I confess. When I was younger (much younger), my idea of an exciting lunch out was the little Scottish restaurant. Takeout service, thick shakes, skinny fries. You know who I mean. When I first met McDonalds, a cheeseburger was 19 cents. I date myself a bit, but that way you'll forgive me my limited taste in those days. A frighteningly picky eater as a child (no bread, no eggs, no beef, no vegetables except frozen corn), a good ol' Filet o' Fish (secret nickname: Flayo) without the cheese or tartar sauce, thank you very much, seemed a great deal to me. Heck, I wasn't paying! I was 12. What did I know?

Lunch Around the World Downtown

Swiftly moving ahead many (or is that many-many) decades . . . I now enjoy most food. Preferably well cooked. Well seasoned. Nicely presented. Potentially offering ethnic and esthetic rewards. My own form of armchair travel. Heck, sometimes I even cook it myself. I enjoyed a brief stint as a summer short-order cook in a tavern (nasty) and a longer engagement as an apprentice to two wildly temperamental, supremely talented chefs in a restaurant attempting to be cool rather than great (sometimes scary, but I sure learned the basics). That's another article. But none of that means that I don't continue to appreciate the wonders (and reasonable prices) of a tasty meal that arrives quickly, maybe wrapped in waxed paper. Sure, the budget-minded can brown-bag it and take a home-made p.b.j. sandwich - or even a soggy tuna salad - for lunch at work. But why bother, when our town is full of fabulous culinary offerings from all over the world? Many of them for about the same cost as a good ol' Flayo value meal at the little Scottish place nearby.

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