BLISS at the Bliss Cafe

After that simply dreadful meal at Green Street, the Fat Man was most annoyed. His eye was wide with jaundice, his mind full of culinary suspicion and distrust. He perceived this must have been the sort of emotion his associates with "investments' were having at the moment regarding their beloved "market".

The lovely Jeanette, she of sweet enthusiasm, attempted to sooth He of the Quad x Coat, by suggesting that several of her work associates had said there was a new Cafe on Washington that was excellent. The Fat Man was dubious. While he knew Jeanette's work mates gave excellent medical care, he had never actually dined with them. For all he knew, they thought McDonnald's or worse yet, I HOP were excellent places to eat. There are such people, He of Tripple Chins has even met them on occasion. Frightening.

Bliss Cafe? Oh come on! That's got to be beyond the over statement of the decade. What? the joint is a Hooka bar too? That Traveler Nurse from Minnesota thinks its the best Armenian food she has ever had?ROFLOL!!! Dear, PLEASE give a guy a break will ya?

Then Susan and Roberto Quintanna mentioned at a SLICK alumni event how wonderful the Bliss Cafe right near them was. Hmmmmmm Roberto has high standards when it comes to Fish Tacos and all other forms of sea food, and the Roberto Burger Special over at SLICK was one of the best burger's the chubby one has ever delighted his taste buds with. Well,
M A Y B E, Dear......

We were hanging around the house, all the Christmas shopping done, all the house plans turned into various evil building departments for their unwanted exclusion of whatever Art was represented in the various projects, so, it was go to an early dinner with the lovely Jeanette, or do yard work. The food would have to be pretty bad to make yard work the better option, but after the whole eternity of blandness at Green Street a couple days before, I actually thought about it for a second and realized I'd never had any terrible or boring Armenian food, so even if the joint was just average, it was better than yard work. Much better.

Josephine, the '38 Buick was still angry with me over a little pop the clutch incident that broke off the extension on her starter, and she was in no mood to be driven. I couldn't remember where, in my vast work room I had placed her hand crank, and it was too cold to crank up that straight eight, anyhow, so it was off to Washington Blvd. in Goldie the P.T Cruiser, to an area that had been Altadena before the Evil Empire of Pasadena hostily annexed it a few decades ago.
Jeanette drove. She kept telling me how happy I was about to be, generally, if a bed is not involved, a cause for forbodding.

We parked in the back parking lot and walked through the long back hall to the dinning room. The Kitchen door was open. The Fat Man stuck first his curious head and then his upper torso through the doorway. The kitchen was clean. All of the supplies were neatly placed in order. There were no Latinos of questionable paperwork in the kitchen, just two middle aged Armenian men. Hmmmmmm. The Fat Man had hope as Jeanette tugged him out of the doorway and down the rest of the hall to a table. One of the Armenian men from the Kitchen arrived at our table and presented us with menus.

Our Cook/Waiter took our drink order, in this case we each had a delightful fragrant fruity warm tea, and when he arrived with our tea, we ordered and almost instantly, our chef/Waiter arrived back with hummus, Pita Chips, Pita Bread and a delightful cabbage salad in a light vinagrette. The Fat Man was taking in the interior, in the main very spare, painted a warm soothing brown, nice tables, mass produced but still better than a poster, oil paintings of crowds mingling on a street in a faintly fauvist style. Very nice. Comfortable, not silly, not vulgar, cheap or "Oh my God where did the budget go? a very nice understated dining room. There was a nice view out to a exterior dining area where a man was eating amid palms under a canopy and the traffic beyond.

Jeanette ordered Chicken Kabobs, the Multiple Chinned One ordered Beef Kabobs. These were each served on a excellent slightly nutty flavored Rice Pilaf bed. The Beef Kabob had been marinated and was cooked so that just the very edges of the meat where it had been cubed were charred and everything else was a succulent, perfectly textured, slightly garlic informed chunk of the beats beef the fat One has had since Monty's regreatably shuttered its Pasadena doors. Perfection. He of double chins heard food Putti singing and cavorting in his ears as the little angels danced about his tatse buds carrying bits of perfection from bud to bud engaging them in these heavenly moments! As close to bliss as one can get with ones clothing on. Jeanette and I traded a hunk of beef for a hunk of Chicken and the chicken was just as excellent as the beef. WOWSER!!! Susan and Roberto's approval was studied understatement.

Even better, our Kabobs were slightly less than nine bucks each. Yeah, it's practically stealing.

The place deserves its name. I have to go now, I'm going to try the fourteen dollar Lamb Chops!

Oh, Yeah, they serve coffee, Pastry, and also have a Hooka Bar, and I can testify that the Neopolitian is as good as the Beef Kabob, so I'd venture the coffee ain't bad.

Bliss Cafe
Washington Blvd
Pasadena
626 797 2547

Closed monday.