I prefer fake restaurants

I was just talking to someone about my lack of enthusiasm for the host city of a conference I will probably have to attend later this year. It's in a big city in a big state that I've been to before and don't particularly care for. I summarized my lack of enthusiasm for this particular city by telling a long-winded story, which I will now share with you.

My previous place of employment had a summer intern program. The interns were generally pretty great - young, smart, enthusiastic, and quite a source of entertainment for us older folks (anyone born prior to 1985) with our outdated technology. ("Oh look, how cute! They don't know how to use a typewriter!" "They've never heard of carbon copies!") I particularly remember one young woman who was assigned to work on the program I helped manage. She was from this big city in a big state that I don't particularly care for. She was attending a summer program at Georgetown University, and staying there for the duration of the term.

I remember this young woman for one day in particular, in which during the regular team check-in/shoot-the-breeze session, she shared that she was really missing her hometown, in particular the food. And I thought, oh, you must miss your mom's home cooking, or perhaps a great local dive. When prompted about what she missed, she said it was the lack of "real" restaurants in Georgetown.

Ok, so, I don't know if you've ever been to Washington, DC and/or to the Georgetown area in particular, but as you can see in the map below, full of red dots representing restaurants - the area does not lack dining establishments. At all. As a matter of fact, some of the finest dining in the city can be found in that neighborhood, and you can find all types of price ranges and cuisine types.


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So of course, we had to ask what she meant by a "real" restaurant. And what she meant was the big chain establishments, the type that have a day of the week and/or an apostrophe in their name, and have very similar menu items across the board. Now, I don't think these chain restaurants are all bad, and there is comfort in knowing that a place is going to have the chicken quesadillas you like, but if I'm traveling, I rarely eat at one, unless they're the only choice I have.

When I travel, I like to survey my friends and/or search the internet for recommendations of good local eats. I figure, what's the point of going to a restaurant I can have at home? Let's try something new! Sometimes I luck into great eats, like that Chinese place in Puerto Rico, that Mexican place in Burbank or that pizza place in Philly, but usually I do a little research ahead of time. Saying I'm a foodie sounds pretentious, but considering how I turn my nose up whenever someone suggests eating at a day of the week chain, I guess the word applies.

So I guess what I'm saying is, I prefer "fake" restaurants, and cities that have plenty of them. Ones that have grandma making desserts in the back, or an actual Italian making pasta, where the food may take a little longer to get because it is made from scratch. So the idea of traveling to this big city in a big state full of "real" restaurants with interchangeable menus just doesn't sound appealing. Unless there are cheddar bay biscuits involved....