Old Town Pasadena is one of the hot spots of Southern California, Old Town is crammed with posh restaurants and chic boutiques, it has it all!  Which is why it isn’t surprising that it is home to one of the very few authentic Spanish restaurants in So Cal...La Luna Negra.    The Black Moon (in English) features genuine Spanish cooking from all regions of Spain—Basque, Catalonian, Andalucian, etc.  The place is crowded with people even spilling into the street waiting for tables.  On Fridays and Saturdays a live flamenco show entertains dinners.  The restaurant’s atmosphere is buzzing and you can almost feel electricity in the air.  Definitely adding to La Luna Negra’s popularity is its decor; the walls are painted with warm shades of sage green, mellow orange, blue, red and soft lights twinkle from the lights wrapped around exposed overhead ceiling beams.  People don’t just go to La Luna Negra; they are drawn to it.

La Luna Negra is the place to go if you’re looking for real Spanish cuisine.  On the menu range a large variety of cold and hot tapas (appetizers), paellas (rice dishes), and cenas (dinners).  GEO members are encouraged to order food that, in normal circumstances, might be just a tad bit too eccentric for their tastes.  What most people don’t know about Spanish cooking is that the Spanish eat a lot of seafood!  A good number of the dishes at La Luna Negra include clams, muscles, calamari, and anchovies.  Those intimidated by the foreign sounding dishes order the safer sounding dishes of beef, pork, and chicken.  All the food is finely seasoned and full of flavor.  The traditional dish for Spain is paella and depending on what kind of paella you order, it could be made of only chicken w/rice, or only beef w/rice, or (for the more daring) full of the works!  Paella Valenciana has chicken, chorizo, and seafood mixed into a mixture of rice sautéed in a creamy sauce.  The average person will spend $20 here no matter what.

            Good food, unique decor, a great atmosphere is not all La Luna Negra has to offer...it also features live flamenco dancers!  These dancers come around 8 PM or so for a 20 minute show.  It is definitely worth it to see these people perform.  For people that have never seen live flamenco dancers, La Luna Negra is a place that can fix that.  The flamenco dancers get the crowd involved by having the dinners clap time for them as they stomp and twirl to the beat.  They also invite the spectators to try flamenco for themselves and everyone shouts their encouragement for the brave few that do try it out.

            When GEO was looking for a new and fresh restaurant to go to, finding La Luna Negra was like striking a gold mine.  Without a doubt this place has it all; delicious food, atmosphere, entertainment, a reasonable price, and not to mention being located in Old Town Pasadena amidst all the action Old Town has to offer.