Bad food is bad.

I like food.

And I travel now and then for work.  Like right now.  That usually means having to eat out.  But on my last couple of trips, I've been traveling solo.  So the first order of business after arriving has been to hit a local grocery store and get a bit of food.  This time round I got myself a BBQ chicken, some cottage cheese, and some fruit and vegetables.  All that went into the fridge in my room, and I was a happy camper.

As often as not, I'll eat out someplace and be pretty disappointed by the quality of the food.  A couple nights ago I went to a mall to hit up a Williams Sonoma (don't have one back home) to pick up two things: a blowtorch for my Sous Vide cooking and a Global boning knife for, well, its general awesomeness.  I was starving by the time I got my gear so I hit a restaurant in the mall.  My spidey senses were tingling, trying to tell me that this place didn't hold a lot of promise.  But I needed to eat.  I ordered up a sirloin steak.  They were out, so I went with the New York Strip instead.

Bad move.  The steak I got was a mass of gristle.  There didn't seem to be a single spot on it that didn't have the consistency of silicone rubber.  I couldn't even cut through the garbage in front of me.  I called the waiter over and asked for another steak.  The manager came by a few minutes later and at least apologized, saying they had never seen such a bad steak come out of their kitchen.

The next one came out.  It had a big clump of fat on either end that I cut away.  It was also cut unevenly and overcooked in the thin part.  I paid $22 for this?  I was beyond caring at this point and ate it anyway.  It was a 12oz steak and I was still hungry after finishing it.  I was signing my bill when one guy comes along and asks if they can offer me a free desert. 

Boy, let me think.  I didn't want a desert.  In fact, I rarely eat desert.  I wanted a decent steak.  And what were the odds that their crappy kitchen would have the capacity to put out an awesome desert worth pounding back 500 calories and making up for a shitty meal?  About zero, so no thanks.  I left, yearning for that hour of my life back.

So: Norton's American Grill and Pub in Tyson Center Mall: Piss On You.