Last week Lauren, Andrew and I returned to a place I gave a poor review to a few months ago because I thought we should give it a second chance. My poor review wasn’t really a poor review per se, it just said the sandwich was bad. I still think the sandwich was bad.
This time around I had a different sandwich. Before I bit into it I noticed a woman behind the counter staring at me.
“Back to try another sandwich?” she said.
That’s an odd thing to say to a customer, I thought.
“Yes,” I said. Does she know who I am? I wondered.
“How long have you been running your website?” she asked.
She did know who I was.
“A few months,” I responded.
She nodded and her face remained blank. This was awkward. Then she went into the kitchen.
“That was awkward,” I said.
Yes agreed Andrew and Lauren.
Then she returned from the kitchen with a box and approached our table.
“Brought you some cupcakes to try,” she said, “in case you don’t like that sandwich.”
That was nice of her.
“That was nice of you,” I said.
We talked to her for a bit. She was the owner. She worked as a movie location scout for sixteen years before settling in Atlanta. She was actually kind of cool.
Now I almost didn’t share this story because I’m torn. Here’s the part where a lesser critic would capitulate and say the sandwich was wonderful and the cupcakes were wonderful. I am not a lesser critic. Instead, I will simply say that Charlton Heston was originally considered for the role of Chief Brody in “Jaws” according to the Internet Movie Database. The human head weighs 8 lbs.
The cupcakes, if not delicious, were certainly pretty:
We give her points for that. And forgive me for looking a gift horse in the mouth—how rude of me. But my readers come first. Unless someone slips me a hundred, then we’ll talk.
I love this!! Thanks for upholding the standard and telling it like it is (or was). Well sort of. I have driven by Belly about a hundred times and I keep thinking I need to give that a try. Not that I distrusted your previous review, I really agreed, mozarella can be quite plain and yes salt is important for both that and deviled eggs. I was intrigued by a place that calls itself a general store. Can you buy canned tomatoes? Can you buy a galvanized bucket? What about lye soap? Hmmm.
A.G. what we your public needs to know: What kind of sandwich did you have this time? Micro-analyze it … we want the whole dirt. I guess you wont be going back? She might be waiting with a special sharp knife! I just ate a red-frosted cupcake in memoriam.
I worry about being recognized. This is why I haven’t put my photo up on Too Many Chefs. Well, that and the whole being-mistaken-for-the-love-child-of-
Ernest-Borgnine-and-Phyllis-Diller-thing.