Because I'm going to be out of the office this afternoon and tomorrow for Rosh Hashanah, I worked late last night -- until 9 pm. Which put me at the Pentagon City metro stop at 9:22, before the mall closed. So I thought I'd grab a quick food court dinner before rushing home to try to catch the end of the Nationals game (ugh, what a disaster) and my normal routine of responding to emails and paying my bills.
Lately, for me, "food court" translates into a salad at Subway. But I wasn't in the mood, and the line was very long -- unusually long, especially since there was no line at McDonald's, which is usually insanely busy. So, with that in mind, I decided that I would try some of the new fancy chicken strips at McDonald's.
As an aside, I almost never eat at McDonald's. Every once in a while, I crave their fries or their ice cream sundae, but the feeling usually passes quite quickly. It's not that the food doesn't taste good -- it does -- but it tastes good in the same way that Kraft dinner tastes good. It's for kids. Real mac and cheese tastes better, as does a real hamburger or thick cut steak fries. Or a bison burger. Mmmm. But I digress . . . .
Anyway, I walked up to the cash register and the cashier mumbled something about not having cheeseburgers. Or fries. Or some other things. I didn't really understand much of what he was saying because (1) he had a thick accent, (2) he mumbled, and (3) he spoke waaaaaaay too fast.
At this point, I realized that this scenario explained why the line was at Subway. The McDonald's was out of food. So I said, "I don't want a cheeseburger. Or fries. Does that help?"
He looked at me like I was crazy.
So I said, "How about telling me what you are not out of?"
Same reaction. Clearly it's me. I mean, I definitely should have anticipated that the McDonald's in the food court of one of the busiest malls in the region would be completely and totally out of food. No chicken strips, not even chicken nuggets.
I wound up with one of the new chicken snack wrappy things. It was okay -- not quite low carb, but only 32 grams, and 330 calories. Still, it was an awful lot of effort for something ultimately neither healthy nor satisfying.
6 comments:
Evil Spock thinks McDonald's is eviler than Evil Spock.
Get to the grocery store stat! Evil Spock would rather have a quality PB&J (freshly made peanut butter, Jelly with no corn syrup, and artisan bread) than Mickey D's!
I don't eat much bread. Or much jelly for that matter, since most has a lot of sugar. So, pretty much you've left me with the option of eating spoonfuls of peanut butter out of the jar. Which, strangely enough, sounds great! Although, maybe that's because it's lunchtime.
Um, there's a grocery store basically between the food court and your apartment.
There are also a ton of better restaurants in and out of the food cart between McDonalds and your apartment, some of which would have had the Nationals game if that was the bigger concern.
1. I didn't want to go to a restaurant. Since it was 9:30 pm, I just wanted to grab food to eat in my apartment while relaxing. Watching the end of the Nats game was an extra added bonus. (Or not, considering the way the game went.)
2. The grocery store is not in between the food court and my apartment. The food court is on my way to my apartment, whereas the grocery store is a detour of at least a couple hundred yards. Not to mention a time detour -- who wants to go grocery shopping at 9:30 pm?
3. Nine times out of ten -- maybe even as many as 99 times out of 100 -- I will go to Subway or Noodles & Company or get sushi or something at the Harris Teeter. But that gets boring, too.
Like you, I almost never go to McDonalds. I deliberately and specifically avoid it. Except for one time when I *needed* a Big Mac (not sure what came over me) and one other time when a friend made me go and I had a salad, I haven't been even remotely in the habit of going for at least 4 or 5 years.
That being said, if going to McDonald's (as opposed to elsewhere) afforded me a better chance of catching my favorite baseball team, I'd have no problem going. It's a just sacrifice.
And, don't worry, the Nats will come around. They have an amazing scouting system right now. Once the new ballpark opens and attendance goes up, they'll be able to boost their payroll and will actually be a threat. That division is going to be VERY tough about 5 years from now.
I generally deliberately avoid all fast food, not just Mickey D's. The two exceptions are Subway and Chick-Fil-A.
And despite my protestations, I still have a soft spot for McDonald's sundaes. And for their strawberry milkshakes, come to think of it.
I had one of their salads a couple of months ago, and it was gross. I'm over that. If I *need* food from there, it's going to be basic -- hamburger, fries, nuggets, etc.
And yeah, the Nats are okay, and will improve, starting next year. They've got some good young pitching, which is why it was frustrating that they gave up 13 runs to the Marlins last night. Ad, of course, as I type this, they're tied with the Marlins in the 9th inning.
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