A Birthday Meal That's Too Difficult, I Feel

I love fajitas and I hate them. They are, of course, delicious. I had them at my birthday dinner yesterday evening. One can have them made in a variety of ways. They can have flour or corn tortillas, and they may feature any number of meats. I had chicken, steak and shrimp, along with grilled peppers and onions as well as the rice, beans and all else. They really were tasty, and rightly were the most expensive item on the menu. Fortunately they were free for the birthday boy.

They were not free of one thing, and that was some effort on my part. For some reason, they cook it all up and leave it to you to assemble. I go to restaurants for at least a few reasons. One is that at them I can have things that I never could at home. Another reason is that they cook the food and they clean up afterwords. All of the hard and unpleasant stuff is on them, and all the fun stuff is for me. Not so with fajitas, which you must assemble.

Sure, they tell you that they're just leaving it up to you exactly how you want them. Don't they also do that at a place like Subway, where they ask you every little thing about what you want and how you want it? They ask, and then they do it. They don't just wave you behind the counter to exhaust yourself mentally and physically getting the sandwich together. There's no need. If the Mexican restaurant asked, I would just say, "Make for me an equal amount of fajitas containing each different type of meat, with the secondary ingredients parceled out evenly among them. Do this, for I so command."

They don't ask, though. They put a bewildering array of hot ingredients in front of a novice who's just looking to relax and eat a meal, not make one under the pressure of hunger and prying eyes. I happen to think that's a mistake. Mexican restaurants and sit-down burger places are on top now, but they could easily be ruined by customers tired of finishing the eatery's work like it's an entree furnished by IKEA. I don't care for that. The fajitas were delicious though, as was the margarita (which, I might note, was fully assembled and worry-free).