A few go-to lunch spots are a must

It's a necessity to have a few good restaurants within walking distance of where one works. Even though I bring my lunch from home most days, there are those occasions when there are no leftovers to pack or when I just don't feel like eating a meal two days in a row.

When I worked at San Jose State University, I had an hour lunch so it was easy to select a place that I could walk to, order and eat while still getting back to the office on time. Grande's, an Italian and pizza place, on the corner of Fourth and San Carlos streets was the go-to place. It was just up the block from my office in MacQuarrie Hall and I ate their countless times with my friends. I think the keys where that it was close and it was relatively affordable. Other favorites included Togo's, also on Fourth Street, Iguana's taqueria and (at least when someone else was footing the bill) Il Fornaio.

Since my job is a busy one now, it helps to have a place that will take phone orders and is a quick walk from the office as my go-to place.

When I was working in the Pinnacle office in Gilroy, I went home for lunch most days. But on the days when I wanted to eat out, it worked perfectly that my favorite Mexican restaurant in town was directly across from the building in which I worked. Cielito Lindo is a little whole in the wall place in downtown Gilroy that has the best flautas ever. The service is good. The food is good. It's a place that only locals know and I make sure to take friends visiting from out of town there.

Now that I've been working in downtown Hollister for a while now I know most of the restaurants within a few block radius. The top choice most times I want to grab a quick lunch is The Elegant Touch. They serve sandwiches, homemade soups, a daily special and mini eclairs that are delicious. The main reason it's at the top of the list is that it is right across the street, I can call in my order and they have the menu up online so it's easy to decide what I want.

This week I wanted something light for lunch and decided to try a new restaurant that's been open for a while in downtown. The spot on San Benito Street has been a bit of a revolving door for restaurants. I stopped going to it when my friends and I went for lunch one day to eat in. We ordered sodas - and had drunk half of them - when my coworker noticed ants floating in the drinks. When we informed the girl at the counter that there were ants in the soda, her response was "Oh yeah. that happens every morning in the soda machine." That was enough to make me not go back.

But the place is under new ownership again, with a new chef, a new menu and a new name. My coworkers had been mentioning how good the food is at the Knife and Fork Cafe for months. So finally this week when I didn't have much of a lunch packed, I decided to try it out. The restaurant doesn't have a Web site, which is a minus, but the staff was willing to fax me a copy of the lunch menu. I selected a Mediterranean salad with greens, kalamata olives and feta cheese. The salad was slightly overdressed for me since I usually prefer my dressing on the side, and it had green onions in it, which I don't really like. It came with a couple slices of ciabatta garlic bread. But overall the ingredients were fresh and tasty. The salad was about the same price as others at downtown restaurants. I'm not really counting this as eating at a new restaurant (Resolution No. 2) since I didn't technically eat at the restaurant. But the salad was good enough I will be back to try the sandwiches or specials.