Two local places, one I usually order out of and another I haven't been to before. The sub shop I usually go to get a sandwich to take out to the dark sky site to eat later that night. I sometimes sit down in that restaurant while my sleeping bag is being washed at the Laundromat next door. The other one, an oriental restaurant that has some Vietnamese dishes the others in my neighborhood don't have.
At the sub shop I placed my wrapped sandwich on the table and sat down. I started to unwrap the sandwich and I tried to push it further away. It didn't want to move. I found that there was grime in the center of the table camouflaged by the faux travertine stone printing in the Formica top. I found that they use only a damp cloth on those tables. Water alone cannot remove hand grime from things and that type of grime accumulates with use. You need a real cleaner.
The Oriental restaurant is next to the grocer I go to and they sent a mass mailing handbill with their menu on it. So I tried it out the other day. This turned out to be a hole-in-the-wall next to the grocer that is a hole. I walked in and found one of the cooks was de-stringing flat pea pods on the table nearest the kitchen. I thought, no biggie, on room in the kitchen. I sat down and ordered the Lemon Grass Chicken. I got the meal and I wanted to put some soy sauce on it plus sweet and sour for the eggroll. The soy sauce was in a bottle made for it and the other sauces were in syrup carafes. As I was reaching for the condiments, I notice there was a thick layer of hand grime on all of the dispensers on my table and on the other tables as well. They don't clean the tops nor the containers, just top them off as evidenced by the odd layering in the hot mustard carafe.
That didn't help my appetite nor was the Lemon Grass Chicken had much lemon grass flavor from the few flecks of lemon grass in the sauce. In these times of "sequester" cutbacks and cutting corners, are we getting more complacent of these things happening as businesses, including restaurants, are cutting back on staff and using cheaper methods and materials, including cleaners used in restaurants?
Joelene
