Patriotism Demands I Drink Another $15 Glass of Wine

I just heard a local radio "lifestyle" correspondent compare the recession to September 11th and then urge me to make patriotic sacrifices similar to those I was urged to make by President Bush in the aftermath of that terrorist attack.

Which is to say, he urged me to go out to eat.

Yes, apparently here in New York, demand is down for $9 fries, $11 onion soup, and $28 gnocchi. Restaurants are suffering and I need to get out there and do my part to keep the local economy percolating. I don't suppose it's occurred to any of these restauranteurs that charging $28 for a pile of re-cooked mashed potatoes may be one of the reasons traffic is off. Maybe I need to tell them.

A few weeks ago, I saw Michael Musto at Shoot the Messenger and he said that one of the only upsides to the recession was that crap like $28 gnocchi, black mini-dress-clad 21-year-old wanna-be models from Wilkes Barre barring your way into overpriced Lower East Side boîtes, and bottle service (the most obnoxious thing to happen to New York nightlife since Rudy Guiliani) was going to go the way of, well, Rudy Guiliani. (He also mentioned a revival of weird sex clubs, but I digress...) If that's the case, I guess we've got to admit that every cloud does have a silver lining.