My parents are very much stuck in their ways. They like certain cuisines (really, 2 – Cantonese Chinese and Vietnamese), they like certain restaurants, and they don’t like to try anything outside of those unless I come back home (and force them to go, which one or both of them will typically express dismay about). My mom was set on having our first meal together at a restaurant in the Tenderloin district that has received the poorest health scores in the city. It’s made even more evident to me by the fact that when I go to their Yelp business page, a pop-up warning shows up, advising me of their extremely dismal health score and to check back frequently for health score updates. That is not comforting to me.

After seeing this, I told both my parents, and my mom expressed annoyance I didn’t want to go there. “You know, no one is perfect,” my mom said defensively. “Some days will be better than others at this restaurant. It’s the same at your own house: your own house will be cleaner some days over others.”

“Yes, some days my house will be cleaner than others,” I said in response, “But I have not been known to keep contaminated meat lying around to get people sick!”

“Well, then, you can pick another restaurant that will be more expensive if you have the money for it!” she said in response.

Is that what this is about — money? Yes, this Tenderloin restaurant is cheap, and the last time I was there, the food was definitely tasty. I’ll pay for the damn bill at whatever restaurant I end up picking. That’s really not that big of a deal, otherwise, why go out to eat at all?!