94 replies to this topic

[Anthony Bonner]

everything has a price that equals its value. sometimes that price is 0

also I've been saying this about the nostalgists for years

[Stone]

(OTOH, I think Americans have become hooked on too-cheap food just like they're hooked on too-cheap gas.)

How mighty upper-middle-class of you.

[Sneakeater]

To the extent this affects poor people, it's another way they screwed by the rich.

[Sneakeater]

To the extent it affects the middle class, it's another example of how THEY'RE being screwed.

There is NO EXCUSE for the places my brother and his family eat out in in the suburbs. None.

[Stone]

We're talking about inexpensive downtown deli lunchcounters, not bad suburban restaurants. A whole lot of people work downtown, supporting the lawyers, bankers and bureaucrats who don't have extra money to spend on lunch if they don't have to. (And they may think the food is fine, if not good.) Now, you're gentrified Manhattan has already forced them to leave the island because they can no longer afford rent. I guess it isn't too much to ask that they also brown-bag it so that you don't have to be offended by their crappy restaurants.

[Suzanne F]

Not that anyone cares, but John Street is being torn up for the same reason that Fulton and Nassau and Chambers Streets are/have been torn up: fixing the infrastructure.

FWIW, I've never eaten at Roxy. Why would I? For that matter, haven't been back to Eisenberg's in many years, if you want to compare ancient places of similar aspect.

[Sneakeater]

We're talking about inexpensive downtown deli lunchcounters, not bad suburban restaurants. A whole lot of people work downtown, supporting the lawyers, bankers and bureaucrats who don't have extra money to spend on lunch if they don't have to. (And they may think the food is fine, if not good.) Now, you're gentrified Manhattan has already forced them to leave the island because they can no longer afford rent. I guess it isn't too much to ask that they also brown-bag it so that you don't have to be offended by their crappy restaurants.

So you're saying shovel those people shit because they're poor? That's great.

(Not that it seemed to me that anyone actually impecunious was among the few people at the Roxy today.)

[Anthony Bonner]

We're talking about inexpensive downtown deli lunchcounters, not bad suburban restaurants. A whole lot of people work downtown, supporting the lawyers, bankers and bureaucrats who don't have extra money to spend on lunch if they don't have to. (And they may think the food is fine, if not good.) Now, you're gentrified Manhattan has already forced them to leave the island because they can no longer afford rent. I guess it isn't too much to ask that they also brown-bag it so that you don't have to be offended by their crappy restaurants.

Sneak - how crowded was it. If Stone's right the place should be heaving.

[Sneakeater]

Nearly empty.

[Anthony Bonner]

Nearly empty.

aand there's you're answer.

[Stone]

No, I'm saying maintain the restaurants they can afford to eat at.* Unless you want to further redistribute the wealth in our society so that everyone can afford an $18 pastrami sandwich & fries for lunch. Good luck, Comrade.

As Suzzane (and you) pointed out, the restaurant is not closing because it can't compete or even because it can't keep up with increased rents. Obviously, there are people who choose to eat their over other options in the neighborhood.

*I also think there is value/utility in diverse neighborhoods.

[AaronS]

All the more reason to mock it.

I don't know. cynicism is a lot more palatable than idiocy, at least to me. how excited would you be to find out that the mast brothers really love techno and only wear ed hardy when they're on their own time? it would definitely make them my favorite brand.

[Wilfrid]

All the more reason to mock it.

I don't know. cynicism is a lot more palatable than idiocy, at least to me. how excited would you be to find out that the mast brothers really love techno and only wear ed hardy when they're on their own time? it would definitely make them my favorite brand.

The examples I have in mind I'd want to mock whether they were cynical or sincere. A random example, this bleating about "honoring the whole animal." It's a crock, whether it's heartfelt or PR waffle.

[Sneakeater]

The whole corpse, you mean.

[Sneakeater]

No, I'm saying maintain the restaurants they can afford to eat at.* Unless you want to further redistribute the wealth in our society so that everyone can afford an $18 pastrami sandwich & fries for lunch. Good luck, Comrade.

As Suzzane (and you) pointed out, the restaurant is not closing because it can't compete or even because it can't keep up with increased rents. Obviously, there are people who choose to eat their over other options in the neighborhood.

*I also think there is value/utility in diverse neighborhoods.

I tend to think more like a rising tide lifts all boats.

Don't you think a better U.S. food culture would tend to bring the bottom up with it?

ETA -- But you're the one who said I shouldn't complain, with respect to THIS restaurant, that Americans are hooked on too-cheap food. Middle-class Americans are (just like gas). THIS isn't a place trying to feed people who can't afford to eat elsewhere (it isn't even that cheap). THIS is a place that's just bad. That's failing on its own terms. AND YET whose closing the nostalgists are already prospectively bemoaning.