A Tale of Two Meals

It was the best of food, it was the worst of food for lunch this week.

I blew off work for most of Tuesday and met up with pal, Reya, at Sonoma Restaurant & Wine Bar on Capitol Hill. In addition to enjoying good company, I thought the food and wine were perfect, light, flavorful, and nuanced. I was pleased with the service, the presentation and the setting, too.

Then, Wednesday, a group of us went out to lunch for someone's birthday. The birthday babe had the choice of any place in the area and the rest of us would pick up the tab. Any place at all. Her pick. Total free will. [You may note that I can not stress this enough.]

She chose... (wait for it...)
Chipotle.

Yeah.

Fast food. I say, if you want Mexican food, that's great. Pick a real Mexican restaurant. But, no. She wanted McDonald's version of Mexican food. I couldn't begin to tell you why.

Here's what my lunch looked like:


Except this picture is 1/1,000,000th the actual size. Chipotle makes burritos the size of Canada. Maybe bigger. The choice of ingredients was mine, so I can't entirely blame Chipotle. It tasted fresh. It looked colorful. The plating left a little to be desired (foil, wax paper, plastic basket) and the wine choice... well...

Sadly, ultimately, I have no one but myself to blame because I knew the Chipotle experience. I knew, dammit! And, still, I ate that entire burrito, Vancouver and all.*

Why? Because it was in front of me. Pretty weak defense, I know.

The rest of the day was spent in regret. I felt like this:


but not as fetching.** The dinner hour came and went and I wanted nothing. Nothing... but to be free of the Chipotle experience then and always.

Bleah.



* Vancouver makes it tangy.

** My come hither look can not compete.