Jen at Scarlet Art's blog

It seems kind of ridiculous to blog about where I ate dinner. Although, it seems a better choice than the other one I was considering: "Modesto's Mystery Meat: Possum!" (What's that furry thing in the road? What's that thing drinking out of the pool? What's eating all the cat food I put out?) So, count yourself lucky, I guess.

Seriously. I grew up here, and I remember when nobody went downtown for anything respectable after work hours. I really like what's been happening the last ten years or so, and I want to participate more in patronizing local businesses. But there are some mental blocks I have, maybe others have them too, that it's too hard to get parking, or that it will be too expensive. Sometimes that can be true, but it doesn't have to be.

Midweek is a good time to eat out downtown. A lot of places are having live music all week, not just on Friday-Sunday. I took my son to dinner at Barking Dog Grill last night, even though he was begging for Denny's. I was able to squeeze into a spot on 11th street just east of the parking garage entrance, so our parking was free. We sat at the counter, which was a bit of a squeeze for the customers and wait staff behind us, even though our chair legs were all the way scooted in as far as they would go and hitting the bar. I would have liked a table, but he wanted to watch the action in the kitchen, which was efficient and clean. The chef did a great job, and even though there was a bit of a wait for our food, it was because the place was doing some good business last night and we had to wait our turn for the excellent food. People, they *skin the tomatoes* there, which is enough to make me a true blue Barking Dog zealot.

We started with coffee for me and a root beer float for my son, which they refilled with extra root beer for free, without us even asking. The coffee (Tully's) was dark and rich and delicious with the real cream provided in a real ceramic creamer (not packets, not even plastic pull-tops). Consider the chandeliers and the exposed brick walls and the art compositions on the wall, and I was really feeling like an adult having an adult dinner in a nice restaurant. (Parents might know what I mean by that statement.) Add in the swingy saxophone jazz ensemble that started playing shortly after we ordered, and I was in a moment of heaven for a mid-week evening.

The hot dogs are not only delicious, they're like works of art. I don't know how else to explain their presentation. And I was strangely compelled to call mine a "frankfurter," because it just didn't seem to belong in the same category as those cold, octagonal bullets that come shrinkwrapped from the store. My son doesn't like a lot on his burger, so they made him a plain cheeseburger with ketchup on the side. He said it was really good. The seasoned fries, even though we attacked them with no mercy, and with the help of ranch dressing and ketchup to cool the spice a bit, just wouldn't die. We ruefully had to leave some of those soldiers behind. And only because we were totally stuffed.

In the end, I felt we had really gone out and done something a bit extravagant. Way more enjoyable than Denny's, and although I'm not sure my son's a jazz aficionado, he didn't complain. The total price after tip, I calculated, was only about $3 more than if we had eaten our chosen selections at Denny's. I got so much more out of this midweek venture than $3 can buy. If you're not hitting downtown during the week, you really should, and I'm planning to make it a habit.