What You See is What You Eat.

One of my favoritest restaurants in this city, but also one of the most overpriced for what you get (except for the cocktails — those are worth every penny plus tip), which causes all sorts of internal dialogues and cost/benefit analysis before I decide to go.  Also, they are a little tad on the pretentious side – one time, I was there with my best friend and the waiter explained that the special of the night were Maine? New Hampshire? the Hamptons? shrimp that were Fed Ex’ed overnight to the restaurant.  Really?  Fed Ex’ed overnight??  … Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for Fed Ex to deliver my brief to an administrative law judge in Baltimore.  Thanks, Fed Ex.

This is why, as much as I love it, I don’t go as often as I would like.  If the price point was a few bucks cheaper, then I would go every month.

As it is, then, I generally go only if I really want a good drink before or after the Arclight or if there is a good excuse to go – i.e., the girlfriend’s birthday.  On this sacred occasion, I asked her where she wanted to go.  She contemplated the other Suzanne Goin-related enterprises, Lucques and AOC, then considered Joe’s in Venice, then Sizzler’s, then Nook off of Barrington, and then finally settled on The Hungry Cat.  How her thought process went from Lucques to Sizzler and back to the Hungry Cat, I really don’t know.