DELIGHTED

They opened a new house of worship by my office. I decided to go spend some time there during lunch today. By the way, it's called JASON'S DELI.

Now what could be so great about another deli? Panera, Atlanta Bread, Bread & Co., does Nashville/the world really need another deli chain? Yes (well, until this moment yes, but not anymore).

You see, the beauty behind Jason's Deli and the reason that I predict I will have to begin paying rent to them, is the Salad Bar. The closest thing to it in town is Bread & Co., and I try to avoid going there because it is really hard to get to as well as really overpriced. Good thing Jason's Deli is not (as) overpriced, because as I found out today, it is actually even harder to get to than Bread & Co. So at least it's got the price factor on its side. And the free yogurt.... OH the free yogurt. If you ask really nicely, sometimes Bread & Co. will give you a free child's cookie which is nothing more than a 3" sugar cookie in the shape of a star that was originally a scrap of dough cut out from another cookie that some bright employee decided to pop in the oven and give away to children. If you are lucky, that's what you can land for free. Jason's Deli, on the other hand, gives EVERYONE, child or not, free frozen yogurt. Case closed.

So I pass the building on my way to work from the doctor's office this morning and notice the COMING SOON sign is gone and in its place are red balloons, rays of sunshine and what appears to be manna from Heaven scattered about the sidewalk. I nearly had a wreck. I got to work and immediately found the number and gave them a call. Yes, they were open; yes, today was their first day; yes, the frozen yogurt machine was up and running.

The day passes and finally it's lunchtime. No one wanted to go with me in the rain to spend time kneeling at the altar/visiting the salad bar, but I didn't let that stop me.

Ya'll, it took me 20 minutes to get from my office parking lot to a parking spot at Jason's. It's on this really busy street and when I say on, I mean, ON. I could spit from the front door onto the cars whizzing by (if I was into spitting). I miss the subtle "Additional Parking This Way" sign just before the building because I was too busy waving to the Jason's employee that was out front beckoning people inside. "I'M ON MY WAY!" I mouthed, like she could really tell/care what I was saying.

Anyway, the street immediately after the building is one way. So I drive one block farther, make a right, drive what I think is a whole block and then take another right onto what I think is the street before the Jason's block, but is actually just the one way street I passed that is after Jason's block. I had come up short. So I turn right again, continue even farther in the opposite direction, turn right again, and head back towards Jason's Deli, making sure to go far enough down so that at my next right turn, I come out Jason's street before the turn for additional parking. Or, to put it more clearly: I WAS GOING IN CIRCLES. Anyway, I finally pull in the "Additional Parking This Way" lot so fast I gave myself whiplash. My efforts were rewarded when I discover that at the end of this maze there is a well-concealed parking deck below my Jason's Deli, with plenty of spots. I whip in there and sprint up the stairway to heaven/the sidewalk.

I place my order and am handed a neatly organized To Go box. An organized To Go box: they knew who they were dealing with. There's a package of flatware, a small cup and lid for my salad dressing and a larger cup and lid probably for pasta or soup but soon to be occupied by my yogurt. I help myself to the salad bar and all its glory, swing by the yogurt machine, and then skip back to my car.

Long story short: it was great great great. Especially the frozen yogurt. I will be back. Albeit, I might return on foot or on a bike (or in this weather, an ark), but I'll definitely return. I think Otter's has some real competition.