Picasso's Cafe

In the city of Irwindale, the majority of the restaurant choices are geared towards fast food places. While there are some sit down restaurants around, the majority of them are too casual or too "divey" to take a business associate you may want to impress for lunch during the work week.

The best alternative available is Picasso's Cafe & Bakery, which is located in a business park off the 210 freeway. When you enter the cafe, you'll notice right away that it's pretty slick looking with their eye-catching black, white and red color scheme from floor to ceiling. On the walls are framed prints of paintings by you guessed it, Picasso. Open only during the week from 7 am to 2:30 pm, you'll rarely see a lull at this busy cafe, which also serves as a caterer for many of the local businesses.

As you line up to place your order at the counter, to the left is a small section where you can purchase wine and other gourmet food items and to the right, you'll always see examples of the three specials they switch it out every day: a pasta special, a sandwich special and a salad special.

Those three specials are basically the bulk of their lunch menu. There's a large sandwich section that includes everything from deli sandwiches to wraps to panini sandwiches, etc. Their pasta section is made up of dishes like homemade lasagna, fettuccine Alfredo and spaghetti with marinara sauce while the salad section lists such items as Chinese Chicken Salad, Caesar Salad and Antipasto Salad.

They also serve breakfast and with Picasso's also being a bakery, in the morning, you can choose from muffins, bagels, croissants and around lunch time, you'll see a variety of different desserts from cakes to pies to cupcakes on display.

Once you've placed and paid for your order at the counter, you get a little metal stand with a number that you take with you to your table and one of the wait staff will bring you your food when it's ready.

I've eaten at Picasso's a few times over the past 11 years and they've even catered lunches at the company I used to work for. I do have my favorites, which include their Mario's Chopped Salad, Chinese Chicken Salad, their Turkey and Provolone on Squaw Bread and their Southwestern Chicken Wrap.

What I like about the food is that the ingredients are always fresh and their portions are amazing. Most of the time, I end up eating only half of what I order and taking the other half for dinner or lunch the next day. You definitely get your money's worth. I also really like their baked goods. They just have a really good selection and there's something for everyone. When I've gone for their lunch, I usually try not to look in their cases because their desserts always look so good and it's hard to resist not getting one (or two).

Overall, Picasso's is a great lunch spot. For the most part, the service is quick. The food is pretty good and you have something to look forward other than the next burger.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600459027968/

Picasso's Cafe
6070 N Irwindale Ave #A-D
Irwindale, CA 91706
(626) 969-6100
http://www.picassoscafe.com/

Chang Thai Cuisine

Only open for a few months, I decided to check out Chang Thai Cuisine for lunch one day. Not wanting anything too heavy, I ordered a honeydew slush with boba, noodle soup (unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the soup) and some egg rolls.

The honeydew slush was nice and refreshing and almost quite filling in itself. By the end of the meal, I finished it to the last drop. Out came a complimentary bowl of soup that apparently comes with every meal. I didn't even know why they bothered, it was really bland. Besides, I was looking forward to the soup I ordered.

The egg rolls came next and while I appreciated the fact that they didn't skimp on the fillings, I found the egg rolls dry. The sauce that came with the egg rolls provided the only moisture. Without the sauce, after taking a bite or two of the egg roll by itself, I normally needed a sip of water or my honeydew slush to wash it down.

Finally, my soup came and it looked and smelled good. All the ingredients tasted really fresh. The broth was nice and clear and with no hint of oiliness. At first, I enjoyed the mild flavors of the soup as is, but eventually needed to add some chili to punch it up more because it started tasting a bit bland. Overall, it was a good tasting soup but what bugged me about it was the noodles.

The noodles were flat and square tipped and they were difficult to eat either with a fork or chopsticks. They kept slipping off both utensils. Eating soup should be an easy pleasant experience and not a battle of wits with the noodles. After awhile, the noodles won and I surrendered. They just didn't want to be eaten so for the most part I concentrated on the broth and everything else that came with the soup like the shrimp, fish cake, veggies and ground pork.

In general, I liked my meal there, but I think I'll have to go back and try other items before I can give this restaurant a complete thumbs up!

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600130506738/

Chang Thai Cuisine
15622 Arrow Highway
Irwindale, CA 91706
(626) 338-1378

Xa Vietnamese Grill - CLOSED

Imagine my very pleasant surprise when I was going out to lunch one day to see a Vietnamese restaurant that was going to be opening really soon just around the corner from my job. With eager anticipation, I'd drive by a couple of times a week to see if their doors were open yet and one day, they were. :)

Their menu is limited for now, but they had the two things that was of definite interest to me, Pho and Banh Mi. Yaay! So for my lunch there, I started with their Shrimp & Pork Spring Rolls. I liked the fact that the ingredients tasted very fresh and they certainly didn't skimp on the filling that's for sure. I only wish that there was less noodles and a little more veggies and while I liked the shrimp, I thought the pork tasted a little bland.

Since I was craving Banh Mi, I ordered their Grilled Beef Banh Mi. While the dough isn't made there, they bake the bread there and so the baguette was nice and warm when it came to me. I thought the bread was good. I would have liked it to be a bit more crusty, but it was soft and warm where it should be. The grilled beef was excellent. It had great flavor. Again, the veggies were fresh and I loved the addition of cucumber spears. The cucumber added a nice light, crunchy moisture to the sandwich that was really appealing.

While I was waiting for my meat pie, which they were baking, I had their flan. Wow. That flan was one of the best flans I ever had. It was light, delicately sweet and there was a flavor that was familiar, but I couldn't identify until the owner mentioned that the flan had almond flavoring. A great summer dessert.

Soon after my meat pie arrived and it looked gorgeous. It was a nice golden color and cutting into it with my fork, I found it wonderfully flaky. The pork filling was moist and flavorful. My one complaint was that there was something a tad salty about either the pastry or the filling. I couldn't quite tell.

Overall, I really enjoyed my meal at Xa and am looking forward to trying their Pho next.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600066295578/

Xa Vietnamese Grill
15652 Arrow Highway
Irwindale, CA 91706
(626) 338-0192