acho que não

My 30th birthday is rapidly approaching and I fear that I may soon lose the ability to think myself as young. I'm reassured slightly that I still have a lot of years to be young compared to the clientele at Country Style. When seeking authentic deliciousness, that's either a really good sign, or a really terrible one. Old people either know where to find the good stuff, or stick with the $8.99 early bird special at the Chainatorium.

Unfortunately, I erred in my search for authentic deliciousness. I was entranced by something called a 'wooden platter' which, at $32.95, featured most of the menu. I couldn't bring myself to spend that much, but I was still captivated by the thought of a sampler. I allowed myself to be seduced by the appetizer menu instead.

I chose breaded mushrooms, a cabbage roll and sausage and pierogi (or, rather more accurately, chose to omit fried cheese as too rich and sausage alone as repetitive). Not exactly amongst the most authentic of Hungarian dishes. Still, after realizing my poor strategic ordering, I held out hope for deliciousness.

The first dish to arrive was the pierogi with sausage. I was briefly disappointed when I saw the small piece of sausage nestled on top of the pile of fried onions. Then I realized that the onions were more of a mountain than a pile, and the sausage only looked small in contrast. It was mild, but tasty, and a reasonable size. The pierogi buried under the onions were generous and nicely textured but otherwise not very interesting - better than storebought, but not much.

Next up was a cabbage roll, that appeared to be about the size of the head of cabbage it was made from. Generosity, like authenticity, is not guarantee of deliciousness, and indeed, the cabbage roll was dull and flavourless, despite the densely packed filling.

Finally, came the platter of mushrooms. Once again, huge. But at least, this time, there was some flavour to go with the portion size. The mushrooms themselves were large and lightly breaded, and they were served with a sweet creamy dipping sauce that was a good accompaniement. The same of it was, having wasted appetite on the pierogi and cabbage roll, I was only able to eat a small number of the two dozen mushrooms presented.

As I tasted my way through my self-selected array of mediocrity, I watched platter after platter of golden brown schnitzel walk by. That, of course, is where the deliciousness was likely located. Few restaurants do everything well, especially outside their core specialties, and in this case, ordering poorly got me a poor meal where a great one was a distinct possibility.

My bad.