One of the people in our department has now been working at Washington University for 25 years, so to celebrate we decided to go the Whittemore House for lunch as a group. Having just eaten at the Griesedieck Dining Hall at Saint Louis University the day before, that would make two on-campus meals in two days at two different universities for me. But the difference between a college dorm cafeteria and the "members only" Whittemore House could not be more stark.
After a pleasant walk from our building to the Whittemore across Forsyth, the six of us were seated at a round table in the fairly empty dining area with a good vantage point to see everyone coming and going. As usual there were a number of people some of our group recognized. Marcia noticed they did not have any of their tasty crisp cheesy bread out on our table, so we had to ask our waitress to bring some and she quickly obliged. After taking drink orders she returned shortly with iced tea for a the few of us who ordered it and proceeded to knock one of them directly on the floor. Luckily nobody in our group got wet, but she had to get a new tea and then try to clean up the mess on the carpet. We noticed we did not see her again afterwards!
A different waiter took our orders and we all ordered something different. Robert ordered the taco salad, Marcia ordered a Mayfair salad, Margo ordered the crab cakes and Lisa ordered the Amish chicken sandwich. Beth wanted a chicken salad sandwich which was not on the menu, but the waiter said they could make one for her. She specified she wanted it on wheat toast and they said they could make it that way for her. As for me, I had to order one of the specials, the "Asian Fusion" Bahn Mi burger with Asian slaw on the side. When our food arrived, Beth's chicken salad appeared on the same kind of large bun as my burger and she had to wait as they remade her sandwich as the rest of us tried out our food. Robert liked his salad and said it was very spicy in a good way. Marcia liked her salad but she liked Margo's crab cakes even more. Lisa said she enjoyed her chicken sandwich as well. As for my burger, the meat was very flavorful and cooked medium well. It was topped with a carrot and cabbage slaw and a sriracha mayonnaise that gave it just the right amount of hotness. The Asian slaw also had a tang and a little hotness to it which went well with the green and yellow peppers in it and the Asian cabbage. The burger and side slaw went together quite well and made a very flavorful lunch.
We noticed while we ate that every now and then someone would come over and fill one person's drink! For example, Marcia's and Margo's teas were both about half full, and someone came over and filled Marcia's tea, and then a few minutes later they came over and filled my water, before going over later and filling Margo's tea. Very strange! Otherwise the service was very good and when Marcia asked for some bread to go they happily agreed to get some for us. Finally at the end of the meal, Robert said the department would pay for it all which made it an even better meal. You cannot beat a nice lunch that is paid for by your employer!
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