Things have never been the same down in the basement of our office building since Candy — aka Mrs. Kim — was tragically killed a year ago. Her kids took over running her little deli/cafe, but eventually sold out to another couple who swept in, cleaned up the place, and raised all the prices.
They are very nice, and always present your food with a polite bow. But the food… well, it’s a little odd. One day the special was “Taco with chili,” which conjures up a certain image. You know, a taco with some chili on top, right? Wrong. It ended up being a styrofoam container with a couple slices of tomato, some lettuce, a pile of tortilla chips, and some shredded chicken, beans, and celery. It was certainly puzzling.
There are some people in my office who are boycotting the new Summit Deli (or is it Cafe? I can’t remember) but today I was so hungry that I had to go down. That’s when I noticed something else strange on the menu, and it all clicked: the taco thing, the chicken sandwich with honey mustard that, it turns out, is just honey mustard-flavored chicken without any honey mustard… yup, it’s just that they don’t understand the language. I snapped this photo to prove it to you. It’s evidence that they don’t quite understand the word “vegetarian,” either. Unless it’s Tofurkey.
We have a nice “little bitchen borrito kitchen” (their words) here in Seattle. That covered their bases quite nicely. There it is printed on the menu for all to see.
“All items on this menu are vegetarian, except those with meat” I’m glad they cleared that up.
And while dining with Korean friends at a real Korean restaurant I inquired about the meaning of a sign in the window. My friends translated, as the owner spoke no English. The owner said the sign says “Come in and let us extend our hospitality to you.” I explained that his sign written in English had a slightly different meaning. The sign read.
“Eat here and let us hospitalize you”
And while I laugh at others trying to write in a language they really don’t understand I can only imagine what I might write if I opened a little café in Italy.