GASTRONORMOUS

This is a special week at gastronormous: I am calling it Working Through Lunch Week. Let me explain.

One of the perks of my day job is that we get a free lunch delivered to our office every day. One of the drawbacks of my job is that these lunches come from restaurants located in and around Greenwich, CT (yes, I live in Brooklyn and work in Greenwich!). My workplace is rather isolated, so running across the street to the Quizno’s for a sammy isn’t an option. Lunch must be brought in or delivered.

You would think that one would eat quite well in the city populated by the most millionaires per capita* than any other city, but you would think wrong. These real estate moguls and investment bankers must eat out in New York City or have their own private chefs cook according to their whim, for I can’t imagine them enjoying a meal out at most of the places that frequently serve us lunch. There are some notable exceptions to the bad-lunch rule, let’s just hope one or two of them pops up this week!

MONDAY’s lunch–form the Olive Branch, Greenwich, CT
Grilled Portobello Sandwich and a slice of “spumoni” cheesecake.

Yes, this shroom-juice-stained, shriveled, bready blob is in fact a sandwich. Of sorts. In the past, the mushrooms have seemed canned or marinated or something. Today they actually seem like they are fresh-grilled. But still, look at this mess. (Mixed in with the mushrooms are grilled peppers, provolone cheese, and some sort of sauce.) I must admit it does taste a tiny bit better than it looks. If you sort of squeeze your eyes tightly shut and let reflexes guide the sandwich to your mouth, it isn’t really terrible. But is it a well crafted sandwich? Let me just tell you that Tom Colicchio would not approve.

And the Spumoni cheesecake? I don’t normally get dessert at lunch. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I did. But the description of this special sweet treat for today was too intriguing to pass up. It was described as a 3-layer cheesecake with vanilla, rum, and amaretto layers, topped with whipped cream, pistachios, and cherries. Sounded decadent. It turns out that I really shouldn’t have. I mean, I really, really shouldn’t have.

It in fact ended up being pistachio, cherry, and some liquor-flavored layers, topped with candied gummy red things and almonds. I don’t like cherry-flavored just about anything. It was overly sweet and flavors tasted terribly artificial. I ate two bites and threw it out. What a waste of my dear old friend cream cheese!

Tune in tomorrow for Tuesday’s lunch!

*A totally made up statistic. But it could be true.