My Thursday Lunch

I changed my routine for my Thursday lunches today. I had been going to the same neighborhood pub for several years, every Thursday I was in town, like clockwork. What made me change is a drunk who has been tossed out of the bar many times, but keeps coming back. Sometimes he'll start yelling, and on two occasions, he tossed disparaging remarks my way as he was being thrown out.

Two weeks ago, when I was in there, he was there and was yelling as he was being thrown out, said something nasty to me, and I thought Enough. The bartender, who is the only restaurant employee on duty in the dining room, apologized to me, but he clearly thought the whole thing is kind of funny. I questioned why he even interacts with him -- he likes to taunt the drunk. Last week, I was meeting someone for lunch so I didn't go there, and then decided today not to go back to the same place.

My Thursday lunch is my respite during the work week, and it makes no sense for me to continue to go there to be potentially annoyed. I was thinking that as a great generalization, men find drunks funny and amusing, while women find them scary and threatening.

So today, I went to Sotto Cinque, an informal Italian restaurant on 86th Street, that offers a great lunch deal. For $9.95, you get soup/salad and then an entree. And a couple pieces of great Italian bread.

 

Last time I was in there, I envied my friend's minestrone -- so full of fresh vegetables and so I ordered that -- See? You can even see the steam:

Next was my entree -- I ordered a dish called Rigatoni Cinque which is pasta with mushrooms and peas.

and then, as I continued to relax and read my magazines, I finished it all off with a cup of cappucino: