July 13, 2000

Lunchtime Blues
   by stacy <pfftnet@stacy.pfft.net>

I love living in a metropolitan area. There's lots to do, places to go, and people to meet. Everything I could ever want I can get within a few miles. There are more restaurants per capita here than anywhere else in the US. Unfortunately, that doesn't help too much at lunchtime when everybody in the city is out on the roads and waiting for tables at all the good places.

Yesterday, my coworker and I were in the mood for seafood. We're not yet very familiar with the immediate environment around our office building, so we went to the one seafood place nearby that I knew of, a place called Pappadeaux. It was... a little crowded (at 12:30pm too, which is late around here). For the 2 of us, it was a 20 minute wait for a table, and since we'd already spent 20 minutes driving through side-roads under construction to avoid the very congested freeway, there was no way we could manage that. Well, maybe on a Friday, but not on a Wednesday.

So, we said no thanks, and we headed for another place, a cafeteria-style salad and soup bar. It was also very crowded, and we drove around it a few times looking for a parking place, but at least once we got inside it wasn't hard to get a table. There are benefits to not going someplace with a real waiting-tables staff.

Unfortunately, the lunchtime situation is like this everyday around here. If you go at 11am or after 1pm, you've got a much better chance of getting in and out in a reasonable amount of time, but who wants to eat then? It's either too early and breakfast is still with you, or it's too late and you broke down and invaded the snack machine long ago. It's PFFT-able!

Published: July 13, 2000
Editor: stacy