I think my husband dreamed this up when the kids had discovered we weren’t really as cool as their friends, about the time they were ten and eleven.  They called it a “borgasmord.”

Here’s how it worked.  Each of us were given three strips of paper.  On each strip, we wrote a name of a restaurant and a dish they served.  A strip might say, “Skyline—cheese coney” or “Win Wok – vegetable lo mein.”  All four of us piled into our Ford Econoline van, and each of us put our completed strips in a lunch bag.  Rick approximated a drum roll on the steering wheel, as one of us pulled the first food order. “McDonald’s—French fries.”  Rick would pull out of the subdivision and tool down Delhi Pike to Mickey D’s.

Van Gogh

When we got there, we ordered one small fry and a Diet Coke.  We sat down and shared that one little bag of fries.

Then we got back in the van, and one of the kids would pull out another strip.  “Sebastians—gyro.”  Allison cheered; this was one of her strips.  Rick headed to Glenway Avenue to Sebastians, a little Greek hole-in-the-wall, where we shared one lamb-stuffed pita dripping in tzatziki sauce.

Back to the van, and the next strip sent us to the Bridgetown Road Skyline for a coney, then back to Delhi Pike for Frisch’s soup.  It wasn’t a very “green” adventure, burning up gas zigzagging across Western Hills, but it was a sure way to make the night last and hold the kids hostage.  We usually made it through eight strips before throwing in our sporks and napkins.

Fast forward a couple decades, and we found ourselves in Amsterdam with our daughters and their partners.  Our American Express card had been getting a pretty good workout, and our stomachs had consumed huge meals during our first three days in Holland, so Rick announced that we were going to resurrect Bite Nite.

We didn’t have a car, but we didn’t  need one because you are never more than a couple yards from a restaurant in Amsterdam.  We revised the rules.  No slips of paper.  We just took turns saying where we wanted to go and what we wanted to eat.  And since there were six of us, and we were all now grownups, we’d order two servings.  The person who chose the restaurant paid the bill.  And the final rule?  We’d stop at a bar after every three restaurants for a beverage.  You can really work up a thirst eating bites of junk food.

There were no translation problems.  Henrik-Olav, our daughter’s Norwegian Viking, knew just where he wanted to go and what he wanted to plunder:  pizza.  So we headed to the New York Pizza Parlor right across the Rembrandtplein (Rembrandt Square) from our hotel.  He bought two loaded slices, and the six of us huddled around the table and passed them around.

Then it was Nathan’s choice.  He’d been talking about Donner Kebobs for two years, ever since his first trip to Europe with Stacey.  We stopped at Grillroom Sabba where we agreed that one kebob would be plenty.  The proprietor was not too happy that we were going to take a table in his otherwise empty restaurant to consume a 10 euro meal.  We tried to explain that it was a Bite Nite, but  he just shook his head in disgust.  When he saw I was taking pictures of six people sharing the dish, though, he got more into the spirit.  He told us in heavily accented English, “Have a good time,” as we left his shop.

The cook made me promise I’d post his picture on FB!

Now it was Stacey’s turn, and we all knew where she was headed, and she knew the way because this was her third visit in as many days.  We had to walk a while, crossing several canals, dodging bikes and trams, until we arrived at Chipsy King, a French fry chain that served frites with sauces, including the traditional Dutch mayonnaise.  We ordered two servings to share, and the cook delivered the frites in paper cones with eight sauces and tiny little forks.

Time to hydrate! First bar stop.

Now we were ready for some MSG!  Allison ordered noodles, and I insisted we all use chopsticks (even though I was still inept after two weeks in China).  The silliness of the evening got to all of us at once, and we ate the noodles with a side of giggles.

Rick took us to Baba for some kind of Middle Eastern wraps.  We were pretty full by then, and we may have left a bit of pita behind.  But I reminded them we were not finished yet.  I still had my choice.

I had my heart set on the frosted waffles with sprinkles that I had seen everywhere all over Amsterdam.  But that night, they were nowhere to be found.  The waffle hunt lasted about a half hour.  We hiked back past Chipsy King ( “No more frites, Stacey!”) but all the bakkerswinkel were closed. We found some limp, shrink wrapped waffles in a 7/11, but those weren’t quite right.  Finally we found some doughnuts that were just passable, but they satisfied my sweet tooth.

When it was time for the final beverage stop, Rick and I begged off and headed back to the hotel, satisfied that we had filled the kids’ stomachs and made some memories.

For a fun-filled, stomach-filled adventure, try Bite Nite with your friends and family.

The Statue of Liberty

“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relatives.”  ~ Oscar Wilde
“Eating, and hospitality in general, is a communion, and any meal worth attending by yourself is improved by the multiples of those with whom it is shared.” ~Jesse Browner

“Laughter is brightest in the place where the food is.” ~ Irish proverb

“The meal is not over when I’m full. The meal is over when I hate myself.” ~ Louis C.K.  

Copyright © 2015 Sandy Lingo, All Rights Reserved

Here are some links to other posts about family fun:

Making Friends in the Biggest Small Town:  NYC

Norwegian Dinner:  It begins with a saw

The Absolutely True Story About My Grandpa’s Disappearance in the Smoky Mountains

Bed and Breakfast on the Farm