To Go, Please.

Last summer I worked an internship at a video arts studio, helping edit a short film. It was a lengthy drive down an interstate each day. From one of the exit overpasses, one could see a Waffle House that foreclosed and was replaced with an Istanbul Grille. But to the great benefit of comedy, the new dinner did not replace the Waffle House sign, but instead decided to paint their name over it. This was problematic as the Waffle House sign was, as it notoriously is, divided into 11 squares for each letter of their name (six on the top, with five below it). Obviously, fitting "Istanbul Grille" into the same organization required three pairs of letters to be squashed together into one square. I felt bad for the U and L, having to put up with each other just because of the restaurant's inability to afford a different sign. But the true humor is that if the E was dropped from the end of Grille, at least the bottom would have fit perfectly. But the managers do have some wisdom behind their disoriented sign. The effect of appearing exquisite is priceless. The restaurant may serve awful food, provide a hospitable environment for rodents, use human flesh in their "Doner Kebab", but the E on their sign provides an illusion of esteem that only ignorance could advocate. Yes, I eat at the Istanbul Grille.