Beat the Clock Special Beats the Blues

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am kind of a senior citizen. I think it would be totally delicious to be in bed by 9 every night. I prefer attending matinees, because I get sleepy if a movie or play runs past my bedtime. And I have a deep, dark, secret love affair with the Beat-the-Clock special at Dupar's.

Now...I'm a discerning eater, and I'm gonna be honest-BTC is sometimes a genius experience and sometimes a really "meh" experience. If you find yourself at Dupar's at the Grove, or on Ventura Blvd in Studio City in the witching hours (4-6pm), the time you sit down is the amount you pay for soup/salad AND your entree (for reals). There are four entrees from which you can choose. If you do not choose carefully, your night can go horribly awry. I once got a little crazy, went out on a limb, and ordered the Welsh Rarebit, as I had fond memories of making Welsh Rarebit during grad school with my dear friend TDW (we were going through a George Bernard Shaw phase). Ours was savory with a little bite to it, broiled to brown, crispy, cheesy perfection in our miniscule Manhattan kitchen. Dupar's Welsh Rarebit was a sloppy, floppy, Velveeta-soaked affair (I'd just like to note that "sloppy", "floppy", and "Velveeta affair" all in the same sentence never amounts to anything good.) I should have known better-Dupar's is really a mediocre diner at best, but I was so dang curious that I had to do it. Never again. In the words of Amy Winehouse, "I said NO, NO, NO." (I just equated rehab with Welsh Rarebit. Omigod.)

Happily, my friend Rita and I had a really good turkey BTC special (at 5pm) this evening. There was cranberry sauce (canned, but I don't discriminate), there was white meat turkey, there was gravy and mashed potatoes and roasted veggies and STUFFING. It was Stove Top-esque, but as with the cranberry sauce out of the can, I JUST DON'T CARE. Stove-Top stuffing tastes so damn good. I'll eat it any day of the week, esp soaked in some (canned) gravy. All foodie pretentions=out the window. I will probably never be allowed back into the secret foodie society after admitting publicly that I enjoy the BTC special at Dupar's, but really...in these troubled economic times, I take the $5 dinner where I can get it.

I was a little blue today...wish I could say I wasn't but that just wouldn't be true. But a great remedy for one's blue period is a not-half-bad dinner for under 10 bucks. As a little side bonus, there were a bunch of actual senior citizens having dinner as well, and whenever I see them I am always reminded to get out and get livin'. I mean, what am I waiting for? If I'm lucky, I too will be 85 years old someday, shuffling my way to the BTC special at Dupar's (probably with Rita) and when that day comes, I'm guessing I'll be glad to have some scintillating stories to spice up the evening. Then we can retire at 9pm, fully sated and dreaming of the wild days of yore.

As Ann-Margret once said, "We've got a lot of livin' to do!"