by the glass

[Randy Caparoso]

Great story, Curmdugeon! What do you think of retail/restaurants like the Wine Cask in Santa Barbara? Attended a lunch there last year, and thought their prices (both sides) were quite decent for the high level of food and service they offer. Wish this was possible in Hawaii. Actually, one type of dream restaurant that I always envisioned is a place where people would go through a line cafeteria style, but the food would be incredible -- by trained, adventurous chefs -- and at the end, of course, there would be a short but sweet selection of great wines sold at retail. Low labor and modest but comfortable setting would make the food prices 20%-35% lower than normal fine dining venues. There'd even be additional senior citizen, early bird, and X-Gen discount hours (the X-ers' time, of course, would be after 10 p.m.). If I have the energy, I'll do this when I retire.