| Strangler Lewis |
06-11-2007 04:42 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight
(Post 142403)
Near our old place in Irvine, we found a wonderful little Italian place. The decor was pleasant, the food was excellent, and the prices were reasonable. Unfortunately, one of its other charms was that it was always nearly empty. You can guess what happened to it.
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I'm not much on chains, even the better ones because they tend to feel like noisy cattle cars. However, I submit that people like chains because 1) they think that being in a noisy cattle car is kind of a party and 2) chains provide a level of predictability. As to the first point, well, takes all kinds.
As to the second, however, there's a measure of truth. For every small "find," there are dozens of unspeakably horrible dives. A telling example: here in Petaluma we have "Butter and Egg Days" every year. Our erstwhile favorite bakery was along the main parade route. You would think it would be a big day for them, but no: people were spilling out of the Starbucks down the block even though this place had better desserts and better coffee. Of course, the Starbucks patrons were also ignoring the ancient bad bakery on the other side of it where, like everything else they served there, the coffee creamers were filled with shortening. Lots of crappy bakeries out there.
I am always struck, however, when I have a particularly bad meal at a chain (Chili's) about the corporate decision process that yielded, "Yes, we can, but, no, we won't, make this food just a little bit less bad." |
