Got Time for a Quickie?

(Mister Takeout can be found on Twitter @mistertakeout and on FB as John Q Takeout)

Sometimes you just don't have time. Time for good sex. Time to watch your favorite television show. Time for takeout lunch (or to write a decent blog entry about takeout lunch). Luckily, even a quickie is better than no sex, almost everyone with a TV has a DVR attached... and when there's no time for "real" takeout, there's a Starbucks on every corner.

Yes, you read that right. Starbucks. Today was one of those days when I had no time, and over the past two years Starbucks has quietly established itself as the 'Plan Z' for those who can't spare 15 minutes to go pick up a decent meal.


Today's Takeout Lunch Establishment

Starbucks
Pick up a rock, close your eyes
Spin around three times, throw the rock
You'll hit one


The Order

One banana and a French vanilla yogurt with strawberries, blueberries and Granola.
$5.67 with tax


The Wait

If I exit my office onto N. Michigan Ave., I can reach Starbucks in 37 steps. I counted. The process of selection, payment and arrival back at my desk took less than five minutes.
RATING: 10


The Packaging

Like most fast food chains, Starbucks over-packages, but they do make a real effort to use either post-consumer or recyclable materials. And as I've mentioned before, I can't complain too much - it isn't like this plethora of plastic comes as a surprise. But I still feel it is my duty to point out when a restaurant isn't being as 'green' as it could be.
RATING: 8


The Presentation

The banana was large and yellow, with just the right number of brown spots indicating perfect ripeness. The yogurt looked just okay. It reminded me of that eighth grade science experiment where you pour dyed liquids of different densities (oil, water, corn syrup) into a beaker and watch them separate. But being pretty sure the layers were in fact yogurt, fruit and granola, I bought it anyway.
RATING: 5


The Food Itself

Remember the first blog entry where I told the story of my trusted colleague calling takeout lunch nothing more than "stomach fill?" This was one of those rare days when he turned out to be right. The banana tasted like a banana and went down quickly. The yogurt combination, once it no longer resembled a science experiment, was a little on the sweet side, but also served to still the rumbling in my tummy.
RATING: 5


If you have time (and money) to go out for lunch, do it. There's nothing like getting out of the office for an hour to clear your head and increase your productivity. If you must eat at your desk, do your best to order something worthwhile for takeout or delivery. Good food isn't the same as time away, but it does lift the spirit and put a little spring in those keyboard pounding fingers. But if worse comes to worst, you could do worse than a quickie on the corner with Starbucks.

OVERALL RATING: 7

Note: this meal fit into the not-get-any-fatter diet so I ate the whole thing myself. I did give the guy outside Walgreens a buck this morning, though, so I think everything balanced out.