Welcome to

In our small city of Easton, PA, we’re experiencing a downtown revitalization, a remarkable charge led by the opening of several new eateries.  It’s wonderful to see, and most of the places I’ve tried are quite good.  And I even work in one of them, now!  My only qualm with this is the grim but real statistic that most new restaurants close within a year of opening.  It’s great that all these new places in town will create competition to keep the older, more established places on their toes.  But on the other hand, I’d hate to see our town just not have the interest and money to support all these new places at once.  Uncontrolled, rapid growth can be harmful in any business situation.

Perhaps those of you who live in other small cities that have experienced an economic reboot and the gentrification of dicey neighborhoods can relate to this.  This is not a big place, and yet we now have TWO Thai restaurants, five delis, inumerable pizza places, one upscale Japanese place, one very upscale tapas joint, soul food, several grub pubs and nicer grills, and a patisserie. I could go on. Within the next year, the chatter indicates the arrival of Tex-Mex, an Argentinian bakery, South American churrascaria, and Indian, all within one square mile.  Yikes.  I hope we’re all feeling hungry!

My husband and I love to dine out, and consider it a form of relaxation, entertainment, and sometimes education.  But even we, who eat in really nice places once a week, have our limits on what we’ll spend and how often we’ll spend it.  Maybe there’s more people around here like us than I realize, and everything will proceed swimmingly.  I hope so.  I’ve got my mind set on having ready access to big steaks with chimichurri and homemade mole.  If it’s all tasty, my heart will be broken if these places can’t afford to stay open.