Restaurant #7: A Long Road Ahead

With Restaurant #5 we finished eating our way down the first street.  You see, we are on a Cuisine Quest to eat at every restaurant in our town, and we started on a one mile street close to home.

The next road we will tackle is two miles long.  It has used car lots, convenience stores, taverns, strip malls, a high school, businesses, apartments, the city police department, and a park.

And 17 restaurants!

Seventeen.  That's a lot.  And only 4 are chains (Domino's Pizza, Subway, Jack in the Box, and Wienerschnitzel).  One is a coffee house, which we will skip, and one is a diner not open in the evening.

11 restaurants to visit.  And here's the worst part:  Five of them are taco shops!

Now I like a good taco shop as much as the next person.  But there are too many!  On our first street, two restaurants were taco shops.  Our first one, we gave one fork up.  Our second one, being more picky, we gave two forks down.

I'm just going to cut to the chase. This taco shop had friendly service, large portions, and happy regular customers. But the beans were not the way we like, and the guacamole was thin, and there was not a soda fountain. For these reasons, two forks down.

I’ll show you the food we had, because it looks yummy, and wasn’t bad.

the flour tortillas are warm and soft to go with my chicken fajitas!

my husband’s beef had the right amount of spice

Somewhere out there is our new favorite taco shop… but in how many restaurants do we have to eat to find it?

Two miles is a long road to eat along. What does your town have too much of?

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Restaurant #6: Friends with Food Restrictions

If you want to cook and take care of your friends with food restrictions, there are many great blogs and recipe books out there.

If you are on a Cuisine Quest to visit every restaurant in your town, and you have a friend with you, how do you handle her food restrictions?

You let her pick the restaurant!

We have finished the restaurants on our first street, so I made my chart of the restaurants on the next street we will tackle.  I gave our friend the list, and she chose the one that seemed to work best for her dietary needs.

Most of the places on our first street were casual restaurants, so it was nice to sit down to a Thai restaurant that has tablecloths and an attentive waitstaff.  This small restaurant, even on a weeknight, was so busy that we had to squeeze into a table on the sidewalk outside.  A busy restaurant is a good sign!

But will they take care of our friend with food restrictions?

Our friend ordered Thai Green Curry with beef, coconut milk, bamboo, peas, carrots, eggplant, and sweet basil.

Her Thai Green Curry is served with rice, and when she ordered and requested vegetables instead of rice, the server was very confused.  It already comes with vegetables, so why would you want more?  Our friend tried again.  Perhaps some cabbage instead of rice?  The server didn’t think the kitchen could do that.

But in the end, it didn’t matter, because her food was “lick-the-plate good!”

My Chicken Fried Rice had a tasty balance of meat and vegetables, and was enough for leftovers.

My husband’s dinner was similar to our friend’s, but with chicken and Thai soy sauce. He liked it!

Would we go back?  Three forks up!  Even without accommodations being made for our friend’s food restrictions, she still would eat there again.

A different person with food restrictions could have made the evening unpleasant.  People who want to can complain about anything.

When at a restaurant, when do you complain?

When you do let things go?

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Restaurant #5: Second Chances

When do you give a restaurant you didn’t like another chance?

Perhaps when there is a new owner.

Maybe if you see the restaurant being remodeled.

Or if you are on a Cuisine Quest of your own, and visiting every single restaurant in your town!

Restaurant #5 is another taco shop.  You’ll remember from a previous post that there are so many taco shops in our town that I wondered how they each could compete and survive. I decided to be very picky to determine the best taco shop for us.

This taco shop has been around for the 20 years we’ve lived on our street.  When we first moved in we were excited to have tacos we could walk to!

How great to be able to send my child to the taco shop to bring home dinner!

But, we didn’t like their beans.  Or their guacamole.  Or their carnitas.  Or their rice.

Tonight, we gave this taco shop a second chance.

The tortillas are soft and warm and yummy! They gave us a huge portion of carnitas.

My husband ordered a adobada burrito, which is pork marinaded in red chili sauce with vegetables. It was good, and enough for leftovers!

All these years later, we still don’t like their beans or guacamole or carnitas or rice.  Nice people, but the food just isn’t for us.

We give it two forks down.  But that is just our opinion.  While we were eating, a steady stream of customers came in the restaurant and through the drive through.  And the customer service was friendly.

