Food

Oh God, we’re in serious trouble. In past blogs (And likely in future ones as well) I have written pretty extensively on the subject matter of the food in Italy. One of the things that I was most curious about when returning to the states was how our palates would take to food in our home town. For many years, I have wondered “Is it that the food at Cheesecake Factory or Chili’s has gone down hill that much, or is it that my palate is forever spoiled and incapable of enjoying that food ever again?” Anna and I have had active discussions about which of the two scenarios is more likely. When I was in college, I ate at Chilis an average of once a week and thought that their fajitas were simply “The Bomb”, now I’d just rather stay home and open a can of tuna if that’s my only option! Same holds true for my past love of Cheesecake factory. I know it’s a sad testament to the area that we live, but when they opened a Cheesecake Factory in Thousand Oaks about eight years ago, it generated the most excitement in me since the Dodgers won the 1988 World Series! Anna and I have since concluded that the Cheesecake Factory is not the place for us. There is something about mass quantities of mediocre food that just seems too American for our taste and they simply have the worst cheesecake on the planet, so what’s the point of waiting for 45 minutes to get a table?

In our neck of the woods, there are a handful of what we considered to be good restaurants and most are Italian. In fact, I was excited about the prospects of eating at “Rustico” one of my favorite places within thirty miles of our home. To give you an idea of how much we like the food at Rustico, we have probably eaten there no less than fifty times, including most major business dinners that I have locally, Mothers Day brunch, my company Christmas Party etc… I’m simply astonished and sad to say that when we ate there on our second night back, that the meal was simply “Average” at best. I never thought in a million years that I would ever say that about a meal at Rustico, but it simply was very average.

On the other hand, there is another decent Italian place near our home called Marcello, which we have been going to for nearly ten years. Although I have never held Marcello in the same esteem as Rustico, they certainly serve a mean calamari and the rest of their menu is good enough to keep us coming back. Two nights before returning to Italy, we went to Marcello for dinner. The food was simply awful! The calamari, which I used to consider to be the best I have ever had was served with its traditional marinara sauce, but it was so flavorless that I would swear that they just took tomato sauce straight from the can and poured it on the plate! I didn’t even eat half of my pasta with broccoli and sausage, as the broccoli was soggy and the sausage tasted like hot dogs. Gross is the word that comes to mind!

Could it be that these two places have gone that down hill in the four months that we’ve been gone? No way. The long unanswered puzzle of why we don’t like Chilis and Cheesecake Factory any more has finally been answered. Its not them, its us! These places serve it up as they always have, but in the past we’ve not had another perspective to compare to. Nope, we’re screwed for sure! As we head back to Italy, I clearly understand that we have six months of good food left in us and then its back to mediocrity when we return. Yup, we’ll be doing a lot of our own cooking when we get home for good. We’re ruined forever…