The Trail's Our Thing

We are just back from dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Knoxville, the Stir Fry Cafe. This is a small chain of contemporary restaurants that started here a few years ago and is expanding to nearby cities. They offer Chinese and Thai food and also sushi. My "Cookie Day friends" and I meet at Stir Fry occasionally for drinks or dinner or sometimes I'll meet a friend there for lunch. I could eat at the Stir Fry Cafe every week or two.

The problem is that Charley does not like it! Actually, he doesn't really like Chinese food or any kind of Asian food. I'm not really sure what the problem is. I used to think he didn't like "slimy" sorts of food, but I think he just doesn't care for the flavors or the mixing of the various ingredients. He does like egg rolls.

Tonight, though, we ended up at Stir Fry sort of by default. Both Kelly and I wanted to go, and it's tough in that situation for the third person to veto the choice. Kelly had gone shopping with a friend, and they met us at the restaurant. Her friend Becka is going to spend a few weeks in Europe this summer, so we thought it would be good for Becka to spend a little time with us. So Charley and I were there at Stir Fry early and had a good 10 minutes or so to peruse the menu.

I didn't even need to look. I knew I wanted potstickers (Charley does like these) and the spicy noodles, with chicken and shrimp. Charley studied the menu in detail. We even talked to the waitress and asked about dishes we saw at a few other tables. Finally he decided on pepper steak. Kelly had won ton soup and chicken with snow peas, and Becka had General Tso's chicken.

Charley didn't like his meal. He picked and poked at the brown rice and pepper steak stir fry, but he probably didn't eat half. He didn't care for Kelly's dish and even asked to try Becka's and didn't like hers either. I know he didn't get enough to eat, and he'll probably have a bowl of cereal later on tonight. This isn't a cheap little Asian place either (our bill was $70 for the four of us), so I hate that he didn't have a good meal.

I don't think I'll ask Charley to go to Stir Fry again. We don't eat out as much as we used to, and with so many restaurants to choose from, it doesn't make sense to go to a restaurant or for a type of cuisine that one of the three of us doesn't care for. I love it and I was very happy with my meal tonight, but there's no need to prod him into eating there.

Kelly suggested that maybe our family stay away from Asian food and focus on Mexican, which we all do like (though sometimes it doesn't like me). I'll try to use Stir Fry for my girlfriend dinners or lunches or a mother-daughter meal with Kelly.