My friend Beverly says:  

“This reminds me of what so many of us do with our faith. We walk away because we had a bad experience at a church. We didn’t like the music or the preaching or the greeters were particularly cold one day. Maybe they didn’t keep the building clean enough, code for ‘they let a lot of riff raff in’. Or, maybe they kept the building too clean, which means there were lots of rules and regulations.
If you’re one of those that tried church for awhile and didn’t like a few of the menu items, then give another one a chance. You won’t like every item on the menu, but you’ll find what your soul is craving. And, oh, the deep down belly satisfaction that awaits...it’s oh so good.”

Is there something in your life that could use a second chance?

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Restaurant #4: When to Break a Rule

We shouldn’t have gone to this restaurant.

There are five of them in our county, and one in the county just north of us.  By our own definition, that makes it a chain. If there were only four of them, we would have been fine, but we still went.

So, if our Cuisine Quest is to visit every non-chain restaurant in our town, and the list is very long, why did we waste our time on a restaurant that should have not been on our list?

Soccer.  Or, football.  Depends on where you’re from.

You see, we are soccer fans in America without cable TV.  So, unless we invite ourselves to someone’s house to watch the game, we have to go to a restaurant to watch.

The best restaurant we’ve found that our whole family can watch soccer is a chicken wings chain restaurant the next town over.

That restaurant is the only place I’ve ever eaten wings.  During FIFA World Cup, and during the Summer Olympics, we eat a lot of wings.

That is why I broke our rule and visited a border-line chain restaurant.  I wanted to know what chicken wings were like at other restaurants.

My husband refused to order wings. His salad turned out to be really tasty!

It looks and tastes the same as at our usual wings restaurant. But the bread sticks are amazing!

Would we go again? Yes, for the food. Two forks up. Will we go again? Not during soccer season!

Is it ok to break a rule just because I want to?  There are many reasons for rules.

• Courtesy – open the door for someone with their arms full.

• Law and order – don’t take something that doesn’t belong to you.

• Social behavior – look at the person, not your phone, when they are talking with you.

• Business – If it’s not necessary to ‘reply all’, don’t.

• Health – don’t start smoking.

• Family – ask first before borrowing.

• The Golden Rule – do unto others as you would have them to unto you.

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Fast Food Recycling

You know you eat out. Don’t deny it! Let’s talk fast food recycling!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. This slogan has been around since the 1970’s, and most Americans believe it is a responsible way to live.

But recycling isn’t working.  China used to take 40% of our recycling, but stopped in 2018. Instead, 25% of paper and plastic and metal in the US is ending up buried or burned because it is too contaminated to be worth recycling. Only 9% of all the plastic produced in the past 70 years has been recycled.

We could make laws or new taxes. Instead, let’s focus on what we can do today to reduce our waste in a small area of our lives:  eating out.

Let’s talk about fast food.

On a given day, 36% of Americans eat fast food.  80% of adults eat fast food at least once a week.

You know you’ve eaten out this week…

Next time you eat fast food, take these five steps to reduce your plastic, aluminum and paper waste. (Credit and gratitude goes to my friend Emily for inspiring my change in viewooint.)

1. Bring your own beverage container. 

Drink cups made of waxed paper or Styrofoam cannot be recycled.  The plastic lids and plastic straws also go directly to the landfill.  Any fast food restaurant with a self-serve soda fountain will allow you to use your own drink cup.  Just pay for a large drink and show your drink cup to the teenager taking your money.

Happy fast food teen workers.

It looks delicious. But look at all that plastic that will go straight to the landfill.

2. Condiments use a lot of plastic that cannot be recycled.

If you’re eating Mexican and there is a salsa bar, bring your own small container that you use, clean when you get home, then again.  The same goes for pump ketchup. 

If the restaurant has individual ketchup or salad dressings packets that will end up in the landfill, bring some ketchup or dressing from home in your reusable container.  I know that sounds hard core, but think of the millions of plastic ketchup packets that get thrown away every single day.

Instead of snacks, use these containers to bring your own ketchup or salad dressing.

3. You can’t bring your own container to have a salad made.

Salads are typically made in advance and stored in individual plastic containers, which cannot be recycled.  You can choose to eat at fast food restaurants that put their salads in paper bowls with aluminum lids.  You will have to bring the aluminum lid home to wash and put in your own recycling, because dirty aluminum in the restaurant trash will not be recycled.

