Returning to town after spending a few days in Cleveland I was happy to go out to dinner with my wife. She suggested that we return to Mitchell's Steakhouse, spot that we visit time and again. Alas, it had been quite a while since had been there.

We arrived fairly early—before six in the evening and promptly got a table. A few were there already. I supposed that the rather informal dress could be attributed to an early crowd that would clear out before the evening progressed too much.

I started with my usual cocktail-hour drink, Scotch—The Glenlivet 18 and settled in.

As more tables were given away I could not help but notice that my surroundings were not getting more elegant as the evening progressed. I later learned that there was an archery convention in town.

You'd think that hunters, if anyone, would understand the need for dressing to fit your surroundings. How they imagined that their woodland camouflage would blend in with the décor of a steakhouse offering entrées of $40 and more is beyond me.

One cannot help but wonder if Columbus is “mid-market” because it will put up with this sort of thing, or whether it will put up with this sort of thing because it is “mid-market.”

It isn't as though the restaurant has abandoned all standards. They had no difficulty presenting me with a bill for $17 for the Glenlivet 18. Pity that elegance is apparently optional.