Restaurants in San Dimas

Chefs at La Cocina pick fresh ingredients sourced from the surrounding area to build Mexican and Cuban plates as colorful as the eatery's bright orange walls or a firework-filled piñata. After rounds of fresh ceviche or ham croquetas, rustic wooden tabletops fill with made-to-order rice dishes such as the palomilla empanizada—thin-pounded top sirloin steak breaded and pan-fried—or stone mortars known as molcajete filled with chorizo or seafood and fresh cheese. For dessert, chefs hand-craft creamy flan or natural shakes made with mango or tropical mamey fruit. A tiled chair rail runs along the restaurant's tangerine walls, which are studded with Mexican-style art and framed photographs of famous burritos that have visited the restaurant.

Since 1992, Potato Corner has fascinated international crowds with its wholly customizable menu of crispy french fries, though franchises only broke ground in America during February of 2010. The new U.S. shops cropped up in places with lots of foot traffic, entrancing people with the scent of fresh-fried potatoes in malls, airports, theme parks, and at marathon starting lines. Potato Corner’s straight-, loopy-, and criss-cut fries come unadorned in their lightly salted glory, or they can be tossed in gourmet flavorings such as barbecue, cheddar, chili, and sour cream and onion. The shop has also expanded its repertoire to include baked potatoes, chicken tenders, and a butler who tucks cloth napkins into collars in order to sate customers in search of a full meal.

Since its modest beginnings as a three-table Arcadia eatery, Starlight Express Chinese Food has expanded into an Old Town Monrovia venue packed with a large dining area, a steam table of quick-serve Chinese favorites, and an array of cooked-to-order specialties. Inside the kitchen, chefs prepare shrimp with black-bean sauce alongside plates of spicy kung pao scallops and sweet-and-sour chicken. The chefs' healthier steamed-veggie dishes fill niches in low-sodium diets. Blue pendant lamps light dining-room tables, and red paper fans and framed Chinese characters adorn the walls, with translations meaning "luck," "dragon," and "remember to buy eggs."

Los Tacos founder Fidel Leos mined his experience as a maitre d’ and memories of his childhood south of the border to design Los Taco’s menu of authentic Mexican fare. Fillings such as shredded beef and fresh red snapper stuff the restaurant’s namesake tacos, and chefs also sling specialty steak dishes such as grill-kissed carne asada and lightly breaded milanesa onto waiting plates. Early birds dig into Mexican breakfasts such as chilaquiles and huevos rancheros, and meat-free forks can excavate a variety of vegetarian fare.

Soumarelo’s owners are passionate about Mediterranean food, and have an unquenchable thirst for culinary knowledge. So they travel regularly to taste new foods and ingredients and learn new recipes and techniques that they bring back to their customers. With this wealth of knowledge, their chefs create plates of rice with chicken cut fresh from the rotisserie, lamb shish kebobs, and still sizzling falafels, all enhanced with the creamy dollops of hummus and a cucumber yogurt spread. Appetizers include fluffy pits with traditional dips such as hummus, muhamara (walnut paste), and mutabel (eggplant dip), and salads that offer more global tastes, such as Greek salad, Armenian salad, and Oleev-Ya, Russian potato salad.

Craig Gandolph entered the deli business on Long Island, making the sandwiches he’d always eaten growing up in New York. When love floated him to Salt Lake City, he missed the flavor of his hometown. So he opened the first Gandolfo’s New York Delicatessen and named his sandwiches after the Big Apple locales that he missed. Today, his little sandwich shop has grown to encompass dozens of franchises across the States, slinging sandwiches from both brick-and-mortar joints and gridlocked food trucks.

At the Pasadena location, a bold palette of red and black stretches from floor to ceiling. A strip of crimson marks the sandwich bar, where bread stackers display their handiwork. A flat-screen television flickers overhead, entertaining diners tired of starting conversations with brick walls.