i went out to a new place for lunch today. it is called "ROCK STAR!" except with a star in place of the a.

i expect to see a new restaurant there shortly.

the food was all right; i had turnip leek puree soup with charred (i kid you not) what i think was spinach on top. it was actually way better than it sounds. i like pureed soups. i also had a portobello something something something something salad.

first tip that someone was not thinking about this clearly: your food should have short, simple names, so that people can figure out how to order it. special nifty portobello red wine vinagrette whatsit whoosie salad is not a good name. (i said "the portobello salad", and i did in fact get the thing i wanted. but don't make your customers have to work that hard.

second tip that someone was not thinking about this clearly: i got soup and half a salad. i got two plates, each larger than my head. the tables, however, were the special tiny "pack them in like sardines" size. i sat at a table for two, and there would have been real trouble if there had been two of us and we'd both ordered that. we would have had to begin annexing extra tables.

other than that, there was just some of the normal new restaurant things; no one had thought clearly about demarking the smoking from the non-smoking areas, and the mix on the diet coke was off. ah, well.

if they're still there in a few months, i'll probably go back.