It’s so obnoxious. I started seeing it during the pandemic, and then it made more sense to me, since restaurants were really struggling. It’s more common (in NYC) at bars and greenmarkets, since conceivably you could carry enough cash for a few drinks and some vegetables. But not many people walk around with a couple hundred dollars. I don’t, anyway.
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Good visit to Nopa https://www.nopasf.com/ with some of the classics. Service was a bit rushed at the beginning but slowed down luckily later. First time sitting upstairs - not sure how much we liked it. It’s a bit less noisy but you are also missing some of the action and dynamics.
Green bean caesar - early girl tomato, riverdog arugula, crispy copa, fried shallots, pecorino
Flatbread - nopa ham, spinach, yellow cherry tomatoes, toma, opal basil, chili crisp
Nopa cheeseburger - grass fed Stemple Creek beef, house baked brioche bun, pickled onions, Kennebec french fries, nopa special sauce
Pork chop - molasses and bacon ayocote morado beans, marin roots braised greens
Apple brown butter upside-down cake - muscovado sauce, nilla wafer crumbs, buttermilk raspberry ripple ice cream
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That’s a pretty loose interpretation of a Caesar salad, with the only ingredient in common being the cheese 
Was there a dressing that might’ve inspired the name?
Are you familiar with the now closed Park and Orchard in East Rutherford? They had a dish on it - Ruth’s Crawfish Etouffee - for as long as we’d been going there. Drew’s Crawfish Monica sounds like it. It was Mr Bean’s favorite and almost the only thing he ever ordered.
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Yes - the dressing was very reminiscent on a caesar dressing
I noticed about 17 years ago our computer store started a 3% surcharge if one was paying by credit card. Then they stopped accepting checks, then cash. Then I went elsewhere.
That’s insane, unless you’re just buying a cable or something
[quote=“small_h, post:661, topic:45204”]
since restaurants were really struggling.
They still are..
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Last night I made a cottage pie stew with gnocchi, which was good but had too much thyme (too many dried branches in the bundle). I’ll add some plain broth to the leftovers. Raspberry kir royale on the side.
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Well, you can argue that it’s always been a tough business, blah blah blah. But at least restaurants are operating as they did pre-pandemic, and people have (mostly) returned to their previous dining out habits.
If not worse, given how everything’s gotten so much cheaper this year. 
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Not where I live, nothing is really back to “pre-pandemic” except for travel. The number of small businesses/restaurants closing where I live is crazy and I live in a city with a population of around 3 million, and I don’t see it getting better anytime soon.
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Not to mention people have less money to go out since grocery prices have gone up as well — as have restaurant prices, at least in the podunk town I reside in.
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It does not seem that bad in NYC, although of course there’s a fair amount of churn, as there always has been
I use my CC for 99% of all my purchases because of the great air mile points I accrue, the only time I pay with cash is at small Mom & Pop joints. I don’t begrudge any sort or CC fee they charge me, but I don’t dine out as often as others(except when I’m traveling of course). Not only do they pay CC transaction fees, any kind of delivery service tacks on exorbitant service charges and Most places have no choice but to use them.
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I have pretty much stopped ordering in. The delivery/service charges crept up to equal the price of the food (and I’m not talking about the tip - that’s a separate thing)
I never get delivery, but I’m lucky to have a ton of great options within walking distance.
Yes, I am familiar with Park and Orchard, but unfortunately never made it there. It looked really good.
Drew has actually had a crawfish Étouffée since forever. This was the first time it was off the menu, but he replaced it with the Crawfish Monica this month. It was very good.
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Ginger and garlic fried rice with shrimp and chile oil from The Woks Of Life:
I added some peas so I wouldn’t have to make a separate veggie. We really liked this!
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I had been planning on making something else tonight with the b/s chicken breasts I had taken out of the freezer, but I didn’t have some of the ingredients I thought I had for the recipe I was going to make. 
Pivoted to something warming on this chilly day, a chicken stew patterned after this one:
I used only 3 cups of homemade chicken stock, peas and corn in place of the green beans and frozen pearl onions instead of fresh chopped. I large-chunked the carrots instead of dicing them. Also added way more dried herbs.
Overall, a bit thinner liquid than I prefer for a stew, but it was pretty good. And there was wine.
Finnegan has also decided it’s time to be back to his “crawl under the blankie on Mom’s lap” mode.
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