Last night,
as a belated birthday celebration following week too hectic for cake, I was
treated to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in my city, the SpringfieldGourmet Taco Company.
I love this place. The menu is
wildly creative, and each bite is a little festival of flavor. The décor is
fun—lots of black and red, film posters on the walls, neither a sombrero nor
cactus in sight. I’m smitten with the cilantro tiger shrimp sriracha taco, with
its grilled pineapple, feta, spinach, and cucumber.
My server, Ty, told me that they
prepare all of the fresh ingredients each day, from the cilantro to the tiny
minced pears to the white corn hominy salsa. They make their own chili sauce,
four kinds of salsa for the chips, and six clever varieties of guacamole.
If I sound unusually excited about
tacos, well, it’s because these are unusually good tacos—but also, this
birthday meal happened to be my first restaurant meal in 2015.
My family made a joint resolution
this year, and it was not to eat out in 2015, except for special occasions. A
birthday, even a belated one, counts.
We’ve noticed myriad benefits to
our no-restaurant plan. We’ve saved a ton of money. We’re more creative in the
kitchen. Our food choices are more mindful. We direct more of our energy toward
home and family. And, as evidenced by my birthday meal, the times we do eat out
are much more memorable and special.
When we do eat out, it is our plan
to dine at those places that do what we cannot. We could never fashion a curry
blend to rival the flavors we find at the Taj Mahal restaurant. We might feel
stymied by lemon grass, but they know just what to do with it at Thai Peppers.
And I’m not about to mince pears into tiny quarter-inch squares—but I certainly
enjoyed the little explosions of flavor on my tongue when I tasted them last
night.
Maybe true innovation is best left
to the professionals, but it has been satisfying to find that the home can be my
family’s center of nourishment and sustenance.
