I try and eat something interesting for lunch every day I can. Zaguan is a great Latin bakery across the street from the Observer HQ that serves a decent arepas. I covet Reina Pepiada: a salad of pulled chicken and avocado. Nosh, up the street, composes some beautiful plates at noon, and La Duni has some decent sandwiches when I have an hour for lunch.
Sometimes the clock is ticking, though -- a deadline looms, or the moment my stomach tells me it's time to eat I look up at the clock and it's already 1:30. Sometimes it's too hot out or rainy to venture outside for eats. So sometimes I'm stuck taking the long, sad ride down to the office deli.
The deli in our building does decent business despite using pressed turkey loaf lunch meat, grocery store bread and iceberg lettuce. I'd love some meats roasted in-house, or at least some bread from a decent bakery. Is that too much to ask? Even a salad bar with more than five choices might do wonders for my waistline. Healthy eating is twice as tough when all the choices bore you.
Here's the thing: Office eateries have a pretty easy go at things. You have to pass them on the way to your car, and they tempt with an affordable lunch without the hassle of traffic, travel or parking. Multiple floors of potential customers sit just overhead. They have great hours. (Who do you know in the restaurant biz who gets to work a 6-2?)
But unfortunately for customers, they don't have to try very hard. And unless they're powered by Facebook or Google, they usually don't.