Angela's Bistro

I had lunch this week at Angela's Bistro, which has been open for a month in the former Organica/Bread Affair/Rosemary space on Wilson between Brand and Maryland. The people who had owned Rosemary for the last year or so were staggeringly incompetent--they could turn a transaction as simple as ordering a small drip coffee into a grueling, 15 minute ordeal that played like something out of an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm".

So when I saw the new "Angela's Bistro" sign I was worried that the owners of Rosemary had just changed the name of their hopeless business, but happily they have sold the business entirely and are no longer involved. Yay! The new owner, Angela (obviously), has done away with the old menu of unappealing and absurdly overpriced faux-health food and started from scratch with an appealingly simple sandwich and breakfast menu.

I had the smoked turkey with swiss ($4.50), served with chips and a pickle. The turkey was smoky and fresh, the slice of swiss generous, the roll perfectly toasted, and served with just the right amount of mayo and dijon mustard. Thank god for the dijon mustard, which is not a given at this price point. I know this isn't rocket science, it's a turkey sandwich, but it was pretty close to my platonic ideal of what a turkey sandwich should be.

Angela's is a welcome addition to the downtown lunch scene, and a pretty amazing value for the quality of the food. I will definitely be making it a regular part of my lunch rotation. Between Angela's and the excellent paninis at La Belle Cafe (at Broadway/Maryland), downtown Glendale is now blessed with two great sandwich shops.