It’s a rainy Friday night and I’m fighting off some anxiety about this upcoming road trip. My usual pre-travel ritual isn’t quite doing the trick so I sat down to write this post. I’ve been thinking about the most random thing this pandemic makes me miss: restaurant plating.
Yes, I’m one of those weirdo foodies who follows the Art of Plating accounts. I look to them as inspiration for the artistic plating I’ll likely never master myself.
Thanks to social distancing, my restaurant plating desires have been replaced with just hoping my to-go orders are packaged half decently. You don’t know hurt until your to-go bag is swimming in gravy.
Then it’s the moral dilmmena: Do I eat it out of the to-go box or replate it like a respectable human being? Most days I do unbox my to-go orders and re-plate them, but I’ve hit the stage of quarantine where I don’t want to wash another dish for all of my days.
Anyway, this week one of my to-go packaging wins came from North Italia, the Post Oak area Italian restaurant here in Houston. I ordered the Short Rib Radiatori and Bombolini (“Italian donuts”) for an indulgent lunch that hit all the marks.
Short Rib Radiatori
I ate this one right out the box. Parmesan Cream, Fresh Horseradish, Wilted Arugula, Herbed Breadcrumbs. It’s delicious. 5/5 would recommend.
Photo by Raquel Seymone for Black Girl Meets World
Bombolini
They packaged my donuts separately from the the marscapone and lemon curd, so I decided to try my hand at re-plating. Washing one dish wouldn’t kill me… right?
Anyway, I hope you’re staying safe and well. I’m more than 70% through Mattie James’ consistency challenge. These diary posts are probably the hardest part, because putting my personal musings on Beyonce’s internet makes me feel… exposed. I know this is trivial, and there are “more important” things I could concern myself with, but this where I’m at right now.
Missing things I once took for granted… like beautiful restaurant plating.
