This article about the slow death of New York City’s diner culture just makes me sad. But the line I absolutely do not understand is this one…
“A guy who’s eating a filet mignon doesn’t want to sit next to a toothless grandmother nibbling on a toasted corn muffin,”
What? First of all, who pays attention to what someone else is the same restaurant as you is eating other than to say to your waiter “Oh, what’s that?” Second, if both the filet mignon and the corn muffin are delicious who the hell cares?
In context, this line is supposed to show the ill effects of gentrification on a diner culture, always loveably 40 years passe. But in also illustrates something dumber at work. People try to gain fashionability points based on where they eat out, often going tso far as to patronize a restaurant with C+ food, B+ atmosphere and A+ prices.
I’m as fond of a interesting dining atmosphere as the next person. But 99% of the time I go out to eat, it’s to feed craving with a sublime dish. That could be a corn muffin or it culd be filet mignon because is about taste, not packaging and certainly not price. I can’t get over that some people are willing to pay good money for bad food just to sit in a nice room while eating it (via megnut).
How much do you think about these things when you go out to eat?