Delicious and better for the environment! I’ve only found paper bowls for salads at Chipotle and Rubio’s. Rubio’s uses a plastic lid, however. That means Chipotle wins with it’s paper bowl and aluminum lid.

4. Plastic forks.

You can buy a set of camping silverware that you bring and wash after each use.  If you are stuck using plastic silverware, at least bring it home, toss it in your dishwasher, and use it over and over.

Just don’t forget it’s in your purse when you head to the airport…

5. Paper is the most challenging.

Paper receipts and the waxed paper that holds sandwiches cannot be recycled. You have no choice but to throw them into the landfill. Paper boxes or bags or plates or napkins with food and grease stains cannot be recycled either.  What should you do with your dirty paper trash?  Right now your best option is to take it with you the next time you go to a bonfire.

Yes, my marshmallow is on fire. I like it that way!

You may look silly bringing your own containers.  You may feel odd bringing your paper trash or aluminum recycling or plastic fork home with you.

Make this a habit, and two things will happen.  Other people will see and perhaps decide to join in your efforts to reduce waste.  And two, by reducing your contribution to landfills, you can eat fast food guilt free!

Almost…

You should join Toastmasters

Toastmasters is a club that guides members to improve their public speaking. Here I am giving this blog posting as a speech, pretending I’m doing an editorial newscast. I’m not perfect, but I am improving!

(If you are already a Toastmaster, do you hear the Word of the Day that I say in the first few sentences of my speech?)

Word of the Day = ubiquitous. Existing or being everywhere (adjective).

Are you hungry yet? What steps will you reasonably take to cut back on your waste when you eat fast food?

(Or did I mean ‘waist’?)

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Restaurant #3: How Do You Eat An Elephant?

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

How do you break a bad habit?

One day at a time.

How do you eat at every restaurant in your town?

One street at a time.

Some things in life are overwhelming.  School, work, family, finances.  How do you handle it?

1. Step back

2. Take a deep breath

3. Break down the situation into small parts that you can tackle one at a time.

For our Cuisine Quest to eat at every restaurant in our town, I was feeling overwhelmed, until I looked at the small picture.  I looked at one street.

This one-mile-long stretch has strip malls, auto repair shops, a church, apartments, businesses, and 12 restaurants!

There are chain restaurants: El Torrito, Starbucks, Subway, El Pollo Loco, and Yum Yum Donuts.  That’s 5 restaurants we can skip.

There is one catering place that is open for lunch, and one pancake house that isn’t open for dinner.  That’s 2 restaurants we can skip.

That leaves 5 more restaurants that we are supposed to eat at.  Restaurant #1 and #2 are on this street, so we already checked them off the list.

Only 3 restaurants left!  That is very manageable!

Restaurant #3 is a “pizza and grill”.  It seems to be mostly for takeout, but they do have a nice small dining area in front of the order counter, with tablecloths and a TV to watch the game.

I assumed they would basically have pizza and a few sides.  But they have an extensive menu of sandwiches, pastas, salads, and sides.  It was hard to choose, so we went with their recommendations.

A simple salad came with the dinner.

The garlic bread was also included, and perfectly tender and had good flavor.

The chef recommended his cheese steak. The photo isn’t attractive, but in my husband’s expert opinion, the sandwich was tasty!

Would we come back again?  We have to, so we can try their pizza!  But, even though the dining area was pleasant, we would probably get it to go. Two forks up!

When you feel overwhelmed, how do you break a big situation into small steps?

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Restaurant #2: Too Much Competition

Look at all the lovely, identical snakes for sale at the pet store! How can I choose?

How do you stand out in a crowded field?

Our town has a taco shop on nearly every street. How can they all stay in business?

Our Cuisine Quest to eat at every restaurant in our town took us to a taco shop we had never been to before.  My husband was excited that they had posole.  Posole is a soup with hominy and meat, often served with tortillas, cilantro, radishes, avocado slices, cabbage, or onions.

Not many taco shops have red posole! You can see how difficult it is to make here.

I ordered a carnitas plate, which is pork served with items to eat separately, or together in a tortilla.

The pork carnitas were delicious, not too fatty, and enough for leftovers.

Again, my question is, how do you stand out in a crowd?

Personal attention.  For this restaurant, the lady at the counter seemed to know everyone who came in.  These individuals and families come again and again because they know someone will show that they are happy to see them!

