Casual

...But self-seating isn't all that defines the regular...

...And I've gotten to know Marty O'Brien, Fran's son and the current proprietor...

...Fran's is not the first establishment where I've held the distinguished rank of regular...

...So every night around midnight, I'd order delivery from Karen's, a Chinese restaurant that catered mainly to students...

...The regular will typically order "the usual...

...Getting beer at college is not particularly difficult, but getting it delivered at your parents' expense is quite a feat...

...Unlike the walk-ins, we're not bound by the sign that says "Please Wait to be Seated...

...I used to order dinner from a little Greek place around the corner...

...Since I was a regular, the young man who prepared the food knew just how I liked my Gyro—no onions—and he knew how my fiancée liked her falafel salad...

...I am a creature of habit with an aversion to change of any kind...

...Because I called Karen every night with the same order—one order spareribs, one order won-ton soup, one order egg rolls—we got to be pretty friendly...

...Marty, who runs the steak house with a partner, has been told only that the sudden eviction was the result of "a business decision" by Hilton— though he told me he suspects that the weekly procession of amputees might be a factor...

...Later, when I first started working in Washington, I'd get my lunch every day at Il Pranzo, a pizzeria just a block from our office...

...But being a regular almost always pays off...

...However, if the regular and his waiter are truly simpatico— and Mauricio and I are—the waiter will inquire if the regular will be having his usual, leaving the regular to order with a simple nod indicating the affirmative...

...Fran's treats them and their families to all-you-can-eat steak dinners...

...Every day, I would walk in and pay for my food without saying so much as a word to the cashier, who would present me with my two slices of cheese pizza and medium coke...

...I find that a bit hard to believe...

...I'm not sure whether Karen delivered beer to anyone else— the student delivery boys used to look surprised—but I would get a six pack delivered most nights for me and my friends...

...Il Pranzo had the best pizza in Washington...

...Fran's at least is still here for a little while longer, so this week as usual it will host its special regulars on Friday night...

...For ten years, in the Capitol Hilton at the corner of 16th & L Streets, just a short distance from the White House and two blocks from the offices of The Weekly Standard, Fran O'Brien's has been serving manly fare—the kind its late founder and namesake, an offensive tackle for the Washington Redskins, liked...

...Sometimes a waiter might love a little too much, though...

...The regular knows what he likes, and will not be bullied by his mother or anyone else into trying Thai food or anything, for that matter, with which he is unfamiliar...

...It was when the falafel salad started coming with little notes inquiring about her well-being that I decided to sever my ties with that particular eatery...

...I believe the regular is best defined by his ability to order in two words or less...

...Every Friday since just after the start of the Iraq war, wounded soldiers have come from Walter Reed Army Medical Center...

...MICHAEL GOLDFARB...

...But being a regular means being loyal, and from here on out it's the Marriott for me...

...I seat myself, and always at the same table, right in front of a bank of three televisions invariably tuned to ESPN, ESPN 2, and ESPN Classic...

...Why Mauricio understands this about me while my mother, who carried me in her womb for nine months, cannot is no great mystery...

...Mauricio loves me for who I am, a regular customer and a good tipper...

...Marty operates the place more like a clubhouse than a restaurant, and we regulars get to make ourselves at home for the hour or two we're there...

...They come in groups of 25 to 30, some gingerly making their way down the stairs in the front, while those in wheelchairs use a service elevator in the back...

...But Il Pranzo, like Fran's, was served with a sudden eviction notice a while back and had to shut down...

...At college I was something of a homebody, or couch potato if you will, and I was often too lazy to leave my room for food, let alone class...

...This aversion to change, of course, is typical of the regular...

...I've become a regular at Fran's over the last two years, eating lunch there whenever time and my expense account permit...

...This relationship led me to uncover one of my school's best kept secrets: Karen, whose restaurant offered a service that allowed students to have their bills sent through the school directly to their parents, also sold beer...