Fieldstone Grill: Assumptions, Expectations, Anticipation

I'll admit that a restaurant with 'Grill' in the name does not immediately strike me as a “vivid entryway into another culture” or "a kind of travel or border crossing for [me] personally." But I don't usually go to Grills where they tell you who the chef is, or recommend wine pairings on the menu, where one of the appetizers costs the same as an entree. I don't usually go to places that serve ten-dollar burgers on shiny white plates, presented (judging from the pictures) like an artisanal creation, accompanied by french fries arranged like a bouquet of flowers in a metal cup.

In short, this is not my culture.

Expensive restaurants make me deeply uncomfortable. Part of it is that I associate price with fanciness, accompanied by uncomfortable clothes, mysterious etiquette, and more forks and spoons than any one person should need for one meal. The fanciness of the food is also a concern. I have fairly simple tastes; although they've expanded somewhat in the last couple years, looking for something to eat on some menus still feels like reading a Where's Waldo? book.

Value is also an issue. Why should I pay fourteen dollars for three pieces of battered fish and some fries (and some coleslaw that I won't even eat)? For that matter, why should I pay fourteen dollars for cheese ravioli with sausage vodka cream sauce when I'd be perfectly happy boiling some ravioli at home and throwing on some Prego. Why would anyone even want sausage vodka cream sauce? Sausage sauce? Sure. Cream sauce? Sure. Vodka sauce? Maybe, although I don't know what exactly vodka sauce would consist of or whether you would want it anywhere near four-cheese ravioli. But putting them all together seems unnecessary and slightly dangerous.

Then there's the price itself. My older sister has always been the one who spends money and, therefore, gets money spent on her. Starting in my early teens, I decided that I would try to offset my sister. Part of that was, when choosing between two or three things at a restaurant, I would pick the cheapest one. In the short term, it was a difference of a dollar or two. In the long term, I liked to think that, through this and other practices, I was saving my family a significant amount of money. So naturally, expensive restaurants bothered me, because they made my "job" that much harder. I've since stopped doing this as often, for whatever reason, but those feelings stick with me.

Having said all that, Fieldstone grill presents me with some contradictions. Yes, some of their food is expensive, and yes, some it comes with sausage vodka cream sauce. But the fact is, I kind of want to try that ravioli. And they do have burgers, and pizza, and pot roast, and overpriced fish-n-chips. And cheese fondue, which I want to always be a thing everywhere. Their tables don't have white table-cloths, or any table-cloths, for that matter. It actually looks pretty casual. So I guess I don't actually know what to expect.

The price still bothers me, though.