Food for Thought

As I spent the night eating in a loud, energetic Boston Pizza, loving the fact that I myself am a sucker for bright lights, open spaces, music, and young, attractive wait staff, I found myself wondering, why? Why would I spent a solid 50 dollars for dinner at a place that offers generic, more or less, everyday American food, when this city is alive with culinary, cultural prowess? Granted, the food was delicious. But that was so expected, so necessary. It tasted like food at a place like Boston Pizza, or East Side Mario's should- generic. Pardon my redundancy (or should you?). On top of that, why deny yourself the opportunity for experience, rather than safety or deja vu, especially when the benefit outweighs the cost? I love a good culinary gamble. And when I spend 6.49 for a starter of yam fries with chipotle sauce, I don't feel very adventurous. I feel, instead, sheltered, uneducated, unsophisticated, ripped off. Foolish. Especially knowing that there is a world elsewhere.

Of course, there is never anything wrong with going to those familiar places. Sometimes you need the food; sometimes you need the "ITIS." But don't limit yourself, dear reader. We're lucky enough to live in a multicultural space con comidas. So I encourage you to eek out every hole in the wall that you can. Not only are you saving your wallet from whatever hole; you're saving the hard workers running those mom and pop shops. You may very well be saving your pallete, as well. But you'll never know until you look around. And besides, the Man has enough money anyway, why give him practically double the money for food you eat practically everyday, and at a franchise for that matter?

So again, I encourage you, as a fathead, who at this very moment is drinking his banana and dragon well tea, to get out there, and look for interesting, delapitated, yet delicious places to eat, where filling meals aren't 50 dollars, but 25 or even 15 for the single person. It's a new world, with more and more new dishes everyday.

Tweet