$41 steak - for free

Just over a month ago I ranted about not being able to afford getting a decent steak in a top-quality steakhouse on a regular basis anymore. Just this past week I got a certificate in the mail from the Palm Restaurant 837 frequent-dining club that entitles me to a free entree, including either one of those infamous but delicious $41 steaks or even a 3-pound lobster, sometime over the next 120 days.

I've been a member of the Palm 837 frequent-dining club for many years, although not a very frequent diner over the past few years. I did go to the Palm Too in NYC for a steak over the Christmas holidays, which was apparently enough to put me in good enough graces to merit the normal once a year "birthday" lobster certificate.

Now, all I have to do is arrange to travel within the next three months to a city which has a Palm restaurant. Neither Seattle, Portland, nor San Francisco has a Palm. I was thinking about going to New York or Washington, D.C. in May or June anyway. Now I have a good excuse.

Alas, the economics are such that unless I do have a good reason to visit a city that has a Palm restaurant, I'll have little choice but to let this free entree certificate expire. Sigh. That's life. The new life of steak beyond our means.

-- Jack Krupansky