McCormick and Schmick's

My family ate at McCormick and Schmick's tonight. This was probably our 20th time or so at one of the M/S restaurants. My wife got a $20 certificate in the mail, so seafood sounded a little better than anything else for dinner.

I drive a car that is slightly on the expensive side, and some slightly expensive cars go somewhat out of the way to make them harder to figure out how to get moving then the average-priced car. So I asked the valet if he knew how to drive my car, and he said that he did. As we were about to get seated, I glanced outside to see how the valet was doing, and I saw him fiddling with controls and looking a bit perplexed. I stepped back outside to give him some help, but by then he figured out how to drive the 10 feet to the trophy spaces where valets typically park cars they think are cool or expensive. I gave him a tip, anyway, when we left the restaurant for his moving the car 10 feet.

My son loves raw oysters and clams, and he wanted to order the Big Chill as an appetizer. The Chill is designed for 4-6 people and it consists of raw oysters, raw clams, smoked mussels, various smoked fish, chilled shrimp and scallops. I was disappointed that it didn't include a chilled lobster. It was just OK, too heavy on the smoked fish and too light on the raw shellfish. Next time, my son and I will just order a dozen oysters and a dozen clams.

I've never had a really great meal at M/S. I've never had a bad experience, just never a great one. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure why we keep going back. Because we never have a bad experience? Because the waiters are actually pretty attentive? I don't know.

The next time a valet claims to know how to drive your hard-to-figure-out car, don't believe him. But go ahead and give a tip. Most valets work pretty hard, even for that ten feet.