Better restaurant choices in the center of the region
There are good restaurants throughout the region, on both sides of the Mississippi River. To generalize, the core of the region has eclectic locally-owned restaurants and the further out you go the more you encounter generic chain after generic chain. There are exceptions, of course. I’ve been to great locally owned restaurants in suburban strip malls and I’ve been to chains in the core. Chains can be company owned as well as a locally-owned franchise.
I regularly use the website Urbanspoon.com to find new restaurants, track my favorites and read reviews by others. The other day I started looking at the list of restaurants by area – city neighborhood vs. areas further out. Sure enough, my suspicions were correct. But why?
Part could be many formula chains prefer stand alone buildings typical of suburbia. Conversely, the local restaurateur may only be able to afford rent on an older building.
Are urban types more prone to try new cuisines compared to counterparts in suburbia? Do the restaurants fit the clientele? Are foodies drawn to the core? I’d say the answers are all yes.
– Steve Patterson
Franchise restaurants typically rely on standardized formulas that favor “typical” suburban sites, plus many people who invest in franchises live in the suburbs, and naturally gravitate to areas that are more familiar to them. In their minds, predictability equals safety. Plus the owners of newer shopping centers (and their lenders) tend to be more risk-averse than those of older structures.
Conversely, an independent usually has more limited resources and can't afford the $500,000 – $1,000,000 it takes to open a typical suburban franchise prototype, so the risk of being urban is offset by a lower cost of entry. Combine that with different expectations on the part of customers, and you find the symbiotic relationships that exist today.
One of the main things keeping me in St. Louis city is the wide variety of restaurants. The burbs can't compare in this area. Except maybe Olivette/U. City for better Chinese dim sum. To me quality dining is not just about the food, but about the neighborhood, the building, the set up and the staff. I prefer older buildings to strip malls. If you don't take care with your surroundings and presentation, how can you take care with freshness, quality and consistent preparation of food.
Many corporate chain restaurants are traded on the stock market. The market likes predictability that can be commoditized and that influences the requirements of chain restaurants on layout and co-tenants. This all results in inflexibility on site requirements and visual 'sameness.' It makes sense then that variety exists in the older central core and homogeneity dominates its outer rings.
Quality AND quantity.
I was thinking about this the other day and came up with at least 22 restaurants, ranging from fast food to sit-down, within ONE MILE of my apartment in Grand Center. One mile! That doesn't include downtown, that doesn't include the CWE or South Grand (all of which are easy drives or bus trips or even walks on a nice day), that's just what we've got in Grand Center.
Also, it's just what I could come up with in my head, and I'm a relatively new city resident, so I've likely left a few out.
And the variety…about four different types of fast food, pizza, Italian, BBQ, Southwestern, sandwiches, Mexican, Traditional American, New American, bar food, soon-to-be diner.
And not one Applebee's in the bunch. Good post.
http://www.stlouisoriginals.com/ is a good resource for original st. louis restaurants. You can have a card and get discounts on future purchases, or at least used to. I always forgot to cash in my 'points'. Eh.
Ooh, thanks for the intro to this site. Next time I'm looking for something outside my frame of reference in Detroit, I'll give it a look-see.
I do wish they had North Side neighborhoods, and they didn't just lump it all into a NORTH category which seems to include both city and county. I'm not expecting every minute division–Ville vs. Greater Ville, for example–but cmon, folks, maybe a city/county or Near North/Greater North division? We do eat and spend money north of Delmar.