Friday open thread: what’s your go-to meal?

Happy Friday! As I write this, it’s just about lunch time, and since I didn’t bring lunch to work today, I need to go out and forage for my lunch. Like most people who eat out regularly, I have a rotation of places close to my work that I generally pick from, but I also tend to have a default.

There’s a teriyaki place not far from my work that, when I can’t think of anything that really interests me for lunch, I’ll go there. It’s not great food, but it’s reliably decent and reasonably cheap. Having spent a bunch of my adult working life in Seattle prior to moving to Portland, I became not just a connoisseur of but an addict to Seattle-style teriyaki, so much so that in both the cities I moved to after leaving Seattle, I was stunned to find that no such thing really exists anywhere else.

I mean, I didn’t even know it was referred to as “Seattle-style” until I didn’t live there any more. I don’t know if this still holds true, but one of Seattle’s points of civic pride through the 90’s and early 2000’s was that there were more neighborhood teriyaki places than traditional fast-food restaurants in the city - as many Starbucks as you see in your area, that’s how many teriyaki places Seattle had. Some have closed over the years, for sure, but there’s still a ton, and it’s still one of the foods I crave most, which is why I go to the mediocre-ish place by my work so much.

What’s your go-to food when you are hungry and just want to not think about what you want to eat? Whether it’s a comfort food, a staple of your diet for other reasons, or just a food that you love and can’t live without, let’s talk about food!

Or, if that’s not interesting, tell me about what you’re doing this weekend! It’s an open thread, so what we talk about is really up to you. Have at it!