Uno Is Open in Oaks

The sign was lit on Monday night announcing the opening of Uno/Chicago Grill in Oaks.

All the lights were installed and working and the exterior of the building looked like a cross between a diner and any national chain restaurant.

I stopped by on Tuesday, their second day open, for lunch.  I was greeted at the door by three employees. Each welcomed me. Each waited for my acknowledgement. A bit much for me. One, even two would have been sufficient. I was led to a table. A menu was placed on my table and I was wished well. I removed my jacket and hat (it was snowing) and sat down to read the menu.

I arrived after 2:20pm and I was afraid I might have missed the lunch specials. I scanned each page like a pubescent boy looking for salacious words in Mandingo. I flipped through the multi-paged menu several times, back and forth, looking for the lunch specials and the time lunch stopped being served.  It seemed I was scanning and searching for a long time. Too long. I was pondering leaving and stopping for an Italian shorty at Wawa in Audubon.

I looked up from the menu and was finally greeted by my server. She introduced herself and asked if I wanted to start with a drink. I, figuratively, threw my cards on the table. I stated I was on lunch and had only thirty minutes remaining to be served and eat. I asked where the lunch specials could be found. She directed me to the specials listed on the reverse of the menu. The only place I neglected to look. She advised me that any lunch special ordered was guaranteed to be served in 10 minutes. Great! That would leave me 20 minutes to eat.

Not letting my server leave, I ordered a $7.99 lunched size Classic Cobb Salad and All-You-Can Eat Soup. I chose Chili. I added an unsweetened iced tea and my server was off to place the order.

Within a ten minute span I received my lunch, as ordered. Served with a side of Cobb Salad Avocado Ranch dressing.

I began with the chili soup. The soup included tortilla chips of both yellow and blue corn, onions, cheese and two types of beans. There was a whiff of vinegar that probably came from the hot sauce they used to add some heat. Very little heat, I must add. I should have brought my own Sriracha sauce. Overall, the chili was just one level above that of a canned chili available in any grocery store. I wasn't satisfied with the soup.

The salad was much better. Fresh ingredients of greens, chicken, avocado, tomato(nothing like home grown tomatoes), gorgonzola cheese and bacon. The creamy avocado ranch dressing was perfect for this salad. One teaspoon more dressing would have been the icing on the cake. Included was a bread stick seasoned with coarse salt. The salad was good. No, better than good. Whoever made the salad did a great job.

I ate everything and I was sated.

As for the atmosphere, the room was hard. The floor, oak and stone walls, furniture, everything was hard. I can only imagine the sound level when the room is full. Visually contrasting was a gas fueled fireplace with a raging fire. There were several large screen TVs in the room I dined. Two in the back and one mid-room, over the fireplace. Three too many TVs for me.

Overall I liked my lunch and the price. The staff was obviously newly trained and it showed. I will definitely return for lunch. I will choose a different soup next time but I will return. I will eat at the bar, next time. I felt uncomfortable by myself at a table for four in the middle of the floor. The bar will be more comfortable. Although, I won't like those big screen TVs directly in front of me. Silent bright visual distractions that hinder conversation. Even with strangers. Especially if your not interested in sports, as am I.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

A Heavy Wet Hot Blanket is Difficult to Breath Under

Weather Underground

Summer arrived on 20 June. Counting 20 June the temperature has risen above 90ªF/32ºC on six of the eleven days to the end of the month.

It is hot.

Then there is the humidity.

I worked outdoors changing billboards for most of 34 years. Back in the 70's and early 80's, when we were still drinking at lunch, I remember the crew leaving an air conditioned bar after 4 or 5 cold mugs of beer. As soon as we walked through the doorway into the sun, it felt as though a heavy wet hot blanket was dropped on us. It was hot, sticky, hard to breath and it felt like a we were each carrying a ton of bricks on our shoulders.

Some of those times the crew just turned around and went back into the bar until it was time to drive the trucks back to the shop to clock out.

I don't miss working outside, at all!

www.wunderground.com

July is just around the corner.

There are 31 days in July.

Historically, of those 31 days the record high for the day has risen above 100ºF/38ºC on 17 of those 31 days.

I can't wait.

The heat is drying everything outdoors.

The grass is turning brown.

The garden needs to be watered frequently.

I guess it is a good thing the garden can't drive to the bar for lunch. It might never come back. 

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Administrative Professionals Day

Way back in 1952, there was a nationwide shortage of skilled secretarial and office employees.  Then the president of the National Secretaries Association, Mary Barrett, and the president of Dictaphone Corporation, C. King Woodbridge, along with the help of publicist Harry F. Klemfuss, came up with the idea for National Secretaries Week.  They felt secretaries deserved appreciation for their professional efforts.  They also thought it would heighten interest in the field of secretarial and administrative support careers.


Over the years the term, Secretaries Day, was renamed to reflect the changing and expanding field of administrative support.  Today National Secretaries Week has morphed into Administrative Professionals Week, celebrated the last week of April each and every year.

Greeting cards by GreetingCardUniverse.com

There are many ways employers show their appreciation for their administrative staff.  There are the traditional flowers, candy, luncheons, expense paid trips, time off even mink coats.  Today the International Association of Administrative Professionals suggests employers pay for seminars and training to enhance and build their employees' administrative skills.

Times have changed since the three martini lunch and the pencil skirt, haven't they?



©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved