No appetite for sushi moochers

I had to answer the letters you ran in response to “Sounds Fishy: She Eats (and Eats), Yet He Pays” [Letters, Jan 18].

Did no men write to back-up the writer? I notice that the only letters you printed (and apparently received) were from outraged women, neither of whom thinks there’s anything wrong with running up a huge meal tab on a first date.

There was nothing in the original column to suggest that the man was a “wimp” or was “sarcastic” to the girl while on the date. All things considered, he seemed to carry himself pretty well and didn’t comment on it until after he got out of the situation. The article was as much asking for advice on what to do in the future as it was dissing the girl’s behavior.

You have to ask yourself what was really going on. Was the girl testing him to see if he was willing to swing for an expensive meal? Or did she already know she wasn’t going to see him again and thought that she might as well get one good, free meal out of him for the time she’d lost that evening?

TOM OGDEN

Los Angeles

*

This is one of the reasons I dine alone at some of the best restaurants in this city, Lucques, Melisse, Jiraffe, Ortolan, Joe’s and a few others.

CHARLES P. MARTIN

Los Angeles