Honestly, i have been working in food and wine for twenty years and have come to realise the best food for me is what I make at home or is cooked, with love, by someone who cares about me. And that love extends to source of ingredients.
Last night on my way home I walked past a gelateria that I wrote about for a popular publication a few years ago. I couldn’t see the end of the line. The shops nearby have signs saying don’t sit here or don’t block our door. There are no secrets in Venice & very few residents. This was a place I used to occasionally go to (the big secret is that I am not a big fan of gelato) & just like you describe, not anymore.
This has me wondering, does a small, local place that suddenly becomes popular - how do they feel about it? Are they happy? Have they been scraping by and are relieved by the new income? Do they miss their regulars and slower pace? Does it change their food - why buy great ingredients when the majority won't notice? Dining out is - hopefully - such a relationship between chef, owner, and diner and such a trend flips that on its head.
I think for most of them, after an initial euphorically enthusiastically optimistic phase, comes the sadness of not seeing their regular customers anymore, pushed away by the queues.
“Bifanas de Afonso” in Lisbon is an example: 50 or 60 people waiting in a queue aren’t a match for a local that has 30 minutes for lunch. Cleverly they have a “second queue” for their regular patrons :)
Reading this makes me think of the time I visited San Sebastian in 2019 and someone told me about a "secret spot" for cheesecake. At the time it was still pretty secret – the cheesecake was hidden behind a curtain and the bar was fairly empty. Fast forward to 2021 and there were photos of the famous Basque cheesecake outside the restaurant and a line out the door. The cheesecake was the same, but the experience had lost its charm.
Honestly, i have been working in food and wine for twenty years and have come to realise the best food for me is what I make at home or is cooked, with love, by someone who cares about me. And that love extends to source of ingredients.
More and more the people in this industry are getting fed up with the industry itself. Indeed!
It's very toxic in the industry. So much alcoholism, cocaine use, and abusive men.
And absolutely crap of “lists”, also
Last night on my way home I walked past a gelateria that I wrote about for a popular publication a few years ago. I couldn’t see the end of the line. The shops nearby have signs saying don’t sit here or don’t block our door. There are no secrets in Venice & very few residents. This was a place I used to occasionally go to (the big secret is that I am not a big fan of gelato) & just like you describe, not anymore.
The damage that “culinary backstreets” and similar outlets do is uncountable.
This has me wondering, does a small, local place that suddenly becomes popular - how do they feel about it? Are they happy? Have they been scraping by and are relieved by the new income? Do they miss their regulars and slower pace? Does it change their food - why buy great ingredients when the majority won't notice? Dining out is - hopefully - such a relationship between chef, owner, and diner and such a trend flips that on its head.
I think for most of them, after an initial euphorically enthusiastically optimistic phase, comes the sadness of not seeing their regular customers anymore, pushed away by the queues.
“Bifanas de Afonso” in Lisbon is an example: 50 or 60 people waiting in a queue aren’t a match for a local that has 30 minutes for lunch. Cleverly they have a “second queue” for their regular patrons :)
Reading this makes me think of the time I visited San Sebastian in 2019 and someone told me about a "secret spot" for cheesecake. At the time it was still pretty secret – the cheesecake was hidden behind a curtain and the bar was fairly empty. Fast forward to 2021 and there were photos of the famous Basque cheesecake outside the restaurant and a line out the door. The cheesecake was the same, but the experience had lost its charm.
That’s a perfect example indeed. All the charm is gone into a whirlwind of instagrammability and ease-to-find