After a few unplanned then scheduled hospital stays put an end to most away from home meals I was looking forward to enjoying the variety of foods that the many places in Tucson offer. To my dismay the number of choices have gone way down, more so for those with what I call healthy selections. Now most all offer great food, but to eat out every day will increase the blood levels of fats and such to a most unhealthy amount.
With COVID 19 closing so many places for the eating inside pleasure, it seems that take out is the norm. Picking up a selection of meats, cheeses and chicken at the grocery deli for a few days of in office sandwiches just gets old . Something about seeing the smiling eyes behind the wild designs of face masks of the counter people at those spots still open that adds to the pleasure of social contact if limited. Walking out to sit in the car to eat is not comfortable, neat or welcome but may be the only option if there are no parks nearby to soak up the fresh air. Some restaurants do have outside seating areas with fewer tables for spacing to use which helps. This fear has gotten so ingrained in my mind that I wonder how often the outside seating spots are cleaned, now is that paranoia or what?
Fortunately most places have updated the websites for those customers who are looking online to take out meals. I do feel sorry for those eateries that are short on funds to have a website designer constantly keep the pages looking fresh each week. With reduced staffing for the preparation, cleaning and servicing of the customers it must be stress to the max for the owners. The large nationwide chains have resources for all that but I tend to look for the local owned small places to spend my reduced lunch money at.
What started out in my mind to be a quick review of some nice stomach filling food locations has turned into more of a vent or rant about the state of affairs in the summer of 2020. Not sure if I will post this or not.
Well if anyone is still reading this I did stop by (twice now) an easy to find location on N. Campbell called Frankie’s South Philly Cheesesteak. It has been way too long since my taste buds have enjoyed a cheesesteak sandwich ( sub? grinder?) They were busy even with the social distance markers which everyone paid attention to. With my call ahead order it took 5 or 6 minutes for the order to be completed. Not a bad wait at all for a still steaming hot package which delivered what the menu promised it would. Loaded with meat, cheese and all the extras the flavor was intense that got more so when I bit into the peppers. The full size is more than enough for one person more so if not as active as in the past. So some of this was for a late afternoon snack which destroyed my need for dinner.