing and timing: this restaurant had it down - bread arrived quickly and was crunchy-hot with flavorful butter. Salads soon after, and then the appetizers, all as if choreographed. Paul Martin's had it together this night.

The salad was as fresh as it possibly have been, with genuinely healthy plants such as red leaf and arugula and popping cold fresh tiny tomatoes.

Evening winner: the Pacific shrimp cocktail were like small lobsters with a meaty, fresh bite. The sauce itself had plenty of horseradish, giving this dish a potent one-two punch. Expensive and worth it. Runner up: fried shrimp appetizer with a blandish sauce (use instead the sauce that comes with the shrimp cocktail).

The iced tea had zero bitterness and stood on its own with no need for sweetener. Lots of lemon and lime were asked for and received.

Minor nits making this four stars instead of five: The entre was good but not great: ribeye steak was cooked to perfection, with a seared crust, but not on the beef quality level of the better steakhouses, being just a hint tough. The ubiquitous-standard mashed potatoes were salty-buttery and had a nice, firm consistency, but I would have ordered some satiny potatoes au gratin or better yet the crackling, fat onion rings - if this restaurant had any, which it does not :(

And finally the bill: A split entre, two appetizers, and two iced teas: $120 drive out. Well, this *is* Los Angeles. And Pasadena at that.

And because *this* is Your 100 Pound Life, the calorie count: one piece of bread and butter, half a ribeye, two fried shrimp, three boiled shrimp, half a serving of blue cheese dressing over fresh greens, lots of iced tea, and some mashed potatoes: approximately 1,250 calories. I arrived with 350 calories consumed and 17 biked miles on the day, so it was still a weight loss day.

Thanks, everyone. Do it now. www.your100poundlife.com