Summertime is nearly upon us, and some of the wonderful signs of summer are being seen all around. People are out jogging more. Convertibles go around with the tops down. Children go off to school wearing shorts. Golf leagues and softball leagues are getting started. For many of us, summertime is a more relaxed, casual, and playful time of year.

One thing that is especially characteristic of the days of summer is a more laid-back, informal attitude towards dining. People come to picnics and cookouts, backyard barbecues in a various state of dress -- or undress: golf shirts; wild, loud, plaid Bermuda shorts; T-shirts with all manner of strange pictures or sayings on the front; sandals; flip-flops; bathing suits; hair tangled from salt water, legs covered with sand from the beach, sweaty fr…