ix tapa owner, Jack Huang, profiled in the recent Food & Wine Edition of Pasadena Magazine:
EXPANDING EMPIRE
With three new restaurants, Jack Huang is transforming Colorado Boulevard
Story by Janeen Christoff
Photos by Orly Olivier
How is it that a Chinese aerospace engineer from Taiwan came to host Michael Jackson’s burial reception at his Italian villa-style restaurant? Simple: a passion for good food.
Jack Huang, entrepreneur and restaurateur, lives by a simple mantra: eat, drink, play, and have fun.
While he may have started a career in aerospace, restaurants are in his blood.
“I grew up working in restaurants,” says Huang, sitting in his trendy Italian restaurant, Villa SORRISO. “They are in my family.”
Villa SORRISO, Huang’s largest restaurant, is situated at the “entrance” to Old Town Pasadena, at the corner of Pasadena Avenue and Colorado Boulevard.
“Some people used to call this the end, but now everyone thinks of it as the beginning,” says Huang.
The Mediterranean-style villa offers Old World charm with its crackling fire pit, landscaped courtyard and airy dining rooms, the menu is filled with classic Italian favorites, as well as seafood, steaks, chops, and more. Guests can make a night of it, starting with cocktails in the martini bar and lounge and finishing the evening with live music, dancing, and DJs in the privacy of a patio cabana.
Before deciding to open his own restaurant, Huang honed his management skills with Panda Management Company, owners of Panda Inn and Panda Express, for two years, running its workers’ compensation program. Then he and his wife, Karen, had the idea for Wok ’n’ Roll Sushi, and, for nearly eleven years, it was a successful, fun-loving, fusion sushi restaurant where diners could pay homage to their favorite musicians by eating rolls named after music icons including Elvis Presley and Bob Marley. Eighties music blared from the speakers, and there was excitement in the air.
It’s this excitement that spurs Huang to create the next big thing and to tackle the next challenge.
“I am competitive, and I like to provide food in an innovative concept,” says Huang.
With Villa SORRISO, Huang offers a unique take on the supper club, combining a restaurant and bar with a clublike atmosphere. Areas of the restaurant, like the Zebra Lounge and the patio cabanas, offer dining opportunities unlike anywhere else in Pasadena.
“It’s unique,” says Huang. “Every room offers a different feel.”
However, he’s careful to note that, ultimately, it’s all about the food.
“We are a restaurant first,” says Huang. “People are going to love our food.”
This atmosphere carries through to the development of Bar Celona, Huang’s next venture after Villa SORRISO.
Bar Celona opened in SORRISO’s first space, at 46 East Colorado Boulevard. The restaurant is a stylized take on a Modern Spanish tapas bar. Diners can try tapas (small plates) and paella or sip sangria while enjoying flamenco music. The restaurant features patio dining, an exhibition kitchen, live music, and a late-night lounge.
This year Huang has faced a different challenge: the opening of his newest restaurant venture, ix-tapa Cantina, during an economic downturn.
“I am very fortunate,” says Huang. “Pasadena has been very good to me. We are about to own three of the largest restaurants on Colorado Boulevard. We are creating 250 jobs and are looking for opportunities to expand while other places are going out of business.”
With ix-tapa Cantina, as with everything he does, Huang has taken a hands-on approach, including choosing the name of the restaurant and hand picking lighting fixtures with architect and designer Sat Garg. The 7,500-square-foot location, at Arroyo Parkway and Colorado Boulevard, will combine a restaurant, sports bar, and club with Mexican cuisine. “I always want to have that fun factor, and this restaurant feels like a beach resort, which fits into the theme we wanted to carry out,” says Huang.
Now that ix-tapa Cantina is opening soon, Huang is close lipped about what he has in mind for his next venture. However, when you ask him, you can see the wheels churning as he gets a playful look in his eye. It’s sure to be somewhere where people can eat, drink, play, and have fun.
Villa SORRISO, 168 W Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 793-8008.
Bar Celona, 46 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 405-1000.
ix-tapa Cantina, 119 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, (626)304-9955
For questions or press inquiries, please contact Dan Cox
DAN COX for public relations
Just a few short days ago, we began this "Opening Celebration Blog" with ALMOST EIGHT HUNDRED PEOPLE responding to our first daily give away with the words "I WANT TO GO TO MEXICO!" If you are here to WIN A FREE VACATION TO THE MEXICAN RESORT TOWN OF IX TAPA, please stay tuned....you have until Friday, December 11 to enter as many times as you can win a daily contest with this blog or with one of our partners, such as Urban Daddy, Thrillist, Brent's Pasadena Mixers, FaceBook and Twitter (@ixtapaPASADENA). Tuesday is our OPENING CELEBRATION and we hope that you will join us! Sadly, here is your last opportunity to join us tomorrow. (Remember, however, we will continue with daily prizes, random drawings, and chances to win dinners and THE FREE TRIP TO IX TAPA until Friday, Dec 11!! Sooo, check back and play along! The prizes will get BIGGER AND BETTER every. single. day!!)
Saturday's Winner of "Ain't No Turkey In Ix Tapa"? Samantha P!
CONGRATULATIONS to today's Winner, Cherry D!! 
Wednesday kicked off the opening celebration for ix tapa, with the daily informational email URBAN DADDY offering its readers a chance to win VIP INVITES for the ix tapa Grand Opening Party, as well as a chance to win the FREE VACATION TRIP TO IX TAPA, MEXICO!
The first daily prizes go to THE FIRST TO RESPOND to this post!
