Claud Beltran loves what he does.
“I was always into food and eating and decided I would take a chance at the chef business,” said Chef Beltran.
That chance seems to have paid off.
Beltran now owns two Pasadena restaurants—Eatery on Allen at the corner of Villa Street and Allen Avenue and Bacchus’ Kitchen at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Hill Avenue—and a catering company called Claud & Co.
Claud didn’t start off in the chef business, but his San Marino years influenced his eventual career path.
“I was very mechanical and had race cars and different things,” he said. Beltran recalled working for his neighbors across Chaucer Avenue, who owned an x-ray company, while he was in high school.
He would build the x-ray equipment, he explained, and later did similar mechanical work for an aerospace company while he was a student at Pasadena City College.
It was at this time he took a chance at the chef business. He enrolled in the culinary program at UCLA Extension, a program which no longer exists.
“That gave me enough information to try to get a job in the food world,” Beltran said. “And I persisted until I got a job with someone who at the time was the top chef in Los Angeles, now he’s probably the top chef in the world, Thomas Keller.”
Beltran worked with Keller for five years in the 90s.
“I was able to pack a lifetime’s worth of training and experience into five years,” he said of the experience.
In the intervening time between his apprenticeship with Keller and the opening of the Eatery on Allen three years ago, Beltran has served as the executive chef for numerous restaurants.
After nearly 30 years of culinary experience in the Los Angeles area, he said he remains motivated.
“I love what I do. I have a really great time. I work with great young people, who are enthusiastic and want to be here and learn and progress,” he said very simply. “Every day we get to make people happy. At the end of the day that’s the motivation.”
Beltran’s goal, he explained, is for his patrons to “have a good experience and a little two-hour vacation from their problems and enjoy food and talk to each other.”
Sitting in Bacchus’ Kitchen, which Beltran opened a year-and-a-half ago, San Marino resident Vivian Chan said, “He’s a very giving chef.”
“Giving a lot of good food and a lot of good heart,” she continued, noting Beltran’s charitable work. Chan was at last week’s San Marino Griffins Lions Club meeting, which was hosted at Bacchus’ Kitchen.
Beltran has been involved in various charities in Pasadena and the greater San Gabriel Valley, including the American Cancer Society, Hathaway Sycamores, Professional Child Development Associates Pasadena, Five Acres and others.
“We are happy to give back how we can by using our culinary skills,” Beltran said.
He’s also donated restaurant certificates to San Marino High School’s Titan Golf Classic and PTA parent parties in San Marino, a fine sign that Beltran hasn’t forgotten about his roots.
“I still talk to and hang out with the people that I went to high school with,” the 1982 graduate of San Marino High School said, remembering his days as a Titan fondly. “I ended up catering my 30th [high school] reunion, which was very exciting,” he added.
Eatery on Allen and Bacchus’s Kitchen are open from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. For a full menu of each restaurant, visit www.eateryonallen.com or www.bacchuskitchen.com.
