Food Addict

A few months ago, I had to make a record of every restaurant in Boise. I listed out the usual chain restaurants and wondered why there had to be so many of each one. In my mind, food from Red Robin tastes the same no matter what street it’s on.

I know these places well. It is the reason strip malls continue to thrive and dinner becomes synonymous with a trip to the nearest ghetto-fabulous mega shopping center.

Bring the food and the consumers will come. It’s common knowledge.

During this time, I also discovered a few locally-owned gems. These restaurants caught my eye because of their quirkiness and overall high quality of both food and service.

I finished my task, frustrated with the fact that as both a culture editor and food columnist, I had never heard of half these places. Suddenly, my old safety net of restaurants failed to offer anything inspiring and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something.

I never tasted the French cuisine of Le Café de Paris or enjoyed the offbeat, pirate-themed Plank. Instead, I was a sad sell-out who drank Starbucks and waited hours to get into the Cheesecake Factory. I floated to the mainstream restaurant scene as eagerly as I followed the scent of chocolate.

So I decided to change.

Well, make some minor adjustments sounds more accurate. Since then I’ve made a point to support local businesses more. I need to learn about my community and appreciate it. I realized something when I discovered the local restaurant scene. I suffered from a lack of local pride.

I’m not the only early 20-something afflicted with this. I hang out with a lot of people who don’t like Boise and never will. Why? Simply because it’s not Seattle, Portland or any other big city.

Also, like most 20-somethings, I welcomed the arrival of the Cheesecake Factory, the Old Spaghetti Factory and non-food related chains like Urban Outfitters because I thought they meant progress. They gave Boise a future and the potential to be a wannabe Seattle or Portland. These cities already achieved greatness and our little community could only hope to stand shyly in their shadows.

But why would we want that? Shouldn’t we, as Boiseans (admit it; if you live here, you are one) try to embrace the locally-owned restaurants that make our city, as modest in size as it is, unique? Or should we abandon them and allow these chains to move in and put up their concrete buildings already standing in 10 other locations?

Don’t get me wrong. I think chains have delicious qualities too. Nothing pleases my taste buds more than a slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. But it is only cheesecake. It is not what makes Boise great. It does not represent the community as a whole and as it ages, it should prepare for a humble ranking in Boise’s restaurant hierarchy.

The royalty belongs to the local scene, to the locally-owned treasures on 8th Street and in Hyde Park. It’s out in the open, but right under our noses at the same time. It’s here, we just need to show it a little love.

FRANCY MARCOTTE
Culture Editor

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