It was already percolating on my mind after driving by a billboard for “Pepsi Max,” a cola for men. I do want to try it (queue ‘anything, once’ slogan) if only to understand what a focus group determined was a male flavor. Beef? Mushrooms? This beverage is taking on decidedly umami characteristics in my imagination. Old Spice?

When I arrived at the new taqueria in the Theater District yesterday afternoon, I was feeling chatty. I’d just left Grillo’s Pickles on the Common and was still glowing from the trio of garlicky spears eaten as I strolled. I’d read a positive review of the taqueria recently; as is my custom, I thought I should ask about specialties, what’s best, blah blah.

The owner answered, “Well, for the girls, they like…” and “For the boys…” explaining that the latter prefer bulky burritos while the former dine on delicate quesadillas. I immediately bristled, wondering what that had to do with how anything tasted, but it was advice I took with a grain of salt since it was, after all, pushing 90, humid, and not a day for a hefty lunch. Subtext: perhaps I wasn’t in for anything too special anyway, since there was no must-have menu star.

There was a passage in, I think it was, Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl, who described how it was common for a waiter to deliver her steak to her husband, while she could expect to receive her husband’s salad, swap to follow. Tim and I encounter this regularly; he’s far more apt to order a dinner salad out than I am, and likewise, I gravitate toward whatever menu item is still bleeding more often than not.

I thought of this as I ate my feminine quesadilla, which tasted vaguely of paper, and was cursed with the sort of pico de gallo you can buy in a tub near the pre-cut carrot sticks and salad bags. I’m not sure I would’ve been any better off had I ordered the burrito in question, given the faulty components. So much for heteronormative burritos.

Meanwhile, photos of a few recent meals at home, where the men and the women all eat the same thing.

North African spice-rubbed chicken, vegetals

Pan-crisped cod; dilled mashed potatoes; corn, tomato and scallion salad

Olive oil fried egg, stock-braised kale and some funny purple-grained toast