Dining Out:

There’s a secret to the Montrose BLT ($9). It’s called “pastrami bacon,” which is double-thick applewood smoked bacon from the top end of the slab so there’s more meat and less fat. Tender and tremendously tasty. The sandwich is a hearty size with lots of lettuce and beautiful red tomato. You’ll find the bacon on the Chicken Club, too ($12) with moist and luscious chicken breast.

Sandwiches come with fantastic fries. They are crispy-soft and are without all those sparkly spices and stuff. That’s because you want to dip them in the special creamy salsa verde sauce they serve with them. Oh my goodness! A little bit of spice and a lot of fun flavor; it’s a unique dip.

The prices are a little higher (iced tea is $3.50), but so is the quality, by far. Let’s face it — you aren’t here for a Carl’s Jr. burger. In fact, this steakhouse burger ($13), with supple, braised short rib meat that fairly melts away at your bite, red, red tomato, butter lettuce and gorgonzola was one of the most astounding flavors I’ve ever tasted. The whole thing was heaven on a perfectly grilled white-bread bun.

The summer dinner menu, served after 5:30 p.m., has such wonderful-sounding dishes as shrimp vegetable tempura ($10) with black tiger shrimp. The bouillabaisse ($26) has scallops, shrimp, clams, braised fennel and rouille, a sauce of olive oil, bread crumbs, garlic, saffron and chili peppers. There’s half of a roasted Jidori chicken ($18), and the petit filet ($28) comes with “sour cream smashed potatoes.”

Speaking of artistry, I have to tell you about his desserts. There is always a personal banana cream pie, strawberry shortcake and citrus cheesecake made with uzu, an Asian citrus, and a brown sugar and graham cracker crust. But then Chef Russell indulges his creativity and comes up with one or two special desserts. The flourless chocolate cake ($9) was fabulous! Served with fresh whipped cream and a few heavenly berries, it was so moist it was like a mousse with a brownie crust.

Naturally, service was polite, gracious and friendly. We even showed up on our waitress’ first day on the job and we couldn’t tell, she was so efficient and lovely.

 JOANNA LINKCHORST is a lifelong resident of La Crescenta. She can be reached at NoTipForYou@aol.com.  JOANNA LINKCHORST is a lifelong resident of La Crescenta. She can be reached at NoTipForYou@aol.com.