January 12, 2005
Tasty

Aah the ongoing search for yummy.  The restaurant world is awash in choices.   From Chili’s to the Cheesecake Factory and Fudrucker’s to the Blue Moon, any possible combination of theme restaurant or country’s cuisine is available to diners in most every Middlesex village and town dotting our country’s landscape.  One would surmise there couldn’t possibly be an undiscovered food theme from sea to shining sea.  Au contraire. 

Inspiration struck last week.  Wednesday night, midway through a guy’s golf trip to Southern California, a long time friend and I experienced hunger pangs coupled with a strong hankering for comfort food.  Our search took us to the Daily Grill in Palm Desert where I dined on a “too die for” meatloaf surrounded by mountains of mashed potatoes while my dinner companions dream came true with an entrée’ of Swiss steak and boiled potatoes smothered in mushroom gravy. 

As our taste buds savored the dining delicacies and our respective cholesterol counts moved upward, the dinner conversation evolved into a discourse detailing the favorite meals of our youth.  My friend waxed eloquently on the Atkins-be-damned side of life extolling the virtues of macaroni and cheese, meatloaf, American fries, creamed spinach and fried chicken.  In fact, he allowed, the only food from his youth he didn’t care to experience again was liver and onions.  But his ultimate yummy, topping all others, was leftovers.  In fact, he so enjoyed whatever wasn’t consumed last night, or the night before, he hardly ever scheduled a social or business lunch, preferring instead to head home at noon where awaiting him on the refrigerator shelves in Tupperware containers were mouth watering delicacies requiring nothing more than a quick micro wave  “nuking”.  I realized he couldn’t be more correct. 

Yet for those living life on the road, there’s no restaurant specializing in serving scrumptious meals prepared but not consumed the night before.  At least no eating establishment ever admitted their special of the day was whatever menu item was not in the greatest of demand the night before.  Back in the 70’s, members of Kiwanis suspicioned their noontime offerings had been sacked by the Quarterback Club on Monday, left alone by the Lions on Tuesday, rejected by Rotary on Wednesday only to arrive as “mystery” meat on Kiwanian plates each Thursday.  But that not to be named restaurant and its Jungle Bar have long since passed from the scene and today the time has come for a dining establishment catering to epicureans craving “leftovers”. 

Mornings at “Left Overs” (catchy name dontcha think?) would find the menu featuring my personal breakfast favorite, a slice or two of cold pizza and glass of milk.  Stop by the new “waste not want not” restaurant for a cup of Joe mid-morning and just help yourself by pouring cold coffee from the pot by the fridge and nuking it in the microwave.  Should one require a mid-morning snack the choice would be either a Krispy Kreme donut left behind by somebody’s grandkid last weekend or the half of a blueberry muffin a wife wrapped in a napkin and hid in the far corner of the refrigerator. 

Come noontime, it’s “Leftovers” feature meal of the day.  A meatloaf sandwich slathered in horseradish sauce and topped with a slice of mozzarella snitched from the top of a sliced tomato left from last night’s insalata caprese’.  This noon meal could be highlighted with re-heated split pea and ham soup from last Sunday night’s menu offerings.  Dessert?  How about half a hot fudge sundae somebody was saving for later in the freezer.  Yum-yum. 

While the “Leftovers” dining establishment would be required to post a “blue plate special” each day, it’s not necessarily a downscale eatery.  Copying fine dining establishments where you cook your own food, much like the Minturn Country Club where one broils their own steak, at “Leftovers” the wait staff would bring a micro-wave to your table where you could enjoy a “home nuked meal” to your exact palette requirements.