restaurants

It's all too easy to get tired of restaurant food. Over the past couple of weeks we've had a lot of opportunities to eat out (every single meal, if you count continental breakfasts or a bag of chips from a gas station) and I must say that I'm a lot less enchanted with the idea than I ever have been.

When I was younger it seemed that restaurant food was a delight over which to become delirious. It was savory and unexpected and texturally superior and we didn't have to do dishes afterward. The food was "excellent".

Maybe I changed. Maybe restaurants have changed. In my late teens, they became "good".

This trip has convinced me that my husband and I have to spend at least $50 to get "good" food anymore. Everything else manages to be "fine". Except Chipotle. Oh, my dear, wonderful, Chipotle.

Last night we went to a place that was genuinely "bad". I ordered a Reuben melt. Almost no kraut, the lower slice of bread was soggy and limp despite having been toasted, the corned beef was dry (?!?), the rye bread had no flavor (?!?) and it was nasty. I took a few bites, muscling my way past my disgust because I was hungry, but ended up sending it back.

So now we arrive at my question: since the food was gross but I ate some anyway (less than a third if you count the bland and nasty fries)), should we have accepted the server's offer to take my food off the bill? Man was embarrassed that I would do anything other than say that the food was fine, and just chalk it up as a bad experience. I was grossed out at the idea of eating anything else there, especially after trying a bite of Man's sirloin tips, which didn't taste remarkably different from my corned beef. Man insisted on paying for it, I shrugged, and we'll never eat there again.

So what's the ideal scenario? They have to know that their food is gross or they won't be in business long. One way to strongly communicate that to a business is to not pay them for a reprehensible product. On the other hand, I could have given them a chance to make new food for me, but sampling two plates as well as a small bite of Tag's food convinced me that remaking the food wouldn't help at all. We paid the whole bill and they've lost a large family of customers.

It'll be nice to quit eating out again. We got our things this past Monday but it's in enough disarray that we havn't had time/energy/forethought enough to make that first big shopping trip. Besides, disposable is a better alternative than glop with a chaser of Pepto. Next time I'll make my own Reuben and leave a generous tip for the chef.

(btw, our internet connection is currently borrowed from a kind neighbor with wireless. No, we're not stealing. We'll be back in business later this week, when I'll post pictures and a trip summary.)