The Iced Tea Lunch

Some days I crave a particular cuisine - Thai, Indian, Chinese, etc. But some days when I have the opportunity to eat lunch out, what I want most is the experience.  I want to sit at a table, peruse a menu, and have a pleasant person ask me if I'd like more iced tea in my glass.  Diner or upscale restaurant, the principle is the same.

Occasionally, the experience transcends my basic expectations. At a hotel cafe in Sacramento, for instance, the tea arrived with a refill pitcher. The side dish options included sweet potato fries. The BLT used heirloom tomatoes. And the BLT was made possible by the procurement of bacon from a humanely-raised pig from a local family farm (meeting my own private kosher standard).

All this lunch lacked was the time to linger. But that, on work travel, would be too much to ask or to expect.