Thursday, December 25, 2003
Bah Hamburger by Karyn Zoldan
Here it is Christmas day and I’m jonesing for a hamburger. You know the kind – thick, juicy, on a grilled bun with grilled onions, a slice of tomato that tastes like a tomato and some fries with the skins left on, sprinkled with some a little spicy salt. To be washed down with a margarita or two.
The thing about this town (Tucson) is very few restaurants are open on Christmas. You would think the whole world is Christian and it ain’t. There are plenty of Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and atheists who live and vacation here who don’t want to spend beaucoup bucks for a high and mighty, overpriced Christmas feast.
I can see that Mexican restaurants close their doors because for many employees this is a day off to be spent with their families. But in big metropolitan areas, good Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese restaurants by the thousands rock out on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Again the keyword here is good – which there are few and far between of those Asian restaurants in Tucson and many of them, not matter how good, or bad, are closed.
Seli Malaka, an Indonesian restaurant, is open. It’s pretty good but not great and usually packed. Rose Garden on Ft. Lowell is open, it’s not very good, but that’s average as far as Tucsonans as they don’t know any better, and it will be packed. T.G.I. Friday’s is open and packed from noon to closing. We tried to go one year and the wait was 1 ½ hours. Another year we sat at the bar instead of waiting. I drove and insisted on drinking; my friends were appalled that I drank and drove. Since the cops were out in such full force, admittedly it was a stupid thing to do. That’s probably where I should go if I want a hamburger.
Mad cow disease be damned. The cattle farmers were riding high on a short-lived high priced beef wave mostly caused by the rising cost of beef from the 32 million Americans demanding beef on their low carb diets. The mad cow disease ruined England’s tourism for several months, it will be interesting to see how America fares. Tempeh anyone?
Here it is Christmas day and I’m jonesing for a hamburger. You know the kind – thick, juicy, on a grilled bun with grilled onions, a slice of tomato that tastes like a tomato and some fries with the skins left on, sprinkled with some a little spicy salt. To be washed down with a margarita or two.
The thing about this town (Tucson) is very few restaurants are open on Christmas. You would think the whole world is Christian and it ain’t. There are plenty of Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and atheists who live and vacation here who don’t want to spend beaucoup bucks for a high and mighty, overpriced Christmas feast.
I can see that Mexican restaurants close their doors because for many employees this is a day off to be spent with their families. But in big metropolitan areas, good Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese restaurants by the thousands rock out on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Again the keyword here is good – which there are few and far between of those Asian restaurants in Tucson and many of them, not matter how good, or bad, are closed.
Seli Malaka, an Indonesian restaurant, is open. It’s pretty good but not great and usually packed. Rose Garden on Ft. Lowell is open, it’s not very good, but that’s average as far as Tucsonans as they don’t know any better, and it will be packed. T.G.I. Friday’s is open and packed from noon to closing. We tried to go one year and the wait was 1 ½ hours. Another year we sat at the bar instead of waiting. I drove and insisted on drinking; my friends were appalled that I drank and drove. Since the cops were out in such full force, admittedly it was a stupid thing to do. That’s probably where I should go if I want a hamburger.
Mad cow disease be damned. The cattle farmers were riding high on a short-lived high priced beef wave mostly caused by the rising cost of beef from the 32 million Americans demanding beef on their low carb diets. The mad cow disease ruined England’s tourism for several months, it will be interesting to see how America fares. Tempeh anyone?
Comments:
Post a Comment
