Qdoba before Africa

The Working Man Who Finally Has A Decent Amount Of Vacation Time and I are leaving for South Africa in less than three weeks. I should be excited. Why do airplanes crash just before I am scheduled to take off on a sojourn across the ocean? It’s a height thing. I am not even fond of ladders. I am not convinced airplanes should be up there anyway. I used to require several Bloody Marys to get me on an airplane. But now my kids live far away. I had to get over it. Sort of.

Why am I writing this? Oh, yea. The plane crash in the far east. I’m going in the other direction. Does that matter?

Forget about airplanes. Time to eat. Another fast food spot. Another Mexican restaurant. Qdoba. No waiters. One orders at the counter. While not gracious, that also means no tip, which always pleases The Man With The Wallet. But ambiance there isn’t. The restaurant is loud, cold, with metal tables that make it seem even colder while showing every splash and fingerprint, and with crud spilled on the carpet, even though we arrived at 6PM on Monday evening. We were eating early because The Man had a tennis game this evening and hoped to digest a bit before his turn to serve.

The menu at Qdoba, like most fast food joints, is printed on the wall above where you order. It isn’t long. There are a number of burritos, nachos, some tacos, some salads. While I do occasionally eat burritos, I prefer my tortillas fried somewhat. So I decided on a Grilled Chicken Salad with Mango Salsa in a taco shell bowl, while The Man Who Better Tolerates Spicy Foods ordered Three Shredded Beef Tacos with hot sauce. He had five levels of “heat” to choose from in his sauce. He ordered “hot,” the middle level. Though the sauce was very thin and drippy, he reported it was good. As you already know, I don’t do “hot,” so you’ll have to trust his judgement on this. Neither of us likes crunchy, store-bought corn tortillas, so he ordered his tacos in flour tortillas. However, these were not warmed or fried at all. The meat was good, the sauce was good, there was plenty of lettuce, but the cheese was the usual Mexican “queso”, which translates into “tasteless sort-of-cheese stuff”. My grilled chicken had a nice smokey taste, and the mango salsa was sweet and yummy with it. There was also romaine lettuce and a pinch of the tasteless cheese in my tortilla shell bowl.

It isn’t the food that would prevent me from returning to Qdoba. It is the total lack of graciousness. Most of the customers who came in while we were eating ordered take-out food. What a swell idea. Because Qdoba SO lacks charm, we ordered, ate and were back in our car in 20 minutes. So much for digestion.

By the way, the bathroom was one of the cleanest I’ve seen on Bluemound Road. How’s that for a surprise?

Just beginning to dream of cooking again, when I’m no longer
Kitchenless in Brookfield