Gimme' Sum Bizkits!

Last night, my honey-man and I had made 'plans to go out' for dinner. Where we'd end up, we weren't sure... but we'd chosen, I think, 3 different possibilities before walking out the door...

BACKGROUND INFO: We don't eat out for dinner a whole lot -maybe twice a month is all. I say "is all" for the fact that I understand most of my friends go out for dinner about twice a week, comparatively. As for us, however, the best way I can explain our behavior is to say we'd rather spend (or save) our money on/for other things. Yet, if we decide to go out, we want to be sure that #1) it's really good (why pay to eat out if there's something better to eat at home?), and #2) we're not always going to the same places over and over ~ we want to try NEW things, BUT we're too frugal to run blind into just any eating establishment.

Sooooo, about a month ago, we bought a ZAGAT guide for Los Angeles restaurants, and I swear, we've looked at every single page twice over, highlighting in yellow the listings below $35/person that score in at least the low to high 20's for the 'food' rating. Of course, admittedly, we're always aiming for something along the lines of $15/person or less with a '24' food rating. You'd be surprised how many 'cheap' but GUHOOOD places there are! [SEMI-RELATED TANGENT: Even though each listing estimates the cost per person, we've been able to figure out that between the two of us, we usually spend $5-20 less, since we rarely order appetizers or drinks... just don't need that much food! END OF TANGENT.]

Once we've gone to a place found we'd found in the Zagat guide, we highlight over the yellow with green. And considering how infrequently we go out, changing over the yellow to green will be a long process.

So yeah, last night, we left home with THREE places to try... Three for the fact that one of the first we'd chosen in Larchmont, we called and they were booked for the entire evening. As back up, we'd chosen some cuban restaurant called Versailles (a misleading name, don't you think? - my honey-man's been there before, to 2 other different locations of theirs, but not me) and a peruvian joint, in case Versailles was packed. Already, this story is longer than it needs be, so I'll get to the point...

On our way to Versailles, driving down Manchester, I saw 'IT' and literally, I clutched the dashboard and squawked... "Roscoe's House of Chicken n' Waffles!!!" One U-turn and a quick pull of the parking break, we found ourselves at the original Roscoe's located in west L.A. proper, surrounded by red neon and some of the most artery cloggin' cusine imaginable! I soooo wish I'd had my camera... the butter for our waffles? At first glance, as our waitress approached with our loaded plates, I thought it was ice cream! FOUR HUNORMOUS SCOOPS! Like fountain scoop-size scoops!?! I don't think I stopped giggling for more than 1 minute, unless I was chewing...

Now where is that green highlighter?