Local joints

For better or worse, my life tends to revolve around food. That's tricky though, given how picky I am and texture averse, not to mention I only eat chicken (and turkey), as far as protein goes. I would say that makes me high maintenance if it weren't for the fact that what I tend to like is pretty simple. Sure, I'm a chicken and potato guy, but I do like a lot of Asian fusion faire, and moving west and south from there, I do enjoy a number of Indian dishes (the hotter the better). And it's worth noting that going out for lunch is one of the few things that I consistently do to balance out my day as a work-from-home person. It doesn't have to be fantastic, but it helps if I can eat outside.

What I don't enjoy, also atypical given my taste and desire for familiarity, is chain restaurants. Back when I was a beef-eating burger addict, and it wasn't all microwaved crap, I would find myself at a Friday's frequently. But when I think back to first meeting Diana, we may have gone there a few times, and some Cheesecake Factory stops, but mostly we went to local joints. In fact, when we moved to Seattle, honestly we didn't have a lot of choice, because chains were surprisingly hard to come by there.

Just before we moved back east, we did a road trip across Washington and into Idaho, staying overnight in Spokane. There we had few choices, and ended up at an Applebees as a last resort. It was bad in epic ways, and my trashing of the place is to this day my most popular blog post. In the years since, we have leaned into a few chains on an infrequent basis, like Red Robin because it was Simon-compatible. They've since gone out of business just about everywhere.

Fortunately, the food scene is pretty robust here in Orange County. Obviously there are the theme park places that are unique and interesting, especially on the Disney property, but there are so many local places. We even have a few local chains, like 4 Rivers BBQ and Tijuana Flats. The latter varies in quality, but it'll do in a pinch. Our new favorite is a place called The Hangry Bison. Not only is the food fantastic, but their bar service is great, the atmosphere is great, and the hospitality in general has been great. It happens to sit on a street with a number of places that we've visited over the years, including a Thai restaurant that makes a solid red curry.

I bring this up because, recently on PointBuzz, there was a thread about restaurants, and people go on and on about the chains. I don't get it. Even Sandusky, Ohio, has to have some local places that are better. I've been to a few over the years. In general, I'd rather give money to a local business owner than some corporation owned elsewhere. The world is Walmarted enough, I think it's justifiable to spend a little more to keep it local.