Greasy Spoons

Tom is our resident expert on eateries across the state. He is in sales, and spends lots of time travelling from town to town. I hope he loves his work as much as he loves his food. His sense of direction is even tied into the places he eats. Ask him directions to Hicksville Corner, and he'll say: "go ten miles and turn right at Herman's restaurant and feed store (great ham biscuits), go 20 miles and turn left at Warren's Garage and luncheonette (Sunday brunch 1:00 till 3:00), and go 13 miles pass Hymie's Bar-be-Que on the right (try the pork, it's eastern style). It reminds me of the good old days when you could give directions to any place in Charlotte based on the destination's proximity to the Krispi Creme on Independence. I like my little tales and descriptions to also have a destination, and this one is no exception. I 'm headed back to the "last great place" theme in my first posting.

Let me just say right out front. I hate chain restaurants. I only go to them as a last resort. It galls me to see my friends who have restaurants in downtown Concord struggling along, while chains like Longhorn, Applebees's, and Chillie's, are packing the crowds in every night. Just like the big box stores suck the life out of small town retail, the interstate highway system has killed the independent restaurant business. I can pick a major intersection, on any Interstate highway in America , and accurately predict the choices of places to eat. I understand that travelers find this extremely convenient, but what is the attraction to the local population. Dining is more than filling your stomach, it is greatly enhanced by the ambiance of the place where you are having your meal. An important part of that ambiance is having friends around you where you dine. I can't go into any restaurant in downtown Concord and not run into people I know. I don't always have a conversation with them, maybe I wave or say a quick hello, but I take great comfort knowing they are around.

Here's an observation about the reason that downtown businesses don't seem to thrive. The reason is parking. It is not about the availability of parking, or the distance of the parking spot to the store, it's all about line of sight parking. People will walk across a half of a mile of parking lot, dodging cars backing out of and turning in to parking spaces, as long as their destination is in sight. Ask them to walk 200 feet of sidewalk to a shop around the corner; forget it. Maybe the downtown merchants could put up a series of mirrors so that there stores are always in sight.