A locally owned Italian restaurant moved, and to promote their new location distributed buy-one-get-one-free meal coupons. Honorable Husband, Darling Daughter, and I decided to give them a try after church on Sunday. The special of the day, lasagna and salad bar, was HH's choice. DD decided on spaghetti and salad bar. The spaghetti portion was so large that DD brought home enough for two school lunchbox servings.

I went over the menu looking for something Type O. There was a chicken Cesar salad. Romaine would be beneficial and chicken neutral, but there would be multiple avoids in the dressing and Parmesan cheese. Besides, I don't like Cesar salad all that much.

Then I saw a steak sandwich topped with grilled onions, peppers, mushrooms, and mozzarella. That sounded really good. Beneficial steak and onions. Neutral peppers and mozzarella. The mushrooms would be the unknown since some varieties are neutral and some are avoid. I decided to go with the steak sandwich and discard the bread.

A few minutes later the server came back to the table apologizing. They were out of bread, would I pick another lunch? I laughed and told her that I didn't eat bread and that I had ordered it because the inside of the sandwich sounded good. I told her I would be happy if she brought it to me without the bread. She couldn't believe it, and offered me a free trip to the salad bar. I accepted the salad, and assured her that the bread didn't matter.

When she brought our meals, mine was served in an individual casserole dish. The chef had filled it with thin sliced steak and grilled vegetables, then covered it with marinara and mozzarella. Then he heated it until it melted all together. It was incredibly delicious. I loved every bite.

As I finished, the owner came to the table. He told me about how wonderful the bread was that they usually served with the sandwich. He spoke with pride about the fresh vegetables and the veal he used in his food. He apologized and apologized for not serving it the way it was described in the menu.

When I could finally get a word in, I said, "No apologies necessary. What I want to know is, the next time we come, can you serve me exactly what you served today. It was perfect." He beamed and said, Of course we can." We will return to this restaurant with our without a coupon.