Best Restaurant for Breaking Up 2008: Piccadilly Cafeteria

If you must break up, this is the first rule: Do it in a quiet setting with a sense of dignity. The second rule is to find a venue without the possibility of ever, ever running into someone you know; the only thing more embarrassing than kicking a relationship to the curb in public is having blabby witnesses. Overland Park’s Piccadilly Cafeteria scores on both points and then some. It’s soothingly quiet already, and many of the patrons wear hearing aids. The food is comfortingly bland — nothing too spicy that might inflame tempers. The clientele — older couples and families with fussy youngsters — are too engrossed in their own problems to waste time eavesdropping on yours. And because many of the desserts are encased in plastic wrap, it’s not easy for the rejected — and possibly furious — dumpee to pitch a slab of lemon-meringue pie in your eye. By the time the clingy wrap comes off, you’ve paid the very inexpensive bill at the exit and raced out the door. Mission accomplished!

Starts: Jan. 15. Daily, 2009