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Monday, April 14, 2008
Are Gas Prices Keeping You at Home?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AT RIGHT: GOING, GOING, GONE — Is the price of a gallon cutting into how often you eat out?
Photo: Hugh E. Gentry/AP
It’s the question everyone’s asking: Is the price of gas keeping you at home these days? Is filling your tank cutting into your disposable income for dining?
Frankly, I eat out several nights a week, and I haven’t noticed a drop in clientele at local restaurants at all (of course, how packed a place is depends on the place.) Last week the scene at the new W Hotel in Midtown (where I had a nice first taste at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market) was more mob than ever. And it’s not just high-end; neighborhood spots like Stella in Cabbagetown/Grant Park are packed, too. These are both new, and curiosity might be a factor in the flocks of folks coming through the door. Still, an old favorite like Taqueria del Sol on the West Side was doing steady mid-week business last week.
But are you staying home more, rather than dining out? If not, have you changed your habits because of higher gas prices? Do you go to cheaper spots to make up the difference? If so, where?
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What’s the best meal you ate over spring break?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some of the most memorable parts of a vacation are the meals.
We traveled to North Carolina and Tennessee last week, visiting relatives and catching up with old friends. We tried amusement park chow at Dollywood (bad barbecue, greasy potatoes and onions and fabulous kettle corn), California-style burritos at Mamacita’s in Asheville (yum) and cooked many meals ourselves. Gas prices really cut into what we could spend on food this trip, so we prepared many meals ourselves.
And of all the meals we cooked, the best was a simple chicken that my husband grilled the last night of our trip, seasoned with a dry barbecue rub and cooked over indirect heat. We finished the meal with homemade chocolate chip ice cream. It was a lovely, relaxing end to a great vacation — unlike the restaurant where we ate last night, where two children and a doting father, or maybe uncle, shrieked and sang right by our table, so loudly that even my rambunctious 8-year-old complained about the noise.
What about you? If you took a trip over spring break last week, what was the most memorable meal? If you stayed in town, were the restaurants quieter than usual?
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