Pink light special

If it’s lunch and it’s Thursday, it must be Chinese food. Mint’s has just the fare for workers ground down by the system and the bland uniformity that’s become the most important meal of the day. No, not breakfast. Mint’s calls its food “Eur-Asian,” and that’s good enough. There’s more than one way to decorate a strip-mall space in sexy Rancho Cordova; Mint’s is the right one. Cute little pink lights. Touch of the old bamboo. We’re in business. Never been? Try the combination plate—seven bucks buys any three of 12 ingredients. Mine: chicken chow mein, kung pao chicken, and tangy prawns with walnuts. My prawns were surprisingly good. The VIP (the person paying for the lunch) picked something off the dinner menu: grapefruit salad. Tangy, not a speck of protein in it. We capped it with the best fried banana in town. Touché.