Restaurant Food

The Great Plotnik is getting tired of being disappointed with restaurants. Not that the food is ever bad, just that it often isn't all that great. In the past week, Plot and Duck went to Pescheria and Fattoush, both in Snowy Valley, and both were, you know.



Pescheria was chosen (by Plotnik) because prices on Sunday and Monday have now been marked way down. Mush liked her sole and Silent B enjoyed his quail. Plotnik's pasta and beans was only $9 and it wasn't, like, you know, bad. But, really...



...it tasted like it looks. And even for $9, what's there? A few strands of papardelle and four tablespoons of beans? Now, it's fair to ask What Do You Expect When You Order Pasta and Beans? Plotnik's answer is: maybe a little more taste. But an average meal does taste twice as good at half the price.

(Plotnik does not want to think about what he would be writing now if those pasta and beans had come in at $14 or $17.)



The next night, Dave and his daughter Katherine wanted to take the Plotniks out to dinner. Fattoush sounded like a good idea, and it was within walking distance which made it sound even better.



But, geez. Nobody ate their food. The lentil soup was 'way too salty. The meatballs look good, don't they? But they were gamy, with that mutton-y taste that made them impossible to swallow. The rice was good, when you dipped it in the sauce, as long as you didn't touch the meatball.

That's the thing. These are not expensive restaurants, by Saint Plotniko restaurant standards, but even at $13-$17 for entrees a diner deserves excellence. Sure, you can always send the food back and order something else, but who wants to do that, if the only reason you're sending it back is that you don't like it?

(Ooooh...Milano on Russian Hill. Now THAT was exceptional. The Plotniks need to go back there right away.)

Perhaps it's more than price that draws so many people to fast food. It may not be great, but it's cheap and you know what you're going to get. When you go out to dinner at many Saint Plotniko restaurants, you don't know. At the prices they charge, if you don't have a transcendent experience you ought to at least eat something delicious.

One thing is for sure: Plottie would like to finish his dinner at a restaurant feeling as good about it as Mischief did after his 99 cent burger at Carl's Junior.