Cents and Sensibility
Even a restaurant critic has things he prefers not to eat in public — including his own words. Last week I got an e-mail from a reader, Karen, who noted that I had cringed at paying for a $55 lunch at the new Circe (“Cheap and Unwashed,” August 12). “Dang, Charles,” she wrote. “If your two entrées at Circe … totaled $24, how would one iced tea and two desserts plus tip equal $55?” Good catch, Karen! Actually, the correct total of lunch at Circe was, including tip, $50.92. I’d forgotten to bring the receipt to work with me on the day I wrote that column, which is why my memory of that astronomical bill was off by $4.08.
No, Karen, the desserts weren’t $10 each — but they were $5.50 each, and my dining companion had a cup of coffee. This might be a good time to confess that I was a total failure in math as a student and never understood the concept of fractions until I became a waiter and had to compute my own tip percentages. Then, a light came on very suddenly.
A far more critical e-mail (not about me, thank goodness) arrived the same day from John “The Food Snob,” who detested his dining experience at The Grotto Delicatessen (1517 Westport Road). His witty litany of observations was almost vitriolic, so I decided to check out the venue for myself. I had driven by the place several times already without wanting to go in, because both its name and its cave-inspired exterior décor were turnoffs. The artwork and lettering on the storefront’s windows were so rudimentary that I assumed the 7-month-old place had been opened by teenagers.
Actually, it’s operated by the grown-up Lisa and Brandi Blair (no relation to the previous tenant, who operated Blair TV Repair), and though the place is really more of a sandwich shop than a traditional deli and the interior décor is strictly low-budget, I found it oddly charming.
“The folks at the tattoo parlor next door did the window art,” said Lisa Blair. “When we have the budget, we’ll spiff that up.”
I suggest spiffing up the interior, too. Industrial-gray is one of the least appetizing shades.
The Blairs make their own soups, use Farm to Market bread for their sandwiches and offer varied desserts from locally owned Golden Boy Pies. The Grotto doesn’t pretend to be anything more than a fast and inexpensive place to get a simple meal, seven days a week. Because eating out can add up.
