Mid Week....

Today was the first day of my “second career”. No more schedules, budgets, manpower, just back to technical, arcane, flutter stuff. Refreshing, really. Plus I just get to “recommend”. What a life.

Today I attended another “goodbye lunch” for one of the veterans of the ITT. Richard Bringardner has elected to retire, along with one of the lowest clock number remaining in the hangar. He’s on his way to South Carolina. A nice group assembled, including John Grigg who preceded us both into retirement. He looks great. Anyway, we had the said lunch at Lone Star. I had not been there for a long time, so the feeder kept his antenna up. A scrambled reservation resulted in a little delay but they accommodated us in the “atrium”. It’s always hard to judge a place on the basis of a group experience, but I reluctantly had to give them credit. Our server did announce her name, but I don’t recall it. The bucket o’peanuts is still present, although another bucket is supplied for the shells Drinks were ordered and menu considerations ensued. Lots of options for lunch. Leaning heavily toward burgers, but other sandwiches are available, salads, all sorts of stuff. I was trying to eat light, so gravitated toward the salad section. I had some confusion as to whether a half main Caesar was smaller than a luncheon Caesar salad, but I went with the luncheon (Chicken) Caesar. Drinks were delivered, although were auctioned off. With a party of 12 or so, a “team” approach was used, necessitating the auction of items. The food began arriving sporadically, like those that did the “soup and salad” combo would get their soup (or salad) and then watch several other lunches delivered before their other half showed up. Apparently Lone Star has had a change of heart, because you can now order your hunk of beef ‘medium rare” or whatever, and from my observation, it was pretty well honored. There is that little note on the menu about undercooked meat can be bad for you, but at least they’ve moved away from the mandatory well done. The food was pretty tasty, the burgers big, the salads fresh. Our server kept a full glass of drinks in front of you without asking, and also without being asked delivered separate checks. SO, I would say that an occasional visit for lunch wouldn’t be too disappointing if you are looking for a high calorie experience.

The latest edition of the Washingtonian arrived yesterday, and they had a little feature on where the politicos are eating in DC. The Prez at Ben’s Chili Bowl, Ray’s Hell-Burger, the Veep, the mayor, etc. It was mentioned that the First Couple did a “date night” at Michel Richard’s Citronelle, and upon leaving, the first lady told Michel how much she enjoyed the evening, in French. How cool is that?

A pickup window sticker observed yesterday in the park: “Say No to Foie Gras”.

DFD