Do You Fantasize About Food?

I met my grandparents for dinner tonight. The conversation, it was great. It had been too long since I'd seen them. The food, I should have skipped. We met at a 'BBQ Franchise' restaurant close to work.

We started out with drinks. The waiter tells me 'of course' when I asked if their tea was fresh brewed. On that note it's tea for me and coffee for my grandparents. Always coffee. There's been a Bunn coffeepot in the same place in their kitchen since I can remember, brewing a pot of Folger's in under 3 minutes.

When my tea arrived with a bitter over-brewed flavor. Had they brewed it a few days earlier? It tasted like instant fountain tea to me. The waiter said the coffee would be a few minutes, he was brewing a new pot. I was at least pleased to see that they were making fresh coffee, even if it was probably ground months (or years) ago!

After coffee arrived, I ordered a cheeseburger and fries. My reasons were simple. The menu said I could choose my jack or cheddar cheese. I was thinking to myself that choice of cheese is always good. I just hate it when you get American on your burger because that's all they offer. There's just to many other options out there.

After telling the waiter I preferred my burger medium, not the medium well the menu advertised, we finished ordering and got back to the conversation at hand.

My cheeseburger was a sad guy when he arrived naked in a basket of fries, without a side of ranch. Using this time to inspect the rest of my meal, I was sad to find the cheddar cheese greasy and translucent. The little saltless fry wedges did had a nice crunch. Five minutes later the waiter breezed by, sliding the dressing under my arm without so much as a word.

The cheeseburger, upon cutting into it, was definitely medium well. Yes, I still cut my sandwiches in half. I like to start in the middle. The crust just tastes better last and I don't end up with fingers that get 'saucy' if it's a messy sandwich. I guess you could say I'm weird. But back to this burger, it was medium well, covered in tasteless cheddar, with a side of pale sickly looking veggie toppings. Bite after bite I kept imagining, maybe even hoping it would turn into the burger's we'd had for dinner Sunday night. Baconburgurs smothered in smoked Gouda and cheddar. His was BBQed in nothing but Sweet Baby Ray's with a slice of local grown tomato. I opted for the homemade whole grain Dijon. These burger's are made locally, and when I say baconburger, I mean the bacon is ground in with the beef. It's a truly great thing! It begs the question, do you fantasize about better food when you're out to eat?

I only made it through half of this meal. The portions, they are Hungry Man size. The food just didn't taste good enough to keep picking at while we sat around chatting.

Next time, I think I'll pick the restaurant.