Getting Out Again
With regulations being lifted, Kris and I went out to a sit-down dinner at a restaurant for the first time in over three months. We went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Los Dos Amigos, in Thousand Oaks. http://losdosamigos.menutoeat.com/ The food was just as good as we remembered, but the experience wasn’t quite the same.
The place was only about a quarter full, so there was no problem spacing us out. We didn’t have to wear a mask, but the waiter did. We gave the waiter our order, then got our drinks, chips and salsa. This is where things started feeling a little weird.
Instead of a basket of chips and small bowl of salsa, we each got a bag of chips and a plastic container of salsa and bean dip. We also got plastic-ware in a little envelope – like when you get hash browns at Burger King – and drinks in a paper cup. My first thought was, wait, is this Taco Bell or something? But then I remembered that this is what they have to do to meet state regulations.
Then the food came – in aluminum trays. Again, this is what they have to do. It felt kind of weird eating from a take-out container in the restaurant, but we were glad they were still there. The waiter told us about another Mexican restaurant down the street that had to close up after three months of no business.
This is not forever. Personally, I feel the “new normal” won’t be that much different from the “old normal” once we get this virus under control and calm our fears. We’re looking forward to normality coming back to our date nights. In the meantime, we’ll support the restaurants we love as much as we can so they’ll still be there in the future.
Next culinary stop: PIZZA PIZZA – at Topper’s Pizza.
Dennis Amador Cherry
14th article completed.
First Steampunk novel: 20,260 words.
This was a picture Kris took long ago for a review she did. I was trying to duck out of the way.
We ate there as soon as they opened. Aside from the paper/plastic, it was the same great food. Im glad to continue to support our local favs!!