Hump Day Eating

(That title is not very appetizing, is it?)

Went out for both lunch and dinner yesterday. Tried Vapiano in Mockingbird Station for lunch for the first time. Not really digging Vapiano's. Its interior is quite pretty but not sure about the food or the process. See, you have to get a card from the hostess when you first walk in. Then you go to a station based upon what you want (pasta, pizza, salad, etc) and put your card up to this little scanner which records your order. You then wait for your food and give your card to the cashier to ring you up when you leave. Too gimmicky for me. And, if the hostess is busy or not paying attention, you end up roaming around lost. Not a good thing. I tried the mushroom pasta and was underwhelmed. They said had a cream sauce, but it was more of a lemony buerre blanc. I had them add extra garlic but I didn't really taste anything from that. Quite frankly, I like the pasta better at Cafe Express around the corner and CE has my favorite iced tea and the yummy pickle and olive bar too. But I'll give Vapiano one more try before I cross it off the list.

I then went to Gloria's on Greenville for dinner. Happy hour all day Sunday through Thursday people. $5 house wine and margaritas! Can't go wrong. I got the dinner version of my usual lunch order (Glenda's favorite) which is a papusa, tamale, beans, rice, slaw and plantains. (for lunch you skip the plantains and get charged 1/2 the price). I love Salvadoran tamales with their potatoes and banana leaves. I made the mistake I always make when ordering the papusa -- don't order the pork, Rachel. It's always dry and unappealing. Order the cheese instead. Maybe someone saw my disappointment because we kept getting visited by people asking us how we were doing. After about the 5th time, we thought about making a drinking game out of it.But drinking games with margaritas really are never a good idea . . .

Cheers!