FOOD

Recently, I’ve been finding myself having tons of conversations with people about the food here in New York. I’m a lover of food and I do tend to watch the food channel quite often, especially the show, Chopped.  I guess there’s just something about turning cotton candy and rib-eye-steak into a 5-star restaurant quality entrée that intrigues me. That, plus the show really knows how to work up an appetite. Anyways, you get the idea. I love food.

One of the main indicators of cultural diversity here, other than the people you see in the streets, is in fact the restaurants. I love how on one street, generally speaking, I could find  an Indian, Mediterranean, Japanese, Chinese, and Italian joint. In certain neighborhoods of the city though, I’ve noticed that they can be totally devoted to a single culture and type of food. In Little Italy, you’d most likely leave with pizza sauce stains on your shirt and smelling like garlic bread. While a block or two away from Baruch College will get you to Little India.  There are so many options to choose from and I really like that about New York.

But one thing that just keeps coming up in my food conversations, is the idea that different locations of the same restaurant make different tasting food. I’ve heard from friends that the Chipotle they have in Long Island is “way better” than the one’s they’ve tried in the city. It could have to do with the employees, the management, and even the cost/tax differences, but is your burrito bowl really that different? I’ve also heard of the Jamba Juice stores here being way worse than the one’s in California. But fruit is a whole other story and so is coffee. Let’s stick to places like Chipotle, or even McDonalds. Do you think the taste varies from borough to borough? Or even from state to state?