Fish tacos

I'm in a rut. well, scratch that...I have several defined patterns that I follow at every opportunity and do my best to make sure they play out in the same way every time.
Is that a rut? maybe rut (s) ? or perhaps neuroses...

Regardless, for some reason I very much enjoy having "go to" options in my life. These include the way I drive the work, the shows I watch on TV, the jeans I wear, and most importantly the food I eat.

Typically I like to write about outstanding meals/items I find in my travels, but more often than not I am eating things that are pretty pedestrian. For some strange reason Rovers doesn't offer a fast breakfast sandwich, and Elemental isn't providing me with fast lunch fare I can eat at my desk.

So I have developed a system whereby I assign value to "everyday" breakfast/lunch options. I suppose its like my own internal Zagat rating system for less than inspirational food.
Here are the areas I tend to consider:

Time: What is the total time it takes to get in, get out, get back?

Ingredients: Is this thing going to kill me if I eat 200 of them this year? If the answer is no, then does it taste pretty good?

Cost: I should pack my lunch and eat breakfast at home, but i don't. Therefore I like to impose a daily cap of $10 to my breakfast and lunch fare. Not to say i don't break that cap from time to time, but its a good guideline

Reliability: I like places that are open when they say they will be, stock the items I like, and the same people help me every time.

These four key attributes are equally important, but the time element seems to trump the rest. Proximity to my place of employment is critical, so even though I know many places that serve better grub all over the city, I frequent the following:

My breakfast rut: Beba's. It is in the Darth Vader building (just like me) and the couple who run it are extremely nice, reliable, and know me. Every day I order the same thing...a toasted bagel with light cream cheese and tomato slices. Incredibly dull, but effective, inexpensive, and reliable. Beba's always has tomatoes, cream cheese, and fresh bagels. The only variation is the bagel flavor. I like to order either multi grain or jalapeno. I guess its good that they don't always stock the same flavor or I would have the exact same thing every day.

My lunch rut(s):

Option 1: Taco Del Mar. I like this rut because it gets me out of the office for 15 minutes or so. I walk the four blocks to TDM, check out the scenery/crackheads, and clear my mind. I think having a destination is what I like most, not the actual fare.
The overall meal fits within my system however;

time: 15 minutes including the walk. these fellas are efficient.

ingredients: not Whole Foods, but not Burger King either. I like the two tacos, black/whole beans, a little rice, and some soda. Its not health food but I've seen worse.

cost: the meal is $5.99. $4.99 on Tuesdays, and Mondays are double stamp day which gets you 20% towards your goal of a free meal...so if I eat there every Monday (double stamp), every Tuesday ($4.99 meal) and one other day during the week, after two weeks and an extra Monday I end up paying for five full price meals, two reduced price meals, and get one meal "free" based on my 10 stamps. So at the end of the day my out of pocket is $4.99 + tax per meal. Not bad.

reliability: I have two TDMs within four blocks. The one on first and blanchard rocks, the one on 4th and olive doesn't.

Option 2: Ralph's Deli. This is my other "go-to" lunch choice. It is overpriced, funky, and doesn't always have what I need, but they play Van Halen at about 90 db which kinda makes it worthwhile.

time: Five minutes in and out. It is literally across the street.

cost: this kinda throws me off. The sandwich is six bucks, then if you want anything else you pay a premium. example: diet pepsi...2 bucks.

ingredients: i get the same thing every time and i tell them precisely what i want on it so its pretty healthy; whole wheat bread, roasted turkey (they roast on site daily), lettuce, tomatoes, Dijon mustard, light mayo, and occasionally some guacamole. The pickle spear is a nice touch.

reliability: i'd say Ralph's is 82% reliable. pretty good, but not great. some variability in sandwich artists and occasionally they forget to roast the turkey which throws me off.

So that's my routine. Pretty lame, but its mine and I can count on it.
Got a better one?