Too Busy Eating To Write

(Writer blushes - or should)    First instance:  this required some cunning on my part.  Our 30+ years hair dresser/barber Dale's shop (Tonsorial Parlor) is in El Segundo.  The only times that El Segundo is a destination for us is either a hair cut or picking someone up from LAX.  Since Richie considers haircuts of the lowest possible necessity and few people fly in, El Segundo and all of its charms is seldom visited.

But:  comes now the new shopping center called The Point which is a rather pointless name for a shopping center, but I digress.  In The Point is the Salt Lick Grille which menu I had recently read.  One dish appealed in particular, the bacon-wrapped, horseradish stuffed shrimp with honey chipotle sauce $16.  I wanted to go there simply to eat this.  But El Segundo is not next door and Himself would consider it on the frivolous side to drive that far just to eat.

So I booked us with Dale for 4:30 and 5 p.m.  We would get out at 5:30 +/- and by the time we got to Salt Lick Grille, it would work out well for a 6 p.m. drink while we perused the menu; pointless in my case as I already knew I wanted said shrimp plus a Wedge Salad $9.

The room reminded us of a Las Vegas casino buffet dining room.  Subdued lighting, sand-colored color scheme and walkways for the servers so they didn't have to cut their way through the tables.

Richie had a G & T $11, and I the only dirty martini I can remember that had enough olive juice that it could be tasted $13.  Incidentally, the house martini is half-price on Thursdays but it was some concoction with lemons.  A Lemon Drop, if memory serves.

Richie ordered and ate with gusto the half-chicken after he had asked for creamed spinach to replace the Brussel Sprouts.  $19.   As he ate it all, he missed out on leftovers the next night.  So hah!

The shrimp were sizeable, the bacon was thick and five shrimp left me with two for tomorrow's dinner.  If I had any suggestion, it would be to make the horseradish a little more predominant and put in more chipotle with the honey.

The wedge salad was very generous, thick with cherry tomatoes, "shaved" raw red onion rings and a hefty shot of thick bacon chunks.  The dressing was some version of blue, and it was good and thick.  The wedge of ice berg lettuce was large enough (nearly) to qualify as an ice berg.  Dinner came to $69 pre-tax.

Fat Burger is now serving a small cup of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing with the onion rings.  I learned this because after French Conversation class from 10 to 11:30 a.m.we planned to go up The Hill to the Palos Verdes Library book sale.  Traditionally we go at 10 a.m. and then have Fat Burgers for lunch as we thumb through our new books.  This time we had lunch first and then went to the library.  Either way I can recommend the Original Fatburger and onion rings.

January 6, 1838 -  Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail invited the public to come and see a demonstration of their telegraph.

Apple is recalling some of their smart phones for low battery expectations.

We've come a mighty long way, baby.