What's Been Good: 10/19/2020

Lazy Sunday...or Pandemic weekday? The past few months
have made it tough to tell

Hi there - you miss me?

Most likely, probably not - my Instagram feed has been going pretty strongly, and the blog...well, when the turmoil that has marked 2020 washed through, I admit I didn't feel much like writing.

There's a lot to say about the year that has been, and I thought about venturing into topics that were never the focus of this blog.  After much consideration, I decided it should stay that way.  There's more than enough places to get the back and forth regarding those subjects, and I've done my share of checking up on things at sources I trust and respect the past several months.

But, with this blog being a food- and travel-centric one, I will say something in relation to the food industry as it had been.  If it wasn't clear how much of a true bargain the old model was for many consumers, it should be apparent now.  The size of the industry somewhat shrouded the very imperfect model of long hours for low-profit margins for a vast majority of establishments, especially the mom-and-pop, locally oriented ones, but the pandemic has fully lifted that cover.

The crisis has also exposed the very much underappreciated and bonus benefits (such as free music entertainment, or the fact that a fairly modest investment (an extra cup of coffee or a dessert plate will give you and your buddies extends your ability to hangout at your brewery/restaurant/bar/cafe of choice for an extra hour or two)) the diner basically took for granted in local restaurants, cafes and breweries during pre-pandemic times. 

Considering those factors, as well as the fact that you essentially are relieved of almost all work related to the dining process when you do, in fact, dine out, I realize now how much of a bargain dining out really was for us the past several years in most cases. And like many in the restaurant industry have stated, the old model needs to be revamped to keep local restaurant scenes thriving post-pandemic.  I don't know about you, but I don't travel around from city to city to prove that a Starbucks Frappuccino tastes the same in Columbus and San Francisco.  

To keep with the comparison, I travel between the two cities to see how the coffees of One Line Coffee and Mission compare to those of Four Barrel and Ritual Roasters.  And, I for one, am willing to pay for that privilege in our future travels, no matter what city we may journey to, if it means thriving and eclectic dining scenes throughout the country.

Whether the public as a whole is willing to do so, well, only time will tell...

Let Your Fingers Do The Eating: Bonifacio's APAHM Kamayan

Subo (Su-bo; Tagalog) - Verb

1. sumubo', isubo' (-um:i-) to get into trouble. 

2. to feed or put food into the mouth

Subo - that was a word I was quite familiar with as a child, more so the second meaning than the first. Often times, it was a request from my parents, grandparents, or other adult relatives, who wanted me to feed younger members of the family whose focus was intent on playing, not eating. This was fraught with its own dangers: catching one of my younger siblings or cousins was not unlike grabbing a chicken in its pen at times, and spilled food and liquids on the floor were fairly common.

Another implied meaning of this word for me lay in the method of feeding. For all but the youngest, feeding involved using my fingers to grab just the right-sized morsel to fit inside the target's mouth. Often times, that target would be my own mouth, and this process felt natural and instinctive to me.

The Power of Poké: Hai Poké

Are you a jack-of-all-trades or a specialist? You can make it work both ways
in the restaurant world (still from the movie "Five Deadly Venoms" as 
published in the book "Sex & Zen and a Bullet in the Head")

Recently, I was reminded about one of my favorite films from my younger days in the 1970's-era martial arts cult classic movie "Five Deadly Venoms" (highly recommended, especially if you're a martial arts movie fan that appreciates a more sophisticated plot line than typical.).

I won't go too deep into the movie's details, but the movie's base plot involves a dying martial arts master's final student, who was taught to be a jack-of-all-trades (familiar with all, master of none) in regard to his master's various styles. This student is tasked by his master to seek out the masters' prior students, each of whom were taught individually to be experts in one of their master's particular martial arts styles, determine if any had turned to evil and, with the assistance of the good Venoms, vanquish them.

In the restaurant world, either the jack-of-all-trades or singular expert focus can work if done correctly. An eatery that does a bunch of different food items well (we'll example Northstar Cafe here) can be equally as successful as one that does a particular thing expertly (the delicious momos of one of Columbus' most welcome newcomers in Momo Ghar.) Hai Poké, which was essentially this metro's introduction to a centuries-old Hawaiian dish, is another successful (and delicious) example that leans on the latter approach.