Would we come back again?  For me, since there are so many taco shops in my town, I will be more picky.  I want a place with Coke products.  And, I prefer my guacamole to be more chunky.  Yes, those are little things, and with this restaurant being so friendly I am uncomfortable saying this, but I would go elsewhere.

My husband will be back again for that posole!  Unless the next taco shop has posole that is just as good….One fork up.

How do you stand out in a crowded field?

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Restaurant #1: A Pleasant Surprise

We don’t have a map or a chart or a plan yet.  How will we dine at every restaurant in our town?

Although I am a planner, it was dinnertime and we decided to just jump into our cuisine quest at a nearby restaurant we had never tried before.

Tucked in a strip mall between a UPS store and vitamin market, this “Indian & Nepalese Food” restaurant used to be a Hawaiian shaved ice counter.  So, that is what we expected, just with more curry.

We can still get delicious Hawaiian shaved ice, but we have to drive a lot further.

I did not expect this new restaurant to have a fancy interior, with intimate lighting and red and gold accents.  I did not expect cloth napkins.  I did not expect the place to be triple the size of the previous shaved ice restaurant.

Lentil soup for everyone.

Homestyle Nepalese entrees.  Classic Indian dishes.  Great service.  Delicious, if a bit spicy, food.  Large quantities.

I should have written down what these dishes are called. Chicken with vegetables in a sauce. Served with naan bread or steamed rice. Yummy!

The best part, live performances!

Would we return?  Two forks up!

Are there any restaurants in your town that have been completely transformed (for the better, or for the worse)?

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The Restaurant Rut

The Cuisine Quest begins......

My husband and I are in a restaurant rut.  We are trapped in a if/then feedback loop.

• If we want tacos, then we go to Rubios Fish Tacos.

• If we want salad, then we go to Souplantation.

• If we want a burger, then we go to Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

We do have our favorite independent restaurants.  But they are also part of the rut.

It’s time to make a change!

But how?  What will keep us from falling back into old habits?

We will eat once at every single restaurant in town!

Our suburban city is 9 square miles of rolling hills, population 57,100.  Two interstate freeway traverse the city, with one high school, one large shopping mall, many strip malls, an older revitalized downtown, 12 parks, a civic center, and an active parks and rec program.

How do we find all the restaurants in our town?  Our town borders other towns seamlessly, so that most residents don’t know where one city ends and the next one starts.

In the old days, I would have simply looked in the restaurant section of the Yellow Pages.  Every restaurant would have been listed by city.  Easy!  But what about now?

Restaurants are businesses.  So, each would have a business license on file with the city.  According to our city website, I could get a list of all the restaurants with business licence for 50 cents each.  So, if there are 100 restaurants, that would cost me $50.  No, thank you!

Google Maps has a search function.  I type in my city, then click NEARBY, then Restaurants.  It gives me 20 restaurants at a time, with a short description, and pins them on the map.  Total number of restaurants – 141!  But wait; some of those are nearby, and not in my town. I’ll have to cross check with the actual address.  Very tedious.

It turns out that the Yellow Pages has developed a partnership with Yelp, the online crowd-sourced reviews about local businesses.  In the search boxes, I can only find restaurants near my city, not only in my city.  But with Yelp, the address is in the search results, so I can easily pick out the correct restaurants.  At the top right, Yelp writes “Showing 1-10 of 1458”.  There cannot possibly be 1458 restaurants in my city! Or even near my city.

How do we refine our restaurant list?

A lot of chain restaurants are on the Google Maps and Yelp list.  For our quest, we will ignore chain restaurants.  But when is a restaurant a chain?  Here is a good discussion about what makes a restaurant a chain.  For our purposes, if there are 5 or more of the same restaurant, we will not count it.

What about bars and pubs?  I’m not interested in hanging out at some dingy bar that happens to serve tater tots.  Not that there are any dingy bars in my town.  But, just in case, we will not include anyplace that is only over 21.

And coffee shops?  I would not count Starbucks as a restaurant, but we have several independent coffee shops with breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus.  If the coffee shop has made to order items, not just reheat the stuff in the display case, then we will count it.

How do we rate the restaurants we visit?

We are going to be simple here.  Would we return?  Forks up, or forks down.

How do we keep track of the restaurants we have visited, and have yet to visit?

We are map people.  We are chart and list lovers.  Stay tuned for details on how we corral that Yelp and Google Maps list into something manageable.

Any advice?

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