After church on Sunday, a friend and I decided we should hit up a downtown locale for lunch. Picking a place to go out to eat is rough, right?? (I have a literal list in my phone to pull up if I'm in a pinch and don't know what to decide because I hate the agony of indecision.) I used one of my favorite methods when I think a standstill is coming: one person provides a few options and the other picks from the choices provided. So I gave her three restaurant choices, but then paused (somewhat dramatically) and added, ".....or we could go to The Kitchen." I'm pretty sure she looked at me in a surprised way because she was fully aware that I was on a Kitchen boycott after I received some really rude service there. But, I decided I was willing to give them another shot. She picked The Kitchen, and we were off.
We headed downtown (so I guess I didn't technically walk there...but I did walk home so that counts as blogworthy :)) and headed to The Kitchen. The Kitchen is a fairly new restaurant...I think less than 2 years old. It has what appears to be an intentionally community vibe about it. The seating is pretty close together and in long rows, so you end up kind of feeling like you're eating with the people next to you. The kitchen part of the restaurant is open, which also makes it feel more homey. It's open 24/7, which is a real rarity in Salem.
We got seated quickly (amazingly enough, because that can be a real problem there). They served us our own water carafe with jars to drink out of, which is one of my favorite parts of eating there.
After perusing the menu, we ordered and waited. It was nice to sit near the windows with lots of natural light. I'm not really a fan of the overall ambiance though. Some people really love The Kitchen and some people don't. I myself find it...ok, but not my favorite. It's usually a little chaotic for me. It was kind of loud at times, it seemed like other people had to wait to be seated, some people got moved and their food got delivered to the wrong people, and I think every time I've been there, we've had to wait quite awhile for our food. The service was a little slow this time, but it wasn't so bad because it gave us time to talk.
My food arrived - Chorizo tacos - and it was pretty much what I expected. I almost always get tacos there (unless I get breakfast :)). The food generally is fine, not bad (and I've never been sick from their gluten free options which is a major plus) but it's just kind of normal so not my favorite. The beans (or rice? I couldn't tell) were a little spicy for my taste. I've always wanted to try the chicken tacos, but they only come super spicy so I've never had the guts (pun intended) to do so.
The waitress brought our check in a timely fashion. So overall, really, it wasn't a bad experience. I don't think I need to keep boycotting them. But, it's still not going to ever be my first choice. Don't let that stop you from checking it out though because you might be one of the people who end up liking it. If you get overstimulated easily like me, you might try their outdoor seating area. I've eaten out there once and enjoyed it.
After The Kitchen, we stopped a few doors down at The Book Bin so my friend could pick up a book. It's a cute, medium sized bookstore. They used to have another, larger secondary location for awhile, but now this downtown one is it. The staff is pleasant and helpful and they have a wide enough variety of books to make it interesting. I like that they have a resident cat and a sign on the door asking the patrons to please not let it out. That is pretty quintessential bookstore in my opinion.
Then we walked around the block to my favorite place in all of Salem: Archive. I can't even write about it right now, because it is too important to me to only have it be a footnote on a blog. It deserves so much more. For now, suffice it to say that I wasn't in a caffeine mood and so I got some tea called "feel better" and it was tasty.
It was then just a short walk under the summery sun, a buzzing of my building door as I entered, and a ladder climb up to my lofted bedroom for an urban Sunday nap.
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