What's for Dinner?

[sad_winslow]

Food today was a downer. I ate at a burger place I hadn't tried before, and their schtick is to try and sell fancied-up mini-burgers, not much bigger than a slider, for relatively obscene amounts of money. $10 for a two mini-burger, boring fries, and drink combo. It felt like an appetizer. It was technically executed well on the cookery side, but I left hungry. And they're doing that awful new west coast thing where they decorate with concrete and brushed metal everything, so it's ugly and the acoustics are terrible to boot. It was a weirdly depressing experience.

Food generally should not be depressing, with two notable and delicious exceptions, both sandwiches from Frisch's Big Boy. First and foremost, the Brawny Lad: a burger on a dark brown rye bun with a slab of onion. That's it. It's short, squat, and brown, like an old shoe, and it is a marvel to behold on a white plate. Stark but filling, and tastes surprisingly good. The other is the Swiss Miss, which is the Brawny Lad's slightly perkier cousin for those with a little pep still in their step. It trades the onion for a slice of swiss cheese and a little shredded lettuce and secret (tartar) sauce.

Even then, it's important to recognize that the Brawny Lad and Swiss Miss aren't sandwiches of despair, but meals of grim determination. When you order your Brawny Lad you know you're low in the world, but you set your teeth and you bear through it, and you come out a better person on the other side. You don't leave feeling hopeful, exactly, but you at least leave feeling tenacious and maybe even a little absolved, in a Protestant sort of way. They are exactly what you needed.

The mini-burgers tonight, though, just left me feeling hungry and a little dirty. Like I needed a Brawny Lad.