Tuesday, February 15, 2011.
Avoiding Flu. Coffee Rani Has An Off-Day.
At the radio station, meetings were canceled because so many people have the flu. The memo went out telling us to wash our hands. Anti-bacterial solution dispensers in the hallways--placed when the flu scare occurred last year--have all been topped up. Mindy is back at work, her fever past but congestion still there. I just stayed home. No flu can come across a phone line.
Mary Ann and I had lunch at Coffee Rani in Covington. It's usually very good. Probably the best maker of salads in the area, with dozens of creative, fresh assemblages of greens, chicken, vegetables, cheeses, and herbs. But it wasn't up to its usual goodness today. The soup du jour with which the lady at the order counter hooked me--corn and shrimp bisque--somehow became seafood gumbo when it arrived. But how can the staff be expected to know what soup du jour is? The management changes it on them every damn day.
I had a chicken curry salad, made with coconut, raisins and grapes, along with the greens.It was neither very good nor very fresh, something obvious (Mary Ann noticed it) just from looking at it. Mary Ann had a chicken Cobb sandwich; she said she will not order that again. Funny: Cobb salads here have always been excellent.
I wonder: are restaurants around town being affected by the flu? Although customers would certainly prefer that sick employees stay home, when a bunch of people in any business catch the same illness, it can seriously degrade the performance of the place. This is something I find myself telling people who report badly on a restaurant. Especially the ones who say that they've always enjoyed the food and service in thirty-six previous visits, but will never go back again because the service was slow and the lettuce was wilted on their most recent meal there.
On the other hand, it could be that restaurants are better off without such unforgiving customers. But this is an especially unforgiving era in the history of American attitudes.
Coffee Rani. Covington: 226 Lee Lane. 985-893-6158.
