Last week I had lunch at a new restaurant in Glendale that was in between my friend’s office and mine. Centrally located, literally seconds off the freeway, my expectations were not particularly high. The restaurant was the old Rusty Pelican and had just been redone. I didn’t have great expectations about the food because the way it was lit outside reminded me of a strip club. Boy was I wrong.
Minx Restaurant ( www.minx-la.com ) opened about a month ago and the food is suprisingly good. One clever thing on the menu are several “bento” box options like what you might see at a Japanese restaurant. These bento boxes though are totally different. (One does have sort of an Asian feeling featuring salmon and sauteed bok choy.) The “boxes” are quadrants featuring a small salad, entree, vegetable or other side of the day and then a mini dessert. The chocolate number that came with the salmon bento box tasted like a wonderful little gourmet chocolate Ding Dong. My bento box was vegetarian and had a mushroom souffle, cup of tomato soup, mini asparagus panini, salad and a small dessert. What a treat – even the salad dressing was good.
So what’s the point? This clever restaurant made something fabulous out of a traditional staple and you can too. Why not serve your own version of a fabulous bento box to guests at your next dinner party? The options are endless and a great way to try lots of different small portions – my favorite way to eat!
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