Restaurant Lotto

San Miguel has a lot of restaurants: some good, some bad, some so-so.  You can find Asian fusion cuisine, Italian, Chicago-style pizza, French, Tex-Mex, New Orleans style, organic, burgers, chain pizza, authentic Mexican - you name it, there's probably a restaurant that has it.  The restaurants themselves fall into several categories: elegant, comida-style, deli, hole-in-the-wall, family-run, hamburger stands, cafes, take-out, taco stands, tapas bars - I'm sure we have at least one of every kind you can think of here in SMA.

Of course with most of these restaurants catering to the gringo population, survival can be a struggle.  The Civil List - a Yahoo group forum with nearly 5,000 'listeroos' - features announcements of new restaurants, menu changes, chef changes, and glowing reviews from patrons. One sometimes wonders about the well-meaning patrons of restaurants and other businesses who post their reviews, just as one wonders about such announcements which omit addresses and thus require someone to ask for the address and the first poster then writes back with the address (copying the original announcement/review, of course). 

As a co-moderator, I read all the digests of the daily posts assiduously, looking for my specialty: the second 'for sale' ad placed by a particular poster within a current month.  This imposed review makes one a bit cynical over time - but I digress.

So today we walked into a newly opened restaurant looking for lunch when we were immediately pounced upon by a woman who demanded whether we were there for 'the best bagels, ever.'  As it turns out, she was not a principal in the restaurant, but an avid fan and customer hyped up on caffeine after two weeks of bed rest.  We nearly ran.

We're glad we didn't, even though - as the only other customers at that point in time - we had to carry on a conversation about SMA, San Diego theater, chocolate, dogs, you-name-it until she finally went off to her gallery, commenting that SMA was like an out patient waiting room.  [Oh, how true!] Once our luncheon arrived it was wonderfully delicious - and we had a nice conversation with another diner who was studying silversmithing.

I'm even considering posting on the Civil list about the place - it was both good and under patronized.  Another listeroo posted before going; we can tie in an 'after' report for the fourth unsolicited